Shotgun questions

[3jimbo3]

I have a Stevens 12 gauge side by side that has full choke in both barrels. Is there anyway to get the barrels threaded and use screw in chokes and it perform like it should. Or am I stuck with a poor shooting gun?

[lefty o]

most barrels can be threaded for choke tubes.

[Greg S]

The problem is your dealing with an old shotty, so its not an easy answer. Sounds as if it is an old waterfowler gun. Alot depends on the barrel/muzzle wall thickness. Thinwall choke tubes are available but might be alittle cost prohibitive. The other option would be to have a knowledgeable Shotgun Smith measure the bores and ream/hone the fixed F/F chokes to something more useful based on your intended quarry.

Take a look at Orvis and Briley.

[Blackwater]

One of the big deals with doubles is keeping the alignment with the bore so that the barrels still shoot to the same POI. This isn't the time to get a gunsmith to do the job with hand tools, which may be a little cheaper, but you may wind up not being able to hit with the gun. I had Charlie Boswell at Comp-N-Choke do a barrel for me and I could not be happier. He has the right fixtures to hold the barrels in perfect alignment so your barrels' regulation will be preserved. His chokes are awesome, too. With my gun, which had regular fixed chokes before I gave it to him to work on, I was powdering clays that before I'd only been breaking. Performance on doves made me look like a LOT better shot than I really am with a shotgun, too! I very highly recommend him. I've also shot with him on a sporting clays range, and he is one class act in every respect. It's always good to do business with a man who you can trust completely. Here's a link: https://www.comp-n-choke.com/ or you can call him at 888=875-7906.

[rking22]

Mike Orlen also does good work, tooling is piloted in the bore so it will maintain the current regulation. You can find him on Shotgun World forums. He has done several target guns for me. I have a Stevens 12ga 311, it has plenty of meat at the muzzles for choke tubes. Note I said it would maintain the current regulation, that may not be so good. The 311 was not a "best" gun, it was a very solid and well made hunting gun and you should pattern it for point of impact before investing in scewin choke work. Your fixed chokes can be opened and regulated if desired but moving the point of impact with choke work becomes expensive quickly. It is a cut and test and cut and test process that is labor intensive.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

You don't say what you mean by poor shooting. If it is just that a full choke gun isn't easy to hit with, it seems simple enough. My preference in an old gun would be to have the chokes opened up, but a certain amount depends on how gradually the present choke slopes, and how far from the muzzle the parallel, reduced section begins. Choke works by imparting an inward movement to the pellets. But if there is more than an inch or so of parallel bore after the choke, that inward movement ceases, and the gun starts to behave like a cylinder 14ga or so. It is a good idea to entrust this kind of work to a gunsmith who is willing and with le to pattern the gun as he widens the choke bit by bit.

This isn't a single, in which the barrel is almost always amply thick for screw-in tubes, in order to prevent the recoil from being excessive. It needs to be checked in advance, preferably with a gunsmith's proper twin-pillar and dial gauge. Nobody would set himself up to do this kind of work without one of these... Would he? But the chances are that there is enough metal in a Savage.

https://vimeo.com/5011609

[KCSO]

First you need to measure the wall thickness and determine if it is thich enough for threading. Then you need to measure bore diameter and make sure it is in spec and tight enough for the choke, Then you need to see how out of round the barrel is you do this with a special bore mike. This is why chokes cost $100 a piece, the measuring tools and the reamers and taps run about $400 for the set up. Ignoring any one of these items will cost you gun barrels. I will only do chokes if the owner brings in the gun and we measure right in front of him as so many whine and cry when I say won't do this one. The cheaper guns are notorious for out of round barrels and barrels that are not uniform in dimension. Savages tend to run large in the bore and Remington 870's are out of round a lot. No legitimate gunsmith will accept the gun for chokes unless he measures first. I use Carlson's choke tubes and learned from the boss hog and had my work checked by him before I ever started.