doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Briley or Teague thinwalls

I have an older American pigeon gun. Now don't start getting your panties in a twist just yet. She's a wonderful gun with a vent rib. The right barrel has a bore of .732 the last inch is .720 thickness of the metal is .052 the left barrel has a bore of .732 that choke tapers down to .690 barrel thickness is .060

To me someone has backbored this barrel maybe to clean up some pitting or they where onto plastic wads before anyone else was by 40 years LOL. When I compare the choking to other fixed chokes from the same maker something is not right. I'd like to get this issue addressed.

Does anyone know if I have enough metal to get thinwalls installed and if so would you have Briley or Teague do the job. This could turn out to be a wonderful clay gun and back up pigeon gun.

FWIW I have had excellent luck with Briley thinwall tubes. My gun had its chokes butchered with hand reamer, off-center. There was not much metal left on one side of the gun's left bore but Briley made it work, on-center. Briley's thin wall tubes pattern well, too.

I would make sure that your gun has already been modified before I went ahead with installing choke tubes. It sounds like your right barrel has about 12/1000 of an inch of choke and your left barrel has about 42/1000. If this is the case, your gun's chokes would seem to be "in the ballpark' for pigeon guns of this gun's period...i.e. "strong IC" and "tighter than Old Nick's hatband FC".

Have you shot the gun, yet? You might be surprised at how well the old girl can be made to perform.

Is anyone in the States licensed to do Teagues? Unless so, Briley would be the obvious choice due to the problem of overseas shipping for Teagues.

Sounds like you've got plenty of wall thickness to put in Thinwalls. You can give Briley a call for some guidance.
JR

Just a thought: I wouldn't be too quick to assume that .732-inch bores are out of bounds for a gun of this period. It is possible that the gun was made to shoot brass shells. Brass shells were thinner than paper shells and their wads were larger, approximately 11 gauge or .750 inches. In fact, some few English guns were so bored without any forcing cones ahead of their chambers...the "chamberless" concept. (It's amazing how advanced shotgunning was in the early days of breechloading guns. Reading Greener, it seems like the only developments that have been "new" over the last 75 years, or so, are the widespread use of plastics and non-ferrous metals and more efficient mass production techniques.)

You are right about the possibilities of your gun. The Skimin and Wood gun that I referred to in my previous post weights about 8 pounds, two ounces. When I do my part, the gun is sudden death on anything I point it at.

Since the Standard for 12ga is .729", with +.003" @ .732 this is really within tolerance of normal, I wouldn't even call it an overbore. Several of my early Lefevers have larger bores than this & quite possibly were bored for brass shells. These should work fine with paper or plastic (wads &/or cases) as long as the chokes aren't messed up.

I would like to think the .732 was standard but I don't think it was cut for brass shells 1932, the other guns I have from the same maker and era have .722 bores. As for the chokes there only 3/4" in left barrel and 1" long in the right. I am thinking hack job.

Steve Bertram (SKB) on this forum.does Teague relining.

The US rep isn't even allowed to (or won't) answer questions about the process.

I would have it sent over to Nigel Teague for the work to be performed via an importer I have worked with before. I wouldn't even consider relining the barrels, if I can not get the chokes threaded that is what gunbroker is for.

If you want Teague chokes I can arrange it. Nigel is the only one that can install them. Despite what Ol' Joe has to say, I am happy to answer questions regarding the process. Call anytime, even you Joe.