We sometimes forget about France and gun development. From an article in Forest and Stream , May 2, 1878 we see----In the early part of the 1800s, fifty or sixty years before common in England, Boutet, Perin, Lepage, Paris, Armand, Pirmet, Delpire, Autelet, Briere, Gasset, and others were making choke bored flintlocks. They quote from "Le Vieux Chasseur" [The Old Hunter] of 1835, page 28 choke boring, noting some "choked " guns were slightly open at the muzzle, while others were constricted up to two sizes at the muzzle. They discuss that too much choke can be a hinderance for dense patterns and that just a bit of choke seems to work best.
Then, " Nearly 35 years ago[early 1840s] , in New York City, Mullins [sic], made graded draw-bore guns. To give a general view of Mullins' plan we would say: Start at the breech with half a size, contract up about eight inches three-eights of a size, and from this point to the muzzle one-eighth of a size."
The writer said he had been using a Mullins gun for 26 years.
Daryl
Last edited by Daryl Hallquist; 09/08/08 11:30 AM.
