I think anyone who has delved into this at all would have to conclude that Kimble was not the first to fire a choke bored gun. Of course we have the question of, what do we define as "Choke bored". If we accept anything done to the bore of the gun with the intent of increasing the closeness of shooting, then for sure the work Ed has cited from the 1718 book would qualify. If on the other hand we apply it only to a reduction of bore dia at the muzzle then it may or may not. William Greener mentioned relieving bores from the breech, the muzzle or both for the purpose of increasing the closeness of shooting in his 1834 book, but do we call this choking. He incidently made no claims to being the originator of these methods, only spoke of them. I tend to think of choke as only the reduction of dia, but others may not. A Jug Choke fits this description even though applied to a true cyl bbl as after the recess is cut the dia is reduced "back down" to the original bore. If it can be determined this is what was referenced in the 1718 work then choking can be definitely dated to at least that point, keep digging Ed.
