doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Husqvarna Bore & Chokes

Wanting to get involved in double guns I picked up a very nice 615A 12 gauge made in 1950. I had a reputable MN gun smith open up the chokes (Skeet II & IM)and lengthen the chambers so I could shoot low pressure 1.25 ITX loads. After making numerous test loads I found the gun will not pattern with ITX. In fact the patterns are so bad a friend of mine commented 'where did the shot go' as most was not on the paper at 25 yards. I did find the gun will pattern reasonably well with straight loads (no shot cup) I measured the bore and could believe it measured .719 - in fact I machined a Gilchrist brass bore bushing to double check and confirmed a .718 bushing is snug but will travel the length of the bore. In retrospect I should have bought a higher grade gun but I what to keep this project going.
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Given the bore size I thought I would lengthen the forcing cone and open the chokes up to cyl and Imp cyl - OR - do I give up on this one and keep it for lead shot only??
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Your thought are appreciated and I purposely left some grammar items for Bob to comment on ....... Thanks

Paul, I am the least of all the experts on this forum, so I hesitate to mention my idea. Nevertheless, why not get your Husky fitted for a set of choke tubes and then experiment with them all to identify what combination of shot and choke percolates the best in your gun...Geo

I have a Husky 350 and the bores measure .719/.718 which I think is pretty typical. It is choked .028/.038 and I considered having the chokes opened but it shoots such wonderful, tight patterns I'll never touch those barrels. I shoot is at all types of clay games, ducks and doves. Even skeet. Husky sure made nice guns. I'm not sure why you are having trouble. Mine is death with bismuth.

Thanks for sharing the bore spec - that helps. I looked all over the net and could not find the bore diameter spec. I kept looking at the digital caliper telling myself that can't be right. I have also been shooting the test loads in my Montrefelto as a control and found the ITX patterns better with more open chokes. I saw a major difference when I went from the IM tube to the M tube. It is possible it could be a gunsmith issue as well. As I was also surprised to see the gun printed slightly low. I think I will have the chokes opened up slightly and see what happens. Maybe tubes is the way to go.

It seems you have the instruments to measure bore and choke but do not tell us what the chokes are in thousandths. You do say: If the bushing travels the full length of the bores and drops out the muzzle end, then it would seem that you have no chokes at all. Please clarify.

To clarify what I should have said was the bushing will travel the full length of bore until it reaches the chokes. Chokes are spot on with Skeet II at .012 and Improved Mod at .025 per inside dial caliper. I started with an 7" inside caliper but given the readings I was getting decided it wasn't accurate enough so I picked up a decent digital unit which is long enough to get past the chokes.