I haven't noticed them getting any cheaper, Larry, especially when they approach the condition of this BSA. A lot of the 700s I've seen don't look as nice as this one, either.
We have guys here who wouldn't clean the metal shavings out of a model 21 action if they thought they were original, who will tell you to alter a high condition Brit gun and who should do it for you.
The spreader load is the simplest, cheapest, and easiest solution to whatever the "problem" with this gun might be.
Really, I'd use it for at least a year before I did anything to the chokes. Maybe two years. Once you get out of the forrest, and onto the plains, that is a sweet choke combination. Not a horrible sporting clays combination, but, you will have to do your part.
Best,
Ted
Well Ted, you've hit on one significant difference between THIS particular BSA and a W&S 700: There are enough of the latter out there that you will find them in various conditions. Meanwhile, you don't see nearly as many BSA's period, and most of the ones you see are the very basic ones. In the case of Webley & Scott, the 700 is the basic model.
There are only two reasons not to alter choke: 1. You like them the way they are. 2. The gun is so rare and valuable that altering choke will significantly impact the value. This gun meets the "rare" part . . . but not the "valuable" part. Sure, it's a high grade BSA . . . but it's still a BSA. And the problem with a Brit gun and tight chokes is that, in order to get the most out of a tight choke, you need to use a relatively heavy load. At least 1 1/4 oz. And there aren't many 1 1/4 oz loads out there you'd want to put through a Brit gun, unless it's maybe a heavy wildfowl gun. So I'd say assess your shooting needs and alter that full choke however you want. I had a pair of Army & Navy 12's with one gun that was choked 005/015, which was pretty much perfect for my needs. The other one was .005/.040. I patterned the L barrel at 35 yards, and decided that unless I wanted to shoot turkeys with it, that choke had no use for my purposes. So I had it opened to .025, and used it as my late season pheasant gun. It could still do the job at 40 yards (which is a rare long shot for me on roosters) with my low pressure 1 1/8 oz reloads.
