doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Opening chokes on a Parker

How would anyone know my 32" gun with improved cylinder in both barrels was somehow modified from original? Dunno. Parker research information usually includes pattern data, so expert barrel work does not always hide a modern modification.

Erik, on a Parker it is a pretty straightforward determination. Parker chokes did not have parallels at the muzzle. Instead, the choke taper extends to the exact muzzle. Any opening creates a parallel in these.

I have the opposite problem on a Lefever, the chokes are too open. Can they be tightened? It is a nice CE with 26 barrels great fun to shoot, light to carry, and the local pheasants love it but the gun can not hit anything except skeet coming at me on station 1.

That wasn't so bad. Thanks Joe.

The few(too few) Parkers I've owned did have parallel sections of 1/2" or more in what I'm sure were the original chokes. The Lefevers I've observed had a continuous taper, from the beginning of the choke(not the entire length of the barrel to the muzzle. Not what I've seen on Parkers.

In many cases, the way a Parker left the "dusty little plant down in Meriden" is a matter of record and available in the form of a research letter from the Parker Gun Collector's Association. Such things as stock dimensions, barrel length, chamber length, pellet count per barrel in a 30" circle (those things that are usually the victims of modification)are often available in the letter. A subsequent owner or prospective buyer has this information available to him either before the sale or after. In either case, that's how anyone would ever know. And these things are the cause of reduced value of an otherwise "untouched" Parker.

JoeWood
Your information regarding parallels at the muzzle is incorect. Parker chokes from Parker Bros. in Meriden Ct were "ogee" with about a quarter inch or so of parallel at the muzzles. Remington subsequently used their own choke formula after the mid-thirties and that's about when the parallel feature ended.

WOW I am not worthy, just wanted to down a grouse for my Setter. I might just buy a spanish gun, no one seems to care much about them. ( I do like the idea of using polywad spreaders, I have been using RST's but sure would a little more open pattern) Thanks Larry

Larry,

My opinions are not worth any more than anyone else's, but, here they are. I fall in with the ones who say leave a HIGH condition one alone, but only if it is truly HIGH condition. They are the ones the collectors really want badly. If you want to use the gun yourself for what you said, and intend to keep it, open'em up. Maybe not as much as you're thinking, though. You can always take more out, but you can't put it back.

As for the highly touted spreader loads, they are just that. BUT, they will not open a mod. or full choked gun into a decent woodcock gun, as one suggested. Unless one has the opportunity to pass-shoot high flying migrations. They absolutely will not. I have tried many, many different spreader loads. Some store bought, some I loaded myself using short wads, post wads, x-dividers, soda-straws in the shot, and combinations of the above. I've NEVER found one that would reliably pattern well and open the pattern up any more than the equivalent of about .010" constriction. And this is at their BEST. So, the full barrel might shoot as open as modified, and the mod. barrel might shoot as open as improved cylinder. Might, I stress. If that's enough, then spreaders are all you need, and you've saved money on top of preserving the "sanctity" of a Parker.

I, not being a purist collector, might even pay a bit MORE for a gun in which the chokes had been modified, if they were more useful to me. I rather believe there are more buyers out there who feel like me about that than ones who are purist Parker collectors. And lets face it, not many of us has any need for full chokes in 20 guage guns today, anyway. Oh yeah, except purist collectors who can stare at it in the safe and say, "It's all original!".

Stan

Very well said, Stan! Your experience with spreader loads is valuable, too. They are not magic, will not turn Full/full into skeet/skeet. They are a pain to make and expensive.
A Parker or any other desirable gun that is not in very high original condition is not worthy of the sacred "leave it alone" commandments so freely handed down from "those on high". It still is, and always was, your call, Larry.