Cut barrels wouldn't explain why you have more choke in the R one than the L after they've been shortened. Still should be more open R, tighter L . . . if you have any choke at all remaining.
Not necessarily. Larry should know better than to make a blanket statement like this. Most, but certainly not all doubles are choked tighter in the left barrel. We don't know the original choke configuration here. There are also other possible explanations. Are you simply measuring the diameter of the muzzles to determine choke, or the difference between actual bore diameter and the constriction at the muzzles? The left barrel could have been honed out more than the right at some point in the past, or someone could have altered the chokes and opened the left choke more than the right prior to the shortening job. A lot of things can happen to a vintage double in 100 years, and many of them are bad.
