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I am thinking about buying an Ithaca SBT. What type of choke did Ithaca use on their SBT guns, Parallel, Tapered or Jug Choke?

Derrick

Derrick - my suggestion would be to measure the choke on the gun in question. I say this because trapshooters are famous for changing anything on a gun that night improve their shooting. I have owned a few Ithaca SBT's, and unfortunately, about half of them had the choke and/or bore altered in some way, some not professionally. Other, sometimes rather strange, alterations are also not uncommon. My current 5E appears to be unaltered. My 4E SBT, which has 2 barrels, has had both barrels altered. One has a choke that tapers clear to the end of the barrel. The other has a choke that has a larger diameter in the middle than at both ends. They both appear to be amatuer jobs, as a visual inspection of the bores indicates the bore diameter is not constant from one end to the other. Although I've never patterned them (and I should), they both seem to shoot as well as I do. Bill

Derrick, tread cautiously when contemplating buying a SBT or for that matter, any trap gun. Trap shooters are notorious for fiddling with the guns they shoot. As the old german master gunsmith at VL&A in Chicago once admonished: "Ach, you damned trapshooters butcher guns! Vhat makes you think you can make a better gun than the folks vhat made it? Ach, dummies und damned butchers!" I know of at least one guy whose initials are WCS who was fortunate enough to find an unmessed with Ithaca SBT 7. Let the buyer beware in this field. Chopperump

Derrick, we don't know if Flues or NID but for the sake of argument I got my 1917 Flues 4e SBT 32" out and ran the mic down its gullet. No question this one is straight taper. Bore is .726" and needle starts moving at approx. 4" from muzzle, moves at consistent rate to .698" for 28 pts. of constriction. Obviously, I can't attest to the choke's originality but previous owner(s)had not reduced, removed, or otherwise dug into what is a pretty wide shadow-line cheekpiece so it might be unchanged except that it seems a bit open for handicap yardage. You never know; some are less worn and tinkered than others. Not every shooter at trap conforms to Chop's notorious sterotype of the trapshooter.

jack