doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Full Choke 20s

I bought another 16 GA barrel from Corson's Barrels and fitted it to my M31. Now my full choke barrels sits in the locker while I use the Poly-Choke barrel. If you are not concerned with "collector originality" send the gun to poly-choke. Otherwise, be on the lookout for spare barrels. Of course, Briley's thinwall tubes may work as well.

If you reload, try cutting down the petals on the plastic wads, as the "bore scrubbed" shot should open up the pattern a bit. FWIW.

Mike Doerner

"I've heard of duck and turkey hunting with a 20, but it can't be what the manufacturer had in mind."

That's on of the things that the manufacturers had in mind. Light weight US guns manufactured 12's and 16's were not common. A way to reduce weight was to use a 20 frame and barrel(s). These guns were used from shooting pheseants to ducks to anything that had hair or feathers. Remember also, that the shell construction of the day gave wider patterns. I have a FULL choke 870 that I used for pheseant,ducks and whatever. With the advent of non-toxic loads, my son even shot Canada Geese with steel 2's in a 3" load. -Dick

' had a friend, who for years loved to hunt geese in Canada with his GWPs. His gun that he always was a Browning Superposed , 20 ga., with 3" chambers. He never thought of changing to something else.

Full choke twenties? Love 'em. Great for long doves, late season pheasants, ducks over decoys. I have 3, a pump and 2 doubles. They do all that 7/8 oz. or 1 oz. of shot can be expected to. For doves, 7/8 oz. of #8's can get pretty thin from an IC or mod. tube. Just my tcw. Chopper

I would not mess with the chokes. I have a shooting friend who collects and shoots M-31s. He was agast when I told him that you were considering opening the choke. Says he, original 20 ga. full choked M-31s are hard to find and pleads you not hurt it. I make spreaders for my tight 20s, other guages as will.

Make sure you measure it. My last model 17 that I purchased is marked full choke but is a very usable .018. It certainly was opened but it's a nice long tapper and a nice surprise.

Tim

Well, I did it, so I hope it doesn't turn out to be a gun I didn't really need. Oh, wait ... I already have a couple dozen guns I don't really need!

Walt -- no worries about altering it. As I badly explained in an earlier post (and, I suppose, the reason for the initial question), I have plenty of open choked scatterguns, and I'm not much for modifying otherwise decent ones. I'd sooner pass on a gun than open the choke(s). Earlier in my collecting career I opened up a Lefever to IC and Mod that I now wish was back at Mod and Full.

Tim -- You're right about the measurements. This one came in at 20 thou ... a light Full, if I understand these things, which should be about perfect for those doves. Hurry, September! Thanks to all for the input and advice. TT

As I recall back in the fiftys almost all shotguns regardless of bore size came with a full choke barrel. It wasn't till the sixties with the advent of shotcups that shooters went to a mod choke because of shotcup/full chokes would give such tight patterns.

When we used to shoot dove, there were several fields where the majority of shooting was done at relatively long range. My father would take a 12ga Remington 1100 with a 30" full choke barrel. Someone would always point out that it was fine for birds that were a ways off, but with those close in, you'd blow them to pieces, provided you managed to hit them. My father would reply that the ones that were close in were no problem, he just shot those in the head.