doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Vintage 1964 Browning Superposed 12

I recently acquired a Superposed 12 gauge 26� M&F vintage 1964 that has .025 and .036 chokes and the typical underboring of .724 & .723, which combine to make it severely blow patterns. The question I have is how much choke do I need to remove to still make it shoot M&F patterns with modern ammo? Thanks, Sandlapper

I�d recommend trying some different flavors of shells before messing with the chokes. Try some of the premium shells first. Browning superposed usually shoot tight patterns, not blown out ones.

I've got a 1964 12 gauge 2&3/4" chambered Browning "Lightweight" Auto-5-- 28" mod.choke, mfg. in Belgium. Bought it new from the Quantico PX in 1965 for $135.00 including tax--It patterns tighter than even any of my Full Choked 12 gauge M12's- even my 3" magnum Heavy Duck-with any shot load you care to shoot in it.

All the finish is well-worn, the gold plated trigger blade is dull from long use- any strange thing, of all my shotguns in 12 gauge, it and my Ithaca 2E NID have the crisp trigger pulls usually found on match target grade handguns (Colt Python and MT Woodsman-- love that old square back beast. About as gracefull as the late Eleanor Roosevelt in her 8th month of pregnancy, and NOT "de riguer" in a grouse moor in Scotland, but it's a shooter and a keeper. RWTF

.025 and .036 is what Browning used for improved modified and full (actually full was frequently .040). I have owned a bunch of early Superposeds and have never seen one with anything like your gun's chokes "blow" patterns. Every one I have owned with decent shells and those constrictions would shoot between 65% and 80% patterns. What do you mean by "blown" patterns?

Thanks for a post about Doubles. What a great gun.
With about a gazillian Supers made, 12 gauge 26" specimens are perhaps the least desireable.
I say make this gun your own with whatever chokes you want or need.
Anything tighter than Skeet is still equal to "Field Chokes". Re stamp the mono bloc and you're good to go.

The only way to know for positive sure is shoot at 40 yds and count to figure the percentage of pellets in a 30" circle . As Gough Thomas said you can pick either the thousands of an inch constriction or pattern for one load and regulate the chokes for that as to the percentage you want.

Thanks for the feedback; instead of blown patterns, perhaps what I should have said is that it shoots like a rifle and I need to open the patterns up somewhat. I still would like to know how much ckoke constriction to remove in light of the underbored barrels. Regards, Sandlapper

I do not think the under bored barrels are what are causing your tight patterns but rather the points of constriction combined with plastic shot cups. You could try fiber wads to see what results those give. If you look at enough choke constriction charts you will soon see that not everyone agrees on how much constriction will give you M/F patterns. As a general rule of thumb, I consider plastic shot cups equivalent of adding .010" of constriction. In other worlds, opening things up .010" should get you close to what you are looking for. Best to go slow though, much easier to remove constriction as opposed to adding it.

Thanks for the information.

Choke is a relation between bore diameter and choke diameter so the fact that the bores are less than nominal 12b is irrelevant. If it has 10 thou constriction between bore and choke, it has 10 thou constriction, irrespective of the actual bore and choke dimensions.
As SKB says, what you take out, you can't put back, so try various manufacturer/wad/shot size combinations to see if any give you the pattern you want before butchering a nice gun.
Accepted wisdom is that fibre wads reduce effective choke but research in the UK with modern powders/choke/shot has produced evidence to question this assumption. You will have to experiment with your own gun/cartridge combination.
Also don't assume things: I did when I was first shooting and changed from 6.5 to 7.5 UK shot size to improve my patterns. If fact I found I got seriously blown patterns even though the cartridges were from the same manufacturer and identical in all other respects. Basically my gun didn't like them.
In UK parlance, your chokes are tight half and loose full which is traditionally too tight for anything but trap BUT I wouldn't change a thing until you have exhausted all other possibilities.