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Dave Miles
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:30 pm  Reply with quote
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I've got four 16 gauge Parkers, and I want to make one of them my dedicated grouse gun. I don't really care which one it is, but I want to open the chokes to .002" & .008". Here is the question. Look at the following bore and chokes, and tell me which one you'd open and why?

One has bores of .665" choked .010" & .015 28" barrels, 0 frame, GH, Damascus

Another has bores of .665" choked .020" & .026 26" barrels, 1 frame, VH

Another has bores of .670" choked .020" & .030" 28" barrels, 0 frame, PH, Twist

Another has bores of .680" choked .030" & .035" 30" barrels, 1 frame, DH, Damascus

Thanks, and I'm looking forward to your answers.


Last edited by Dave Miles on Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:15 am; edited 1 time in total
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Ron Overberg
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:30 pm  Reply with quote
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I would open up the first one. The .665 .010 an .015 0 frame. I am partial to 28 in. barrels and the 0 frame for me would make a well balanced fast moving grouse gun. The others are what I would use for open field birds and leave chokes as is. This is a great decision to have to make.
Best,
Ron
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revdocdrew
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:42 pm  Reply with quote
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Ain't decisions fun when it's some other guy's guns Laughing

What Ron said. And you've got yourself a sweet quail gun too.

I assume the 4th gun is your designated late season pheasant whacker? While you're at it, I'd open the R brl of the 3rd gun to .010 for your light load early season/preserve pheasant gun.

THEN I'D TRADE THE 2ND GUN FOR A STERLY Laughing

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old16
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:20 pm  Reply with quote
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Dave

I like the first one but I would't touch the chokes. They are just the way I like them.
If I was going to mess with the chokes I would send them to briely and have screwins put in. The value of the gun is not going matter if you change the configuration of the parker.
I sent my to briley and have been very happy with my Elsie.

Buy the way I think I going to get that Parker Trojan in a couple of weeks and I might do just the same with it.

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Twice Barrel
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:42 pm  Reply with quote
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Dave I would opt for opening up the chokes of the #2 gun. I prefer the shorter 26 inch barrels for fast close in work.

You won't be losing as much value by altering the 1 frame gun and the chokes in the #3 gun duplicate the chokes in the #2 gun.
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Birdawg
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:02 pm  Reply with quote
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I would open #2 also. It is already a pointy, rather than a swing through, gun and that fits most ruff hunting.
The other problem is, you will have one to many O framed 16's so pick the one you like best and lets get to dealing on the other one Twisted Evil
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Dave Miles
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:17 am  Reply with quote
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Birdawg wrote:
I would open #2 also. It is already a pointy, rather than a swing through, gun and that fits most ruff hunting.
The other problem is, you will have one to many O framed 16's so pick the one you like best and lets get to dealing on the other one Twisted Evil


Birdawg, They are all different grades, so I'm really not interested in selling any. Sorry.
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Larry Brown
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 6:16 am  Reply with quote
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One consideration would be how much muzzle wall thickness you have on those guns, especially the ones with the tight left barrels. On those, you'd be taking out close to .030 to get where you want to be, and that's a lot. And I've noticed that quite a few Parkers, probably in an effort to keep weight down, tend to have fairly thin muzzle walls.
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cedar16
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:40 am  Reply with quote
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How about just using spreader loads? I have a O-frame, 28", 16 that is bored IC/MOD (Parker Repro). With spreaders, my pheasant gun becomes a fast handling open-choked grouse/woodcock gun.
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Dave Miles
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:22 am  Reply with quote
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cedar16 wrote:
How about just using spreader loads? I have a O-frame, 28", 16 that is bored IC/MOD (Parker Repro). With spreaders, my pheasant gun becomes a fast handling open-choked grouse/woodcock gun.


Cedar16, I shoot a couple hundred rounds, or better, a week at skeet, 5 stand, or sporting clays. I've got nothing against spreader loads, except they are a pain in the butt to reload. I just upgraded to the MEC Grabber, because I felt the Sizemaster was to slow. I'm just going to open the chokes on 2 of these guns and be done with it. Wink
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:24 am  Reply with quote
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Dave, I would be most careful who does the work on these obviously old model Parkers. I'm assuming from the discription that all are pre-WWI guns. Is this correct? If so, these old guns were regulated the old fashioned way, trial and error, and by fine adjusting the regulation by adjusting the chokes if necessary. That is why some older doubles have wierd choke sizes and combinations. It takes an experts eye to know which guns a candidates for choke modification and which aren't.

Even a good barrel smith might have trouble keeping the barrels well regulated. However, If you go wide open both barrels, and ranges will not exceed 25 yards, you will probably be ok. However, the risk is yours to take

Otherwise, I too would stay with spreader loads using the Poly wad inserts I've spoken about. Your Grabber will seat them and spit them out almost as fast as a regular load. It might take you an extra minute per box once you learn how. All I do is drop the insert stem down into the wad guide. The round disc centers perfectly in the guide if you trim any plastic flash off the disc if it has a bit with a nail clipper. (I do this to all the inserts that need it whenever I open a new bag. I can do it while watching TV.) Then cycle and finish as you normanlly would. Its as easy as it gets for reloading your own spreader loads.The inserts work to perfection.

I won't mess with the chokes on my old AyA Matty. They are regulated to perfection, but are full and extra full. The polywad inserts make the gun pattern skeet and IC perfectly. I now have the best of both worlds by manipulating loads. the 28 gauge spreader inserts make the gun pattern more like IC and tight modified to boot. Thats a win, win with no real downside other than the cheap cost of the inserts if you buy direct and in bulk. Why not get a bag, try them, then dicide. You can always have the gun done after if you aren't happy with the results. However, once the ream cuts the metal, you have no recourse if the job goes wrong.
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Larry Brown
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:07 pm  Reply with quote
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Pick the barrels you want to have opened, send them to Mike Orlen. He does excellent work, and if he doesn't think they should be altered, he won't do it.
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16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:40 pm  Reply with quote
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Amen to that. Mike lives right here in MA. I've been to his facility in Amherst. Mike has been instrumental in helping me gain an understanding of chokes, barrel regulation, and its history. He's also an expert vintager, a real buff of old shotguns. He'll know for sure.
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hoashooter
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:40 pm  Reply with quote
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I'm with Cedar--I would play around with some handloads that will open the choke one or even two constrictions Wink
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old16
PostPosted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:37 am  Reply with quote
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Dave
If you are going to open the chokes anyway then you should check out Briley.
Over the years I have had them do several guns such as opening chokes, put in the screwins,full length tubes,and so on. They have always done a beautiful job for me where I have been very pleased with the preformance.
As I said earlier I had chokes put in my LC and the barrels were very thin wall but the job came out perfect.. Bill

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