16ga.com ~ View topic - Briley thin wall chokes in 1967 Sweet 16.

I've had Briley work on several guns for me, including installing permanent soldered in tighter fixed chokes in a couple guns with open chokes and thin barrel walls. They do great work.

Member Joined: 30 Nov 2011 Posts: 1695 Location: Minnesota

My 16ga Elsie came to me via a GB auction and has the Brileys. I've always wondered if I didn't get it so cheap because the hard core collectors looked down on it but to me its a positive.

I would think, but am not positive, that other companies could tube your barrel for a lot less than Briley. Briley's great, but don't know of anyone more expensive. Maybe try Mike Orlen? Do you have a gunsmith locally that has the correct tool for actually measuring the bore and choke? I always want to know what I have expressed in thousandths like cold iron mentioned before I alter a gun.

Cant remember if you reload but its cheaper to just have the choke opened like cold iron said and then reload or buy spreaders for when you want more open spreads. Anyway, congrats on the gun. Hope you have fun trying to wear it out!

Member Joined: 02 Sep 2010 Posts: 829 Location: SW Ohio

I have had Briley do 2 guns for me. A 16ga Marlin 90, and a 12 ga Winchester 21. Both started as mod and full, I wanted to be able to use them for multiple things including clays. I got 5 chokes for each gun. Could not be happier, the fit is very precise, I do not change chokes unless I am over carpet, the thin bottom edge is very delicate.
Super happy with both, personally would not use anyone else. Had one gun I sent to "another" gunsmith, it sat in his shop for several months and never got touched. Meanwhile, I was reading review posts on this guy of people who sent their guns after I did but had them back already, but mine was not started. Started smelling fishy to me, so I asked for my gun back.

...an ancient Pigeon Grade Model 12, or '21, or some rare Factory Special A5 or anything else,I think Is blasphemous to alter, and best used as originally equipped or in some collection, but run of the mill A5's and 870's and M12's and 21's are all readily available, so why not?

I have Briley's in all the aboves except the Browning in '16 and never regretted for a second having done so, AND, I Believe that all 16ga Briley tubes are Steel Compatible, which is why I had them done in the first place.

FWIW: My Forcing Coned, Overbored Backbored MOD Choke Tubed Model 12 DUCK that I use up in Canada is a Steel Shot Machine that's Far Better Duck Killer now than it was back in lead shot days..

WHY I EVEN have Briley thin wall chokes in a Browning Broadway Trap gun Smile

I installed briley chokes in hundreds of barrels while at Moneymakers , other chokes throw as good a patterns ( but I like briley chokes best ) .

If one is mechanically inclined choke tubes are fine , if your not stay away from them .

Ray an i sat and watched a top shooter take an impact to change chokes in and out , Screwed a barrel up and brought it back to us .

Ray had a name for this type of shooter of which I will not repeat.

With that said , give me fixed chokes , I will change my loads to change my pellet density on the target for various distances.

Best regards Nick

It's the 21st century, and fixed choke guns are passé.

I you are a firearms collector and a stickler for originality, then don't have your barrel (or barrels) choked for tubes. You can always try Polywad spreader shells to open up your patterns.

Other wise its time to step up to the now !

Today's shotguns are not your Grand Daddy's shotgun, or even your Daddy's shotgun. They are state of the shooting sports industry's art. Why would you want to drive a 1965 Rambler, or a 1985 Buick for that matter.

Although to be honest, most of my guns that have interchangeable choke systems usually have only one choke in them for the duration.

RE: Briley, they do excellent work. I find it hard to believe that they screwed up someone's barrel. They are state of the art machinists

*Last edited by tramroad28 on Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:16 am; edited 1 time in total*

I had Briley thread a couple of shotguns for their chokes....they did a fine job.
I also know of a friend for whom Briley bought a Fox barrel due to improper tube installation.
Stuff happens....still, I would not hesitate to use or to recommend Briley.
I also place no halos.

I am down to one choke tube shotgun and that is for the very real benefits that tubes offer...benefits of worst case and steel, for me.

Folks get in too much of a hurry for perfect performance today, imo.
In truth, we ourselves need more work than any of our equipment needs tweaked and given the latest must-have.

Personally, I think boredom drives far too many decisions and a bit of Time for a good idea soak would serve us well.
I know it would have been wise in my past.

Joined: 26 Apr 2016 Posts: 369 Location: Vermont

Guest

I'd have the choke opened up to Modified and go from there. I have an older Remington 11 and it's choked .021" which is a bit tighter than modified and I have no problems shooting good skeet scores or taking wild pheasants with it. I also think it would be just fine on doves and quail.

That, and it seems a shame to shackle a classic shotgun with "accessories."

Joined: 27 Sep 2015 Posts: 177 Location: Alabama

Dang Tram, that was beautiful. You should write professionally! Smile

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

Buy a box of English fiber wad ammunition, and pattern the gun. You will likely find this actually opens the pattern to what you need.
Plastic wads tighten your choke to about the next level. Your mod is likely putting out full choke patterns. European chokes of that era ran a little tighter than modern chokes.
Standard grade Browning A5s are not a rare commodity. It is mostly valuable to you based on who it belonged to, and when it is no longer your gun, that chain will be broken, and it will be worth what the market decides. Choke tubes are handy, but, bring their own problems that are seldom talked about, steel ammunition tends to hammer the threads, and they get stuck without fastidious maintenance. This is worse in older barrels, and the older Browning barrels run light-I’ve seen Browning A5 barrels with bulges that have never seen a steel load. Slugs and buckshot were capable of bulging barrels even when they were just lead ammunition.
The best solution might be to sit tight until you come up with a second barrel, either a Japanese or Hastings aftermarket, although I’m not positive Hastings produced them for 16 gauge. The Japanese or aftermarket barrel will have been designed to take choke tubes.

Good luck.

Best,
Ted

Member Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1257 Location: Nebraska

What are the shells you're using that hit so hard at 40 yards? Other shells are likely to alter your results, although they might not be so easy to come by locally. If you are going to use the gun for doves primarily, trying (patterning) other varieties of ammo might get you where you want to be without altering the barrel or buying another.

I'm a fan of fixed chokes, either using a second barrel or another gun as conditions require, and once sold a solid ribbed Ithaca M37 16ga to a friend. He went out and had Briley put chokes in it which had me at first a little surprised but then it was his gun and for the shooting that he does the chokes made that gun exactly what he wanted----no business of mine really and probably the smartest thing to do in that situation. He's got a lot more guns than I do, he just did what pleased him for that particular gun and he used it a lot.

I'd bet your gun will work well as-is for doves and pheasants, probably suitably so for quail as well but you won't know until you try it for a season, maybe two. Find out how much constriction is currently in its choke, and if you think it's too much then consult with Briley about how much they think you should have it opened. You could have tubes installed later if the more open choke doesn't turn the trick, or, if the idea of greater versatility right off the bat appeals that much then go ahead and get the tubes with constrictions as recommended by Cold Iron. There really is no downside to that, with the caveats about carefully handling the tubes themselves.

My Sw16 is a 1947 gun with a Modified barrel that measures .017" of constriction. I have reloads with hard Lawrence brand shot and use it on pheasants and prairie grouse, eventually traded into a spare barrel with .000" of choke that I've used on quail and it would be fine for woods birds. I haven't used it for doves but would bet it'd do just fine. Tubes, even from Briley, are cheaper than a spare Sw16 barrel and for a gun to be used primarily on doves would be about ideal.

Great advice here, and Tramroad28 really put choke tubes and a lot of other things into what I think is proper perspective.

+++ also to Charles and Ted about varying loads for different targets and ranges. Part of "shooting craft" is loading your own ammo. It's fun, and in shotshells there are many techniques available to alter patterns, from buffers and the normal wad and cup units most now simply call "wads", to real wads and various shot column protectors and spreader techniques.

Fixed chokes seem to be passe in new shotguns, but that's just one example of the "whiz bang" things sports equipment suppliers are bound to introduce to either sell new stuff or keep up with the competitors. A lot of the "new" ideas in sporting equipment are better, and do make some things easier, but more in the minds of the user, than directly in the results, at least for the average shooter (oh, but none of us consider ourselves to be just average, right? Ha Ha). These new features are still not as important as learning the techniques of the game.

Over the years I have moved toward less choke in general. I seldom alter the chokes of the fixed-choke guns I buy, other than to open some of them. Choke tubes hold no magic for me now -- haven't had one installed for years. Sure I use them -- in my clay target guns -- but I don't change them very often. Briley's and others that give a long length for reduction do make the most sense to me. I guess if I was trying to break 100 yard targets like some of the sporting clays wizards are doing, fuller chokes would be much more interesting, but those are games requiring special target guns anyway.

For field guns, Dave E's advice on modified choke, or John Singer's light mod advice (even more to my liking for all upland birds) are all very good. That's where I like to be with fixed chokes nowadays -- light mod to IC. If you modify a non-collector gun (the vast, vast majority of them - Grandpa's gun is not likely a collector) to light mod or IC, or even modified, it will work great with shot harder or softer than the barrel. The bore protection available in today's hard-shot factory loads and hard-shot reloading components, will be sufficient to protect Light mod barrels and maybe even mod-choked barrels.