It’s a cold, wet day here so no field work…someone asked about choke tube installation …so it’s time to write I guess (and in honour of Queen Victoria, of course!)
First of all, this is only what I did. I am not recommending it to anyone. I live in a remote location and need to be resourceful. My skills have come about over 40 years. But I am not a professional and this should be not taken as professional advice. Nevertheless, I have successfully manually installed choke tubes on shotguns for many years and about a dozen guns. Just realize that things may not go well for you and you may have to take your shotgun to a professional smith in the end after your investment, which will make it doubly pricy. All of the tubes I have installed have been on low-cost or free shotguns.
The last shotgun I installed a tube on was a Marlin 55, 12 ga. Goose Gun. It was freely given to me by a hunter who is too old to go out. I felt honoured with his gift but did not want to shoot steel through a fixed full choke. The barrel is too long to fit in a lathe and I did not want it cut short. So I did it myself by hand.
First of all there is a minimum thickness for your barrel that is needed. Different tubes require different thicknesses. You will have to do your research regarding the tube you want to install and take the measurements off your shotgun barrel using a caliper. I have done all my tubes on older guns with heavy barrels (H+R, Marlin, Winchester). And while you are at it, it’s not a bad thing to read up on the nature of steel itself. I have read the standard undergraduate text, Materials: Engineering, Process, Design (two of my children are civil engineers), just to get some idea with the nature of the steel with which I am dealing. (No, there’s nothing to do up here in winter other than read…).
First you have to ream out the choke.
To find the diametre of the bore I Cerrosafe the bore from the camber end to find its true dimensions, following instructions to add .001 to the size of the casting to allow for expansion. Then I check the pilots I have. These have to fit the bore precisely…no play when lubed and close to tight enough that without lube they may not come out! I need a large handled tap wrench; mine is 16”. If my pilot fits precisely, then I have found that the reamer will follow well and produce a precisely fitted tube. I clamp my barrels in a Black & Decker Workmate, which has a central groove between two moving blocks of wood that close on one another. To remove the choke you need a pilot extension so that the pilot can be inserted from the chamber end while the reamer is used front he outside of the muzzle. Once this is removed then the pilot can be attached to the actual choke tube reamer and cutting of the choke tube can begin. Using cutting oil I start the long process of making a turn or two, backing out the reamer, cleaning it off (a toothbrush dipped in oil works well) reinserting it, and pressing on. A reamer cuts on several diametres the further in it goes. By the end it requires a substantial amount of force to progress. I am careful all the time to not exert lateral pressure on the handle. The palm of my hand invariably becomes quite raw. The reamer will naturally square off the muzzle at the end.
First of all, this is only what I did. I am not recommending it to anyone. I live in a remote location and need to be resourceful. My skills have come about over 40 years. But I am not a professional and this should be not taken as professional advice. Nevertheless, I have successfully manually installed choke tubes on shotguns for many years and about a dozen guns. Just realize that things may not go well for you and you may have to take your shotgun to a professional smith in the end after your investment, which will make it doubly pricy. All of the tubes I have installed have been on low-cost or free shotguns.
The last shotgun I installed a tube on was a Marlin 55, 12 ga. Goose Gun. It was freely given to me by a hunter who is too old to go out. I felt honoured with his gift but did not want to shoot steel through a fixed full choke. The barrel is too long to fit in a lathe and I did not want it cut short. So I did it myself by hand.
First of all there is a minimum thickness for your barrel that is needed. Different tubes require different thicknesses. You will have to do your research regarding the tube you want to install and take the measurements off your shotgun barrel using a caliper. I have done all my tubes on older guns with heavy barrels (H+R, Marlin, Winchester). And while you are at it, it’s not a bad thing to read up on the nature of steel itself. I have read the standard undergraduate text, Materials: Engineering, Process, Design (two of my children are civil engineers), just to get some idea with the nature of the steel with which I am dealing. (No, there’s nothing to do up here in winter other than read…).
First you have to ream out the choke.
To find the diametre of the bore I Cerrosafe the bore from the camber end to find its true dimensions, following instructions to add .001 to the size of the casting to allow for expansion. Then I check the pilots I have. These have to fit the bore precisely…no play when lubed and close to tight enough that without lube they may not come out! I need a large handled tap wrench; mine is 16”. If my pilot fits precisely, then I have found that the reamer will follow well and produce a precisely fitted tube. I clamp my barrels in a Black & Decker Workmate, which has a central groove between two moving blocks of wood that close on one another. To remove the choke you need a pilot extension so that the pilot can be inserted from the chamber end while the reamer is used front he outside of the muzzle. Once this is removed then the pilot can be attached to the actual choke tube reamer and cutting of the choke tube can begin. Using cutting oil I start the long process of making a turn or two, backing out the reamer, cleaning it off (a toothbrush dipped in oil works well) reinserting it, and pressing on. A reamer cuts on several diametres the further in it goes. By the end it requires a substantial amount of force to progress. I am careful all the time to not exert lateral pressure on the handle. The palm of my hand invariably becomes quite raw. The reamer will naturally square off the muzzle at the end.
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