Seized Choke Tube

AdamRoby

AdamRoby

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Location
Kirkland, Quebec
Hi guys / gals,

I bought a brand new Hunt Group XP2 12 GA shotgun, getting ready for turkey hunting.
I thought I cleaned it out enough, but I guess not.
I took it to the range yesterday (finally convinced them to give me a corner in the handgun field), but when I got home to clean it out, the choke was stuck in there solid. I only snugged it, did not force it closed. I shot maybe a dozen rounds at targets.

I decided last night to leave the tip sitting in an old medicine bottle with WD40 (only thing I had handy).
This morning, after forcing more than I care to (worried about the threads), she loosened maybe 1/8 of a turn then jammed up again.
I backed it off to be in the middle, and put her back in the WD40 solution to soak a bit more.

I am seeing people online mentioning to use a torch, or putting it in the freezer. There is a fiber optic sight on the end that I am worried would melt with a torch. Not too sure how much I can force it, and/or the right approach to take here. I really don't want to damage this thing since it's brand new.

Any ideas?
 
Unfortunately, this was a "final sale / no warranty" type of deal. It was a really good price, but the original supplier went out of business. This was purchased from a "pawn shop", still in it's original box. They only had 2... I took a chance... maybe now I am paying for it.
 
I never shoot a shotgun with screw in chokes until I have cleaned and lubed the gun, which includes removing the choke tube, and coating it with anti seize before reinstalling it. Now that it is stuck, forget WD-40, it is meant as a water displacer, and is a poor penetrating oil. get enough Kroil to soak the barrel above the treads, and let it sit overnight. If it comes out great, if not, your gamble may have been a losing proposition.
 
Sounds like the choke is cross-threaded, but maybe try freeing it with some real gun solvent, or maybe a penetrating oil, the kind with rust remover in it. Squirt it on and let it sit for a while. Cold might work too, or a moderate amount of heat. You will want to remove the plastic front sight before applying it of course. Worse comes to worse, how badly do you need to remove that choke tube vs risking seriously damaging the threading? Shotguns had fixed chokes for a long time before changing them out became an option. And yeah, get some anti-seize and loosen and retighten those tubes at least twice a year to keep them free.
 
Thanks for the replies. I didn't think of using the gun solvent, will try that. I just reached for whatever I had lying around, as I ran out of the PBLaster stuff.
As for the chokes, I am new to shotguns and therefore wanted to experiment with different chokes, figuring I might need a different one when going from skeet to turkey to rabbits to slugs. I won't force it, I'll try to wiggle as much as possible. It's definitely not cross-threaded because it went it very easily. My guess is that some of the original manufacturer oil got cooked in there. I did not know I needed to use an anti-seize on those threads. My local gun shop told me to just use the usual gun oil that I use for everything else. Will definitely be using that anti-seize if I can get this out.
 
You may have blown the body out of the choke. Alot of turkish chokes are junk. Steel bb is really hard on them as well but turkey loads will do it as well. Ive ruined several. Heat gun oil and force once a lil bit became exposed i used vice grips and torqued them out. Ruined 3 chokes that way never hurt the threads in the barrels. Each time its happened to me it wasnt the threads causing the issue it was that the bidy had blown out and was friction fit in tight. Since switching to better aftermarket chokes ive not had an issue
To help penetrating oil seep in freeze the barrel then immediately hit it with a heat gun on high and stick it in the oil and repeat if you want to go that route

Best of luck
 
If you used steel shot in a full non steel choke you may have expanded the choke to make it super tight. I've removed a couple of tight chokes and the first thing to remember is don't damage the engagement notches in case it needs to go to a gunsmith. Take the barrel off and put it in a padded vice then push hard on the choke tool and try to turn it, if moves then stops then apply more penetrating oil and continue. A small amount of heat on the barrel will help and I suggest a heat gun and get the barrel to where its hard to touch and try again. If you get it out then lubricate the tube with choke grease or anti seize and it won't happen again. The key is to suppress you inner gorilla so as not to damage things and make it harder ( more $$$) for a gunsmith to remove if you fail.
 
Good penetrating oil, time, several heat cycles. Boiling water won't hurt the barrel. Get a good choke wrench, not the flimsy flat stamped metal thing that only engages 2 notches. Engage all four notches. Put the barrel in a vise vertically; it's easier to keep your wrench square that way. Work it back and forth, back and forth.


I think flush choke tubes are an inferior design.
 
Grouse Man said:
Good penetrating oil, time, several heat cycles. Boiling water won't hurt the barrel. Get a good choke wrench, not the flimsy flat stamped metal thing that only engages 2 notches. Engage all four notches. Put the barrel in a vise vertically; it's easier to keep your wrench square that way. Work it back and forth, back and forth.


I think flush choke tubes are an inferior design.
Click to expand...

All good tips. Sometimes I have had to put the wrench in the vice and turn the barrel. Rubber strap wrench worked well. Not fun trying to loosen a choke without damaging anything.

Darryl
 
I second Kroil. Stuff a rag in the chamber/breech, keep shotgun pointed upright and apply a heck of a lot of kroil to the choke. Keep adding a bit more over a few days. Project Farm (on Youtube) has a good video on penetrating oils. I agree WD40 is not the best for this type of thing.
 
I'd replace the WD-40 with Fluid Film.
Chit works.
If you can move it slightly, this stuck will eventually find it's way
into the threads and work pretty gawl darn slick.
 
Manual says it is steel shot supported, but I believe all 3 were lead.
I used three different shells and was using a full choke.

- Challenger 3" Long Range Turkey loads (these kicked pretty hard) - Lead.
- Challenger 2 3/4 Light Target Loads
- Federal 2 3/4 Target Target Loads

I've been looking for a extra full choke for this gun but could not find any specific, might be some generic brands that fit. I felt the full was still not tight enough, at 50' the spread was quite large ~20-24 inches. I now have it soaking in gun cleaner (did not think to remove the plastic sight before - hopefully it doesn't melt but there was a replacement in the box). I'll try out the various comments and report back.

"Gorilla strength" - hah... I know what you mean. I was tempted to just wrench the crud out of it but held back. I will work it back and forth, and try the cold hot to see.
 
Last edited:
Grouse Man said:
Good penetrating oil, time, several heat cycles. Boiling water won't hurt the barrel. Get a good choke wrench, not the flimsy flat stamped metal thing that only engages 2 notches. Engage all four notches. Put the barrel in a vise vertically; it's easier to keep your wrench square that way. Work it back and forth, back and forth.


I think flush choke tubes are an inferior design.
Click to expand...

If all the OP has is the flat metal wrench, then he should put THAT in the vise.

I had a choke stuck once. After putting the barrel tip down in a jar of diesel and ATF (I think that's what I used at least? It was a few years ago) for a few days I took the flat wrench and C-clamped it to my work bench. I then held the barrel in my hands, pushed the barrel onto the wrench and twisted. Two hands on the barrel gave me far more leverage than I'd ever get trying to hold that little stamped metal choke key, and it was much easier to keep the choke key in the slots on the choke because I could put my full body weight into pushing the barrel.
 
Suther said:
If all the OP has is the flat metal wrench, then he should put THAT in the vise.

I had a choke stuck once. After putting the barrel tip down in a jar of diesel and ATF (I think that's what I used at least? It was a few years ago) for a few days I took the flat wrench and C-clamped it to my work bench. I then held the barrel in my hands, pushed the barrel onto the wrench and twisted. Two hands on the barrel gave me far more leverage than I'd ever get trying to hold that little stamped metal choke key, and it was much easier to keep the choke key in the slots on the choke because I could put my full body weight into pushing the barrel.
Click to expand...

Indeed, all I have is the flat tool. I can't get much of a grip on it. That said, how hard can I really torque on this thing without damaging the threads on the barrel? I don't really care about the choke, I wanted to replace it anyway. Also, my chokes only have two slots, they don't have 4 slots. I think the vice method would be good, just worried about the amount of force that is safe to apply to it.
 
AdamRoby said:
Indeed, all I have is the flat tool. I can't get much of a grip on it. That said, how hard can I really torque on this thing without damaging the threads on the barrel? I don't really care about the choke, I wanted to replace it anyway. Also, my chokes only have two slots, they don't have 4 slots. I think the vice method would be good, just worried about the amount of force that is safe to apply to it.
Click to expand...

Thats a hard one to say. On the one hand, if its just rusty (which was my issue) then you probably won't hurt anything using a good deal of force. Mine was stiff the whole way out, even once it get free'd up there was enough rust build up that there was a lot of friction still.

On the other, if it is cross-threaded, you might hurt something. That said, if its cross threaded, what else are you going to do? Just leave it? Its not like you can really tell if its cross threaded or not without removing it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom