Help to turn my old Breda into a duck hunter

Zedbra

Zedbra

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I have a friend of mine that wants me to start duck hunting with him and I am intrigued in trying it out. However, all of my shotguns are from the good 'ol lead days and I am rather fond of shooting my 1964 Breda autoloader. The Breda has external chokes, I measured my bore and it is 0.715 and the Cylinder choke I have is 0.708 - I was told there should be 0.020 difference to shoot steel. Not wanting to to blow my choke apart (they are very hard to find), I am trying to get my hands on some steel specific chokes for this gun; they are common in Europe but they are like finding hen's teeth here.

- What is an ideal choke diameter for duck hunting? I can only find metric labeled chokes - are their chokes similar when labelled with the stars **, ****, etc?

- Does anyone know a shop in NA that may have specialty chokes?

Here is the shotgun I have in 12g: ht tp://dailycaller.com/2014/07/08/gun-collecting-the-unique-breda-shotgun/

Here is what I require, supposedly the same choke for some Fabarm guns as well: ht tp://www.gemini.bs.it/eng/choke.php?sporting_arms_laboratory=catalogue&m=9&c=16
 
crunch68 said:
I don't know, but perhaps Carlsons or another aftermarket maker could help.
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I've emailed a bunch of alleged distributors in Europe today, a few North American choke companies, and even asked Clay at Prophet to see if he could in any way help - I'll drop Carlson's a message and see what they have to say. Thanks.
 
I'm not sure what you are asking. It seems to me that your cylinder choke has 8 thou of restriction and unless there is something about that choke that make you unable to shoot steel through it I would think it would be fine. The pattern my be a bit too open on it, but other than that I would think it would be perfect. The problem occurs when you try and restrict over 20 thou and you are shooting bigger shot such as BB. The shot may bridge and damage the barrel or choke. I apologise if there is something I'm missing.
 
g-manz35 said:
I'm not sure what you are asking. It seems to me that your cylinder choke has 8 thou of restriction and unless there is something about that choke that make you unable to shoot steel through it I would think it would be fine. The pattern my be a bit too open on it, but other than that I would think it would be perfect. The problem occurs when you try and restrict over 20 thou and you are shooting bigger shot such as BB. The shot may bridge and damage the barrel or choke. I apologise if there is something I'm missing.
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I will get a picture of the chokes for you - seeing as the screw on and the cylinder choke is short in length, it goes from bore to immediate choke lip - not sure how well that reacts with steel, to be honest; hence the questions.
 
The original chokes are very thin walled outside compared to the steel chokes they show available. Almost like comparing an impact socket to a regular socket. The tighter the choke, the thinner the metal. I really don't know if what I have is sufficient or not, it would be great if it is, but I also don't want to peel apart my Cylinder choke as it is my preferred choke for trap shooting. Here are some more pics to maybe assist.

All three original chokes. Marked as follows: Full = m/m 0.75 Modified = m/m 0.50 Cylinder = m/m 0.25




Inner diameter of the Cylinder choke




Outer diameter of the Cylinder choke




Inside of the Modified choke, going from barrel bore straight to choke lip:

 
Zedbra said:
I will get a picture of the chokes for you - seeing as the screw on and the cylinder choke is short in length, it goes from bore to immediate choke lip - not sure how well that reacts with steel, to be honest; hence the questions.
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I see. Yes that is a legitimate question. I misunderstood what you were asking.
 
leveractionjunkie said:
I'd maybe buy yourself a modern manufacture pump or auto that you don't mind exposing to weather a d conditions common to waterfowling.
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Yes, that is always an option and I did seriously consider it, but I like the fit of this shotgun - it works for me. If it gets beat up while doing what I need it to do - so be it; I'll run it until it gives up its ghost and then maybe go modern. Steel chokes exist, it's just a matter of finding out how to get some.
 
Tru lock will possibly assist. Let us know. They effectively are a short run custom builder for many of their chokes.

Another possibility is Briley chokes.
 
Trulock replied and said they would not even quote me unless I shipped them my barrel and one of my chokes. I did find two suppliers in Italy that will sell them to me. So, my question now would be, for a gun that only shoots 2 3/4" shells, what choke should I be considering for duck and waterfowl hunting? Are full chokes recommended? I was leaning towards a 0.050 but I have the option for tighter chokes. ht tp://www.gemini.bs.it/eng/choke.php?sporting_arms_laboratory=catalogue&m=9&c=16
 
Use the existing CYL and MOD constriction tubes. Shoot 2 3/4" steel shot no bigger than #2. Keep velocity under 1450 fps. Federal makes a great duck load of 1 1/8 oz. @1375 fps. So does Remington with the Sportsman loads. You have plenty of meat in those chokes for the loads I mentioned. My advice is free and if you want to buy other chokes then that is your choice. It is always fun to buy stuff for hunting and shooting.

Darryl
 
Thanks, Darryl. I've been reading a lot on this and it seems to have swayed back to there being no harm on older barrels providing it isn't a full choke.
 
madtrapper143 said:
Use the existing CYL and MOD constriction tubes. Shoot 2 3/4" steel shot no bigger than #2. Keep velocity under 1450 fps. Federal makes a great duck load of 1 1/8 oz. @1375 fps. So does Remington with the Sportsman loads. You have plenty of meat in those chokes for the loads I mentioned. My advice is free and if you want to buy other chokes then that is your choice. It is always fun to buy stuff for hunting and shooting.

Darryl
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I agree 100 percent.
 
madtrapper143 said:
Use the existing CYL and MOD constriction tubes. Shoot 2 3/4" steel shot no bigger than #2. Keep velocity under 1450 fps. Federal makes a great duck load of 1 1/8 oz. @1375 fps. So does Remington with the Sportsman loads. You have plenty of meat in those chokes for the loads I mentioned. My advice is free and if you want to buy other chokes then that is your choice. It is always fun to buy stuff for hunting and shooting.

Darryl
Click to expand...

This is probably what I would do, but if I bought a steel-specific choke, it would be in IC or Skeet 2.
 
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