What choke for a DA 12.5" barrel on my 870

Call_to_Arms

Call_to_Arms

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Hey guys.
I have a 12.5" Dominion arms barrel coming for my 870, this particular one is threaded for removable chokes. I got a good deal on this particular barrel because some previous owner tried ramming a choke from a different manufacturer into it, the current choke does not fit properly and is stuck. I am pretty confident that I will be able to remove it but I doubt my threads are going to be much good. My plan is to try and get a proper choke installed and then leave it there, treating the barrel from then on as a fixed choke. So, if you had to decide on one choke to do in one of these shotguns forever, what would it be? I post this in the Hunting shotgun section because this will spend a lot of time with me in the woods, I would love to try my hand at it for small game hunting, squirrel, crow, rabbit, coyote?.... I doubt id bother with waterfowl so I am going to say steel shot is a non-issue. I have a few older shotguns in fixed-full and the only drawback with them is not being able to shoot steel through them, again, not an issue here. I suppose the real questions here are: Is there a good reason not to go Full-choke? What model of choke are these barrels supposed to use?

Thanks guys.
 
Choose the choke based on what you intend to use the gun for. If steel bird shot is the primary projectile, perhaps a modified choke is best. Buckshot doesn't need much choke to pattern well out to 25 yards, and 50 slugs in quick succession though any choke tighter than IC will probably have it shooting IC shot patterns anyway. If you intend to use cracker shells, the tighter the choke, the greater the chance of an explosion inside the barrel. This won't hurt your barrel, but it could result in a partial bore obstruction which will lead to barrel damage if you fire a standard shell without first removing the obstruction. If that barrel was mine, I'd probably purchase a muzzle reamer and simply cut away the threads, rather than risk jamming a choke tube in that is not square with the bore; if you hear a whiiizzzzing sound, that's your choke tube going down range. Once the old choke has been removed, I suppose its possible to chase the threads with the correct tap, but you will have consider the condition of the threads to determine if that's viable. If you do rethread, a choke tube that extends slightly beyond the muzzle, will help protect it.
 
Tread lightly here my man.....
There are a myriad of problems that could arise going forward here.

1st off a few things to consider which are what they are.
These barrels are very thin, typically display poor workmanship/specs/tolerances etc.
The originally cut choke threads are often poorly done and not concentric to the bore.
This is also often poorly done by aftermarket choke tube installers.
This process requires a very precise approach and execution to end up with a concentric finished product and a perfect choke tube/bore seam.
Any imperfection results in poor performance, and worse a progressively worsening choke tube/bore interface to the point of failure.

As such it is not unusual for the choke tube to get cross threaded, improperly seated etc especially if the operator is hamfisted.
Also depending on what got shot out of the gun the choke tubes and or threads are easily damaged.

A choke tube and or threads that are no concentric to the bore get immediately "stressed" into some level of concentricity by force when the first few rds are forced thru them...if there isn't a catastrophic failure the choke tube will end up seated "very firmly" in the threads making it difficult to impossible to remove without damage.

If you're lucky and the barrel/threads/choke were maunufactured to proper spec and the only issue is simple operator error threading/corrosion etc and the tube comes out without damage you might be fine.

The catastrophic results from a 12g barrel obstruction are a very real here....and pretty damn close to your face with these short barrels too.

The CDN and American military saw plenty of choke tube failures even with proper spec remington barrels/choke tubes as well as high end aftermarket approaches during experiments with threaded short barrels in actual hard field use....to the point that they discontinued using threaded choke barrels altogether.
Buckshot and slugs are Very hard on choke tubes/threads...even when using appropriate chokes.

I'd be very leary of going forward with a barrel in this condition.


Sorry for the rant....just thought I'd elaborate on a problem that is very real and prevalent.


As for your original question on choke.....
In a fixed choke barrel a mod choke that is on the more open end of the spec ( between mod and improved cylinder) works well with most generic buckshot and slugs too. It is very dependant on ammo tho and even barrels from gun to gun pattern differently similarliy choked.
There is so much diversity in ammo these days as well.
For a gun with threaded choked tubes yer better off imp cylinder unless shooting birdshot to prevent all the issues I mentioned rearing up.
Use a choke that can be checked/tightened by hand too so you can monitor it without tools.

Good luck.
 
I would say just cut off the choke and have it cylinder but since it's less than 18" wouldn't that make it restricted b/c it was cut down and not factory? May be best to ream out the threads and leave it open. Cylinder works pretty good when game pops out underneath you.
If you are stuck on chokes, my vote is for IC. Very versatile. Mod may be slightly better if you never use slugs. I've always found full is too full and fixed full choke barrels are the norm from the old lead hunting waterfowl days.
 
I have a Dlask Arms 14" barrel with brass bead for my 870, the main reason I got it is for a defence gun and something I can shoot grouse with in season if I come across one while on my quad. The short barreled 870 fits in my quad box. We compared the 12.5 and 14" barrels at Dlask and decided the extra length of the 14" barrel would make it easier to sight in a grouse, and I'm glad I went that way. It's still only suitable at close range, and that's with an open choke. The 870 with it's original 24" barrel and appropriate choke knocks them dead out to 50+ yards no problem, but the short barrel is a close range proposition. To answer your question, for sure get an open choke for a short barrel, you'll only be able to reliably make close up shots anyway.
 
Good news guys, I was able to remove the old choke, luckily 1/4" of it was sticking out the end of the barrel. I took a file and deepened the notches to give me a little more to bit into, then I used a price of flat stock as a lever to turn it out. To be honest the threads inside the barrel look fine, maybe a little blueing (or whatever) missing but the look fine. The choke is another matter, the threads look a little "flat" but not cross threaded and pretty shiny, so I'm hoping that the choke was softer than the barrel. This is where it gets awesome, the choke wasn't fully seated and 2 owners ago was shooting it like this, the first row of threads is actually rolling in, literally curling in. I wonder how many more shells he would have gotten through before something dramatic would have happened.

I am pretty confident from here, if I can find a local gunsmith with a tap to chase it with I will give it a shot. Can anyone confirm what type of choke these barrels are supposed to use? Someone told me invector?

Thanks guys.
 
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