Chokes or no chokes?

huwe · Oct 22, 2012

I purchased a used o/u Charles Daly that was shortened and ported. Am wondering if I should have the bbl's tapped for screw in chokes or leave it as is. Am using it for trap only, have not tried clays or skeet yet. Would love to hear any opinions.

deadshot2 · Oct 23, 2012

If the barrel has been shortened and ported I'd just leave it as in. Sounds like someone built if strictly for use as a cylinder bore. Depending on the location of the "ports", you may not be able to squeeze in a choke tube.

beavernation · Oct 23, 2012

If it has had the chokes completely removed when it was shortened then it wont be worth squat as a trap gun!....oh yea ya may break a few if ya shoot really quick but keep in mind the shortest distance trap is shot at is 16yds from the house. It ya shoot really, really quick you can breakem at about 30 yds but only experienced trap shooters can shoot that quick. A gun with cylinder chokes (no choke at all) is certainly less than ideal for even a 30 yd target. If you really want to learn how to shoot trap get an O/U with 30" barrels and start right.......my .02 gathered from 36 yrs in the clay target games......

huwe · Oct 23, 2012

I measured the muzzle interior dimensions. They are marked full and Im from the factory. The full measures.693 and the im is .723. From what I have read they are not too far off. The ports are a good. 4" back, it was shortened from 30 to 28. Thanks!

deadshot2 · Oct 24, 2012

huwe said:
I measured the muzzle interior dimensions. They are marked full and Im from the factory. The full measures.693 and the im is .723. From what I have read they are not too far off. The ports are a good. 4" back, it was shortened from 30 to 28. Thanks!

That missing 2" may mean that there still isn't enough meat left in the barrels to bore and thread for choke tubes.

How does it shoot now? I used to have an O/U Trap gun with one of every known choke choke tube for that gun. Found that I only used two. Full and Improved Modified kind of lived in the barrels. Had to regularly remove them and de-carbon them. If the gun shoots good now, why change?