doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sub gauge tubing a gun

Regarding my Perazzi Mirage with the Tula chokes and brakes, I talked to Ted at Briley's today and he thought 20 ga Companion tubes with screw in chokes might be the right idea and would not mess with the original barrels or even 28 ga ones as I have a Mec 600 set up for 28 ga and 70 boxes of factory Fiocci skeet shells, purchased from a dealer going out of business 25 years ago. Anyone know where I can get used Companion tubes? The new ones are a bit pricey.
Thanks,
Mike

Briley varies the Companion tube to match the gun. I would buy a set for a Browning that came from a Browning but I would not try to put a set from a Browning in a 686. New may be cheap.
bill

Call Briley and ask them if you need a long or short extractor. Then it is just a matter of finding a set on the web. They are not custom fit to any gun they just have these nylon buttons which help hold them on the gun, very forgiving. Ebay has them still but they have to be listed as gun accessories not gun parts. Silly I know. Gunbroker also has a few listed from time to time.

MB - I thought your objective was to up the market value of your gun. If so, the tubes will be promptly discounted to their individual market or below by any prospective buyer. As I see it, that is not an improvement in the value of your gun.

This may open a can of worms, however, I would posit that the choke tubes would be of little value in a short tube set, irrespective of brand, and the gun would still deliver 'skeet' patterns. OTOH, if the tubes were long enough to get into the Tula choke area, then I do think the tighter chokes in the tubes would be the determinate factor on the type of patterns thrown. The question really becomes, "How far back from the muzzle can the tube's muzzle be before the original bbl's choke becomes determinate?" There has to be a range or rough distance, but I have never seen it addressed in even an empirical approach article. I do know that with short tubes, it is the bbl's choke that is the determinate factor. My own experiences with that phenomena began w/the Savage .410er tubes, but the result was similar with some others owned & tested as well.

FWIW, full length sub-gauge tubes in a 12ga SxS's make for perhaps the world's worst case of the 'pig on a stick'. I have a nice Elsie 12 with a full length set of 20 gauge tubes in it and I would dare anyone to hit a dove in flight w/it using an entire box of cartridges! Its balance is instantly transformed to static w/tubes inserted .. seemed like a good idea at the time. NOT!

tw - I think he is speaking of more or less full length tubes. If so, the choke tubes work just like any choke. I'd say that the tube could end 3"-4" back from the muzzle and the tube's choke would still be dominate.

You are right in that full length tubes add 8-16 oz to the gun weight and all in the barrels; balance moves forward, both swing efforts go up, and HWR goes up. I don't know the numbers of "pig on a stick", but that sounds directionally right. Of course, a very light gun might actually benefit from such handling changes.

Well, RocketMan, I do not see how Briley drop in tubes will reduce the value of the Mirage skeet gun, I just decided today I would like to keep it as it is, there were not that many made.
If I got some 20 ga full length tubes with screw-in chokes I could shoot 20ga shells in the gun and use it for sporting clays. It is muzzle light right now as I put a LH stock on with nice (UK origin) Turkish wood that is heavier than the original RH stock in North American Perazzi Treated Fencepost wood. A kind and knowedgeable person pointed out to me that I have $2,500 gun right now, I could buy a used set of 30" or 32" barrels with screw-in chokes for $2,500, total investment $5,000-value of gun then $4,500. Sounds like a lot of my gun deals I do not discuss with my missus!
Thanks for the advice,
Mike

So you have 5K in a 4.5K gun. As it is it has very limited value as a go to shooter but add a second set of barrels and it becomes a much more attractive gun, for real use. How many here have upgraded far cheaper guns to make the more to their needs? I have done it more times than Elizabeth Taylor has been married. I never regretted any of them only that I did not do a better job or have more of them done.

On the other hand I suspect that it may not be that easy to sell your current 2.5K gun right now but will be much easier to sell it with the second set of barrels. Short barreled O/U's are a real hard sell these days with everyone wanting 30, 32 or even 34" barrels.

Mike - the Briley tubes will not reduce the gun's vale, but will increase the value of the package only to the extent of the tube's value on the used market. Sounds to me like you have a clear picture of this issue. I have a set of .410 tube and an MT-6. Post the weight and balance of your gun and I'll give you a SWAG of what the tubes will do for new weight and balance.

I've got a set of Brlley 20 ga. tubes for my 10 ga. Purdey hammer gun...I love them.

Rocketman, yes you are correct. I'm off to England soon and will be delving for barrels. Main problem is, my gun is a 1976 early type III, will my forend fit? I'm taking that with me, Andrew Litt ia awaiting my visit....
Mike