Apparently Winchester didn't agree with Mr. Hoggson about the ability to break targets at 20 yards with a cylinder bore .410. During the production of the 101 O/U, Winchester changed from 0.005" constriction for skeet chokes in the .410 to cylinder bore (they did the same for 12, 20 and 28 gauges too). At skeet station 4, the target never gets closer to the shooter than 21 yards, and people still managed to shoot decent scores with the cylinder chokes. I personally prefer 0.007" of choke for my .410 skeet guns, but Winchester didn't ask me.
Tom, I know something about those cyl choked "skeet" guns. I've had a few. One was a 4-barrel set I bought from a competitive shooter. Included with purchase were two Purbaugh tubes in.....guess which "gauge"..... Those .410 tubes were obtained b/c of the the original owner's dissatisfaction with his .410 breaks - unexplained misses wreak havoc on the psyche. Today you will not find one top competitive shooter using .000 in the .410. For that matter they do not use .000 in 28 or 20, either, but that's another story.
Tom, I have gone to the trouble of doing the pattern work with various 2.5" 1/2 oz target loads (shotcups). Have you? At least 2/10 21 yd patterns from these otherwise unalteered .000 barrels will have a target-sized hole at pattern center. Repeat the test if you wish, or believe that WW could never have made a mistake.
As it happens WW's transition to .000 choke sections is quite germane to this thread. It occurred as a result of an industrial leader buying the notion that shotcups make constriction unnecessary. For several years these guns, mostly Japanese 101s and Mirokus, were somewhat popular. In the end the skeet world came to disagree. I can't say for sure, but I doubt anyone at WW/New Haven had done their homework on the matter
As it happens, this was not the only screw-up made by New-Haven (I imagine Olin-Kodensha just did what they were told). Graded 101s of the period were often poorly stocked with way too much figure in the wrist. Again, Tom, I am speaking from personal experience - having had to replace a Diamond grade stock. The replacement factory stock was, likewise, poorly laid out.
Sam
