Reading this thread made a lightbulb go off in my head about an article I remember reading in the DGJ a long time ago. I had the good fortune to find the article written in the Spring 2000 issue (volume 11 issue 1). In the article titled "Joseph Tonks-Boston" The author, William O. Achtermeier, stated that in preparing for the article he examined 15 Tonks shotguns, including 3 single barrel percussion trap guns and 9 were choked guns. He also references a 19th century outdoors writer named Joseph W. Long who wrote, in the 1879 edition of "American Wild-fowl Shooting" a whole chapter on choke bores and relates several stories about choke bored muzzleloaders made by Joseph Tonks of Boston. This quote is from the article: "In chapter 21 Long describes the invention of the choke bore as the most valuable aid to sportsmen since the appearance ofthe percussion lock. While giving a nod to W. Papes claim as the inventor, he notes that the Englishman "...is not the original inventor..."
He goes on to state that a gunsmith named Jeremiah Smith of Smithfield, Rhode Island had been producing choke bored muzzleloaders since 1827. He goes on to speculate that Tonks may have aquired the technology either directly from Smith or indirecly as a result of his involvement in the gun trade in the region and that the techniques involved may have become common knowledge by then in hte area.
It is a long article. Those with a reference library of back issues of the DGJ will no doubt enjoy going back to read it. I certainly did.
