Dam,
Right you are. To add to your excellant information, choke is the performance of the shot and barrel constriction at a specified range. A 70% pattern in a 30" circle at a distance of 40 yards is generally accepted as Full Choke. Parkers and LC Smith shotguns came with the pellet count for each barrel written on the sales hang tag.
Many of our older SxS's have (or at least had when made) .040" constriction in 12 gauge to produce a full choke pattern with the softer lead shot and fiber wads that were available when produced.
Modern plastic shot cups that protect shot from scraping the bore and becoming the "flyers", the shot cup's piston to soften the abrupt push of the powder igniting, and hardened "magnum" shot that keeps it's circular shape during firing no longer require .040" to produce full choke patterns. Today, constrictions on .030" produce full choke patterns.
Steel shot and other hard non-toxic shot require even less constriction to produce full choke patterns.
Mark
Last edited by MarkOue; 09/21/11 07:05 PM.
