Many thanks to 2-piper for explaining my oversight in not putting DRAM EQUIVALENT on my previous post. When most people I know speak of loads, they always mean equivalent... out of the manual. I was foolish to recommend even a starting point for experimentation. But, I notice that Wonko managed to ignore my use of the terms light load and square load. I personally try to shoot 1160 fps with one ounce, even for long range work. I never cease to be amazed with the fact that some people draw pleasure from riduculing minute points while ignoring the larger question. In this case it is pattern effectiveness.
Certainly, I respect the expertise of Darryl Hallquist. I will humbly admit to being surprised by the previous measurement of production run Lefevers. I must say, however, that I think the fact that he has two tapered guns proves that they do exist. I was not referring to a specific model, but the fundamental design. The gun that I shot was actually a Savage made Stevens, built when Harry Pope ran the gunshop, and almost identical to the Lefever Nitro and Ithaca Field. If Darryl can untangle the conflicting patent overlaps of Savage/Lefever/Ithaca in this era, he will have done something fantastic, which I have not been able to accomplish.
Regarding, my ridicule for comparing a shotgun barrel to a violin, and why it has escaped all the great industialists, I will point to the existing science of cryogenic steel alignment which is offered to improve the patterns of competition shotguns and accuracy of long range rifles. It is based on principles of vibration, i.e. harmonics.
Regarding my riducule for stating that a long slow barrel taper increased pattern effectiveness, one must go no further than the makers of MODERN screw-in chokes to read their statements on shot deformation, and regulating choke to bore diameter.
Regarding my ridicule for stating that Ithaca choked the barrels of English best guns, and similar incredulous wonder at how such stupidity arises, I will point to one man. Frank Knickerbocker was the shop supervisor for Ithaca during a generation when the question of how a gun shot was not conjecture but money on the line. More than a century ago, the British magazine THE FIELD organized an international competition to judge the tightness of choke boring. Frank Knickerbocker bored guns won that competion more times and more times consecutively than any other gun in the world. To the best of my memory, it was almost two decades of total domination.
In spite of the previous criticism of my comments, I hope that a few people will manage to take my statements at face value and realize that not every possible iota of information can be discussed in a post. The most important thing that I have learned in years of listening to skilled shooters is that IDENTICAL guns will perform differently. There is indeed some magical relationship between the steel and the bore which makes one gun perform better than another.
