doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com FLUES CHOKES

Okay all you doublegun nuts-I've a puzzle.I have an Ithaca 20ga Flues,made 1926 according to the lady at Ithaca.It's choked mod and full.Favorite shooting is upland birds-ph,chu,and quail.Would like to change this nice 20 to ic and mod.Part 1-Are the bbls too thin,old,or otherwise unfit to have tubes installed?Part-2-If so,can I ream them out to achieve desired chokes?Part 3-If none of the above,can I use a micrometer to determine how much to cut off the bbls to achieve ic&mod?Will be on most of the evening.Thank-you.

Your easiest solution is to have the chokes reamed to what you want. There is most probably enough metal at the muzzles to do that. I cannot imagine a set of barrels that are originally choked mod. and full that wouldn't have enough thickness (at the muzzles) to open them to IC and Mod. There may, or may not, be enough thickness to have screw-ins installed. The barrel man that you are considering using to do the job can determine that. Briley thin-wall chokes can be installed by them (Briley) when other brands cannot. I have a Perazzi MX-8 that had muzzles so close together that, when I had Briley thread them for thin-walls, I had to have the O.D. of the extended choke tubes ground down to keep them from hitting each other. I can't screw both out at the same time now, or they will bind against each other, due to barrel convergence.

I have had chokes reamed out, and have had barrels threaded for choke tubes, and really think that in most instances reaming the fixed chokes to what you want is the best, and certainly is the simplest and cheapest, recourse.

SRH

Or you could quit dinking around and use spreader loads- if it is choked 2 and 4 (mod and full) wait until you are older, and your reflexes and timing are a tad "off" from what you enjoy now--one you take out the metal, you can't put it back--

Stan,thankyou for the info and opinion.I tend to agree.If for no other reason than less changing of the appearance nad aesthetics.Never really know it had been done.That's important.You've helped me make up my mind.Next is redoing the wood.Sit by my fire for a month of nights,hand rubbing tung oil.into 86 yo walnut.

All of the Flues that I have seen, including mine have lots of metal at the muzzle. I would have it reamed to fixed chokes of
about .005 and .015 personally.

Suggesting you also check chamber length.

You and Gene Hill would have probably gotten along well together.

SRH

Swampus,

Before making any irreversible changes to what sounds like a nice, original gun, I would suggest trying some Polywad Double Wides (http://www.polywad.com/doublewide.html). These are low pressure spreader loads suitable for your Flues. 20ga Flues are susceptible to frame cracking; avoid modern loads and stay with low pressure loads.

Phil

You need to measure the chokes before you do any mods. If the gun is a pretty rough field grade, refinishing it properly won't hurt its value. If it's a graded gun in relatively decent shape, it'll kill the value. Best to get some input from experienced sxs people first. Posting good detailed pix here would get you some good advice.

Restoration work is a multitude of skills. You should read the book at the top of this forum if you haven't done this to doubleguns.