Of course a pad was an add-on in most cases. But then so were single triggers, ejectors, beavertail forends, vent ribs . . . and there are plenty of doubles that came from the various factories with those options. If we're talking field grade guns, certainly the majority were double trigger, extractor, and didn't have a pad. But the odds of finding any of the options increased as you move up in grade. And certainly M/F was the most common choke combination, especially on guns with 28" barrels. But if you go down in barrel length, you're more likely to find more open chokes than on 28"; longer than 28", more likely to find F/F. And having owned a couple 28" Flues guns with barrels marked 0/4, I think 95%+ is more than a bit high when applied to ALL prewar American sxs.
Last edited by L. Brown; 11/13/13 08:42 AM.
