The Art of Wing Shooting: A Practical Treatise on the Use of the ShotgunWilliam Bruce Leffingwell
1895http://books.google.com/books?id=e34EmE3tkfkC http://books.google.com/books?id=e34EmE3...wer&f=falseThe king of all pigeon shooters is Capt. John L. Brewer of Philadelphia. Mr. Brewer said to the author:
A pigeon gun should be a modified choke both barrels. The first barrel being
bored a little closer than a cylinder, and the second a little more open than a full choke. Bored in that manner, the first barrel will kill the bird within from thirty-five to thirty-seven yards, and the second up to forty yards, and the pigeon ought not be permitted to get beyond that distance when the second barrel is fired. A man must take every legitimate advantage in pigeon shooting. A modified choke gives that advantage, and when a man uses a full choke he handicaps himself.
It appears that in the U.S. pre-1900 'modified' meant anything other than 'choke bore' full, rather than 1/2 choke as in England.
