Recessed chokes? Hummm. A trip to the internet is confusing. It appears that the barrel was cylinder bored - then 2 to 4 inches of the end of the barrel was recessed by a special tool? Like this??
. . . . . . . . cross-section
. . Barrel. . . . Recess. . . .Muzzle
_________________________
_____________/--------\____|
.
.
-------------------\______/-----|
-----------------------------------|
Now curiosity is definitely killing the cat. So how prevalent were chokes from the 1866 Pape patent to the introduction of NFB in 1875? When did "Choke" begin to be stamped? I've looked at and dated a lot of Reilly's but most of them had no pics of the barrel flats.
No idea how popular choke-bored guns were during that decade. The recessed choke is probably more commonly referred to as a jug choke.
When did "choke" begin to be stamped? Well, the rules of 1875 were published by both proof houses on October 11 of that year. Quoting from the 1875 rules, referring to the recessed/jug choked barrels:
"As to every such barrel, the word CHOKE shall be substituted for the words NOT FOR BALL in the proof mark aforesaid, but in all other respects the marks denoting definitive proof of choke-bored barrels of every description shall be identical."
I'd say that's about as specific as you're likely to find. So, from 11 October 1875 forward (until the rules were changed in 1887), that's the way the proof houses would have marked barrels.
Last edited by L. Brown; 11/25/18 09:22 AM.
