My only experience with 20 gauge Flues is many, many years ago I bought one rather cheap as it had cut barrels. Chokes were marked as 2 & 4 & I suspect it had been a 28" barrel. They were at that point Dead on 26" with some choke remaining. It was a fairly late one, 1924 as I recall & weighed in at a solid 6 lbs even. I hunted with it for several seasons & fed it primarily the factory "Heavy Field load" of 2˝ DE - 1 oz. I was totally unaware of the Flues' reputation of Frame Cracking at the time & it did have steel barrels & said it was nitro proof. The chambers had been lengthened & apparently wall thickness was adequate as I never had a problem with it, UNTIL, the ribs popped loose at the muzzle. I believe the barrels had previously been hot blued, likely when they were shortened which was, of course, an entirely different matter.
If I still had this gun in shootable condition today, would I recommend these loads for it, Definitely NO? I do however have to say it never squealed or groaned while they were being used. It is I suspect quite likely this late-model heavier gun than the 5Ľ-5˝ lb earlier models had thicker sidewalls, though I never had on of the light ones to compare.
