Lots for a reader to learn in your story Stan. Open chokes certainly have a place, especially in a light upland gun but you are quite correct in that putting the choke back in place is much harder than removing it. Soldered in choke tubes are an option as is back boring if you have adequate wall thickness.

It sounds like Glacier John has a good understanding of his needs and choke constrictions. I would agree with him that .045" is more choke than is needed for the vast majority of shotguning.

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