I often hunt waterfowl with bismuth loads in my 1928 era L.C. Smith 12 ga. 3" Longrange- choked full and full- back in the pre-1913 era, Hunter Arms catalogues mentioned that their 12 bore guns, regardless of grade or barrel length, were choked F&F as a factory std. Other chokings available at customer's request- Full and Full were advertised as being the "expert gunner's choice" in that pre-WW1 era.

A good friend and hunting pal has a 16 gauge M21 with two sets of 28" factory fitted barrels, one forearm accepts both barrels sets. One is choked cyl, and mod., the other imp. mod. and full. On a grouse and woodcock hunt some years ago, he had that gun with the tighter choked set of barrels and No. 8 7/8 ounce Federal Purple Paper loads- shot 5 grouse and 8 woodcock with 14 shells- all clean drop dead birds, he has never shot that well with that gun before, and you tell me, in the words of the late Elmer Keith-who loved tightly choked Ithacas- "You mean it kills them TOO dead?""-- RWTF


"The field is the touchstone of the man"..