I first heard of the TULA choke from a Gun Digest article in the 1968-1970 or so period after the Russians really kicked it up a notch in skeet. The form of course is similar to jug choking which was used all the way back in the transitional period of percussion to breech loader to tighten groups.
Not wanting to digress but the referenced link above I found of interest due to the discussion of the original Cutts patent in the 1920's being originally geared toward rifle accuracy. It turns out the the current generation of .22 benchrest rifles use similar stabilizers almost exclusively. Their general use traces back to Bill Calfee who's work was central in a lot of regards to the movement toward the modern .22 benchrest rifle. Bill was an innovater and skilled machinist who worked magic in a very simple shop. He unquestionable built the best rifles of his generation, but was secretive about his methods and back engineered theory for his work based on non-technical reasoning. In the case of his stabilizers, theories have raged for years as to the method of stabilization. He contended that his devices worked by fixing the muzzle so that it stopped all vibration and movement at the exit. This is patently impossible with any vibrational analysis of the barrel. Practicing scientists have shown through vibrational analysis and fluid dynamics studies of the exiting gas column in the stabilizer that the devices improve accuracy by adjustment to compensate for shot to shot variation in velocity correcting POI (which is a weight effect) and to the cancelling of longitudinal gas pulses which disrupts the projectile flight (a gas tube effect). Many people and companies have claimed primacy in the development of such devices, going back to the 60's. Thousands of pages arguing either for a weight based of fluid flow based theory (most without any understanding of the scientific principles involved). In reading the original Cutts work, it seems to discuss exactly a modern muzzle tube. I suspect it has been completely overlooked by benchrest shooters due totheCuttsbeing so intimately linked to shotgun devices.
