Thread: Putting choke on smooth bore shotgun

Hey all

I have a 18 inch winchester sxp pump action that has a smooth bore, I'm wondering if a gunsmith could put a choke in it suitable for bunnies/hares. Is this even possible?

Suggest you take it to a reputable gunsmith. He will measure the barrel wall thickness and the internal diameter. He will then examine the type of metal of the barrel. After that he will advise you as to the possibilty of having the muzzle internally threaded to accept a screw-in choke.

Awesome guys cheers. Will do a ring around, get prices etc

The big one is it will be very likely to cost as much if not more then a replacement barrel. This is of course reliant on a replacement being available.
Also depends on whether your barrel has enough meat in the end to have it done like woody says.
It may come down to being cheaper to buy another shotgun.
Wait and see really

Yeah that did cross my mind.

Why would you, are you looking at a pattern Master? Better to know the gun and what ammo works best in it.

Just want it to have a bit more range for rabbits and what not. Never patterned it to be honest but I would imagine it wouldn't be ideal.

Briley thin wall chokes can be fitted to most barrels. Brian Thompsen who is bdt401 on TM is the NZ Briley agent.

Originally Posted by Got-ya

Briley thin wall chokes can be fitted to most barrels. Brian Thompsen who is bdt401 on TM is the NZ Briley agent.

is the poly choke still available

Sorry not sure, Brain would be the one to ask. I have a Double Auto with one and like it, but would I chose one over screw in chokes?, doubt it as from my experience they don't pattern as good.

try some falcon sp36 lead #3s through it...they are a great bunny hare load.....might pattern good enough to be a non issue.

Try steel shot. Not trying to be funny but it goes fast enough now there's really not much difference than lead, if any. But you have way more pellets for equivalent size so more in the pattern. #3 or #2's would be a good place to start. Fingers on the wads are longer to stop the steel shot touching the barrel ( said the man from falcon ammo) . That's why you need to run more open chokes to start the wad fingers opening sooner to pattern properly , your current problem using lead. I'd get a box of each lead and steel of same size and pattern at different ranges before playing with the barrel. You might find you could get to 30/35yrds with luck and the shooting gods willing.

with no choke...30 yards SHOULD be a 30" pattern all things being equal....diferent loads will pattern tighter or looser...the sp36s have been a great load over the years...I was shooting out to 40 yards on rabbits consistantly.

Originally Posted by r87mm

Try steel shot. Not trying to be funny but it goes fast enough now there's really not much difference than lead, if any. But you have way more pellets for equivalent size so more in the pattern. #3 or #2's would be a good place to start. Fingers on the wads are longer to stop the steel shot touching the barrel ( said the man from falcon ammo) . That's why you need to run more open chokes to start the wad fingers opening sooner to pattern properly , your current problem using lead. I'd get a box of each lead and steel of same size and pattern at different ranges before playing with the barrel. You might find you could get to 30/35yrds with luck and the shooting gods willing.

? Ok where to begin. Assuming the same length shells how do you jam more pellets in the shell? More open chokes are required because steel is much harder than lead and has the potential to bulge or seize the chokes in a barrel due to the lack of deformation of the pellets. This can be an advantage, because steel pellets stay nice and round they fly truer with less flyers in the pattern ie a tighter pattern for a given choke constriction vs lead.

As to your point on speed, I wont side-track the thread by debating this.

Originally Posted by Got-ya

? Ok where to begin. Assuming the same length shells how do you jam more pellets in the shell? More open chokes are required because steel is much harder than lead and has the potential to bulge or seize the chokes in a barrel due to the lack of deformation of the pellets. This can be an advantage, because steel pellets stay nice and round they fly truer with less flyers in the pattern ie a tighter pattern for a given choke constriction vs lead.

As to your point on speed, I wont side-track the thread by debating this.

assuming the same payload for the shell, and exactly the same shot size, there will be more steel pellets in the shell because steel weighs less than lead. I am sure there are different powders used by the factory to get the speed up but to a degree you are right. You don't get quite the same payload weights in steel vs lead for just that reason. BUT you can go up in pellet size to get your mass back and not have to many holes in the pattern because you have more pellets in there.
In all of this I'd still much prefer lead over steel any day and would spew if I had to ever use it on rabbits etc.