Using a classic

[daking]

A friend of mine was just given a pristine Model 12 Winchester. It appears to be a field grade gun (no vent rib, small forend, no checkering) from the forties or fifties. It is a 20 ga, with a full choke barrel.

My pal's question? Would it be a horrible sin to have the choke altered to improved or modified so it would be useful as an upland gun? It's small and light, just the thing for rabbits and quail. He's looking to keep it as a useful heirloom instead of a wall-hanger.

If he were to get the choke opened, can anyone recommend a gunsmith in the Louisville area (+-50 mi) who can do this job nicely? I imagine that no matter what, it's getting a choke job, so who can do it nicely?

[trust me]

I belong to the "use it" category. A gun sitting pretty and shiny in the gun safe isn't doing anyone any good. John Browning designed that gun with a lifetime of hard use in mind; it'd be a shame to disappoint the old man.

I know a couple basement gunsmiths out of your area that can hone out a choke. It is fairly easy but very easy to go too far. A choke hone is a spring loaded contraption with a couple of whetrocks that fit inside the barrel, then are spun with a drill. You hone a little, take it the pattern board, hone, pattern, hone, pattern, etc. When you get the percentage you want with the load you want, it's time to stop.

If it were me, I'd get a reputable gunsmith to alter the choke. Or, you can buy or make spreader loads that can easily give you modified results.

[30WCF]

It would depend on the guns condition for me to alter it, they aint ever going to make any more. If its kind of beat up or already been refinished then go for it. If its in good shape and all factory original I wouldnt change a thing, its just not that hard to find the 20's with a mod choke anyway.

[C.L.Button]

Why not just buy another barrel for it ? Trust me, don't they make replacement barrels for those guns ?