Posted by SGT on May 10, 2008, 10:29 pm, in reply to "To open or not?"
Go ahead and open the chokes if you wish; original chokes will not be marked on the gun, and probably are not listed in the shipping records either (as FYI, all Smith guns were shipped F/F unless the customer specified otherwise); so who will ever know if the more practical chokes you want are original or not? Just make sure that whoever you chose to open those chokes is a professional and does not do a "butcher" job; as a less than professional job can and will impact value. As to the pad, replace it with a period pad (Hawkins, NoShoc, Silvers, etc) originally offered by Hunter; these brands were factory options and would make you gun appear as original. Finally, unless your gun is marked as having 2 3/4" chambers, they could be short. Have them checked by a competent gunsmith; and, if short, see if they can be safely lengthened. If not use the 2 1/2" shells marketed by Gamebore, Polywad, and other commercial suppliers.