Posted by David W on September 3, 2008, 6:49 am, in reply to "opening the chokes"
Robert, I know what you mean by trying to keep them all original. In your older guns along with a few of the ones that I have the bores seem to run .730-.731, which is very close to what Hunter bored them to and is very close to the newer guns with .728-.730 bore sizes. The chokes on your Grade 3 and the one barrel on the Grade 2 seem to be way under specs. Most full chokes are .695 and I have a few that are .687 which to me is full+ at .040 from bore of .728. Your's would be .049 if bore size of .729 which I would think with some shot would really "blow" the pattern.
If those barrels are actually .680, in my opinion I would not touch them, they could have been special ordered for a particular load back then. I would try and pattern different shot loads and find one that works. Remember, you could order an L.C. Smith by giving them the percentage of shot at a given distance in a 30" circle and they would bore the gun to such and then put a hang tag on it with results.