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Opening chokes


Rob85
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So with the recent announcement regarding lead shot I now need to look at getting my aya yeoman chokes opened up to take steel as it's a gun I don't want to get rid of. Anybody know how much it would cost to have this done? They are sitting at standard half and full at the minute. I'm in northern ireland and we don't have as many gunsmiths about that can perform these mods. 

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That's what I was thinking. Needs to be concentric in the bore an all that, being from an engineering background myself I definitely don't want to let some bubba at it who managed to buy some reamers. Problem with over here that I've had experience of is taking a gun in and the guys just saying no you would be better buying another gun... in other words they want to sell you something rather than sort out what you have

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10 hours ago, Rob85 said:

That's what I was thinking. Needs to be concentric in the bore an all that, being from an engineering background myself I definitely don't want to let some bubba at it who managed to buy some reamers. Problem with over here that I've had experience of is taking a gun in and the guys just saying no you would be better buying another gun... in other words they want to sell you something rather than sort out what you have

Get it into Benjamin Wild in Birmingham , or any of the gunsmiths on Price Street. You will get a decent price and good workmanship.

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19 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, like Lloyd mentioned,  i would first see what NON HP steel cartridges are available in your area, you will not get much change out of £100 to get both barrels reamed out to reduce chokes if you have to get done in UK  is there not a good gunsmith in Northern Ireland,


Even if they open the choke up I doubt the gun will take a HP steel as they’re normally a bigger length such as 3” and higher pressure. 
 

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I`ve been using an AYA Yeoman with steel and the original full/half choke for years. I use a 28gm no.5 steel standard velocity cartridge and it works perfectly well with no damage to the gun whatsoever.

I have however, recently had a job lot done on my sbs`s taking them all out to half and quarter which worked out at about £40 per barrel.

Only since their seems to be a bit of confusion amongst other contributors to this thread, your gun, assuming it to be in good condition and still in proof, is as you know suitable only for Standard steel and not High Performance. Take a look at about 0610.

 

Edited by mudpatten
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Thanks for the responses guys. I would just feel more comfortable with the chokes eased out so I'm taking less of a risk with a 64yr old gun. I think the recommendation was no more than half choke, got in contact with the local place today as they are closed Monday's and they have quoted about £30 A barrel, that's honing them through from the chambers to the muzzle. They also have a wee hatsan magnum in stock for a good price so my wee over under might get a trade in. I love the videos TGS have done with Nick Horten, very honest and he does try out high pressure i think with a ugartechea and ends up with a slight bit of barrel damage

Just to be clear I'm not even considering running high pressure steel through it.

Edited by Rob85
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45 minutes ago, Rob85 said:

Thanks for the responses guys. I would just feel more comfortable with the chokes eased out so I'm taking less of a risk with a 64yr old gun. I think the recommendation was no more than half choke, got in contact with the local place today as they are closed Monday's and they have quoted about £30 A barrel, that's honing them through from the chambers to the muzzle. They also have a wee hatsan magnum in stock for a good price so my wee over under might get a trade in. I love the videos TGS have done with Nick Horten, very honest and he does try out high pressure i think with a ugartechea and ends up with a slight bit of barrel damage

Just to be clear I'm not even considering running high pressure steel through it.

hello, that looks a good deal, are you sure its 64 years old, ?

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1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, that looks a good deal, are you sure its 64 years old, ?

My mistake 54 years old haha I had just woke up when I sent that.... I'm working night shifts at the minute and my brain function isn't what it should be when I wake up! The place is a local clay ground/gun dealers and probably one of the best prices around for guns and getting work done in northern ireland that doesnt involve a bit of a drive away.

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9 minutes ago, Rob85 said:

My mistake 54 years old haha I had just woke up when I sent that.... I'm working night shifts at the minute and my brain function isn't what it should be when I wake up! The place is a local clay ground/gun dealers and probably one of the best prices around for guns and getting work done in northern ireland that doesnt involve a bit of a drive away.

hello, no worry, i bought a yeoman when they were £38.10shilling, about 2 years after first imported, about mid 1970s i seem to remember??? good luck with your:good:

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3 hours ago, Rob85 said:

Thanks for the responses guys. I would just feel more comfortable with the chokes eased out so I'm taking less of a risk with a 64yr old gun. I think the recommendation was no more than half choke, got in contact with the local place today as they are closed Monday's and they have quoted about £30 A barrel, that's honing them through from the chambers to the muzzle. They also have a wee hatsan magnum in stock for a good price so my wee over under might get a trade in. I love the videos TGS have done with Nick Horten, very honest and he does try out high pressure i think with a ugartechea and ends up with a slight bit of barrel damage

Just to be clear I'm not even considering running high pressure steel through it.

One other point that needs a little clarity here is HIGH presure steel.

 Its a cip thing. we are in it through europe. We are legaly obliged via the proof house to unsure guns are in proof when we sell/ exchange them.

Ammo proof specs are not in law, just advice . Now cartridge makers produce ammo inside these specs here, but also claim from such loads. speeds which those cartridges will never ever reach. I have not pressure tested X brands Marsh special HP. but i might have choreographed that round, and on the box it said 1550FPS But its doing 1294fps on your chrono at 3 yards, and even if you add the 70fps to that recorded speed for the distance from the muzle of the chrono. , its no way near the factory claim and no where near HP steel.

So regardless of claims it can be that HP is not has HP as it was suposed to be.  Over here even when we are talking lightening steel etc, we got the ammo options over here on the tame side of brisk, rather than scorchingly fast and genuine HP like some USA options. If you look at something like genuine remington hyperfast start taking notice, but what we tend to be able to buy here is little more than normal steel in HP steel labeling.

 What do you do? well you read the box take notice regardless, but if you got a chronoand better still get a test done, on pressure it might just be that with that batch of ammo at least you could be normal steel pressure in what is just claimed to be HP steel. The bit of extra speed is negligable but its just that its nice to know what you are acctualy dealing with, not claims set to encourage purchase of a quite mundane cartridge, dressed up to look like a real performer. This is precisely why i reload Much as possible, that way you know what you are getting exactly.

Edited by lancer425
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  • 1 year later...

Hello to original poster. I also live in NI and want to get chokes opened in anticipation of shooting steel. I just wondered if you were able to find someone in  NI who could do this job properly. I have been quoted £100 per barrel inc vat to have this done in England. At least they would do a decent job.  Would prefer not to have to send the barrels off if possible but I am aware that we don't have the skilled gunsmiths here. Let me know if you were able to get it done.

Many thanks

Richard

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20 hours ago, Gafto said:

Hello to original poster. I also live in NI and want to get chokes opened in anticipation of shooting steel. I just wondered if you were able to find someone in  NI who could do this job properly. I have been quoted £100 per barrel inc vat to have this done in England. At least they would do a decent job.  Would prefer not to have to send the barrels off if possible but I am aware that we don't have the skilled gunsmiths here. Let me know if you were able to get it done.

Many thanks

Richard

Where roughly in NI? If it's a plain set of barrels without being chrome lined then I was quoted 30quid a barrel at my local place, they said a hard chrome barrel might be a little more. What kind of gun and what are the barrels choked at as I haven't bothered getting mine opened up and have been shooting steel through both my guns. Mainly an over under that is pretty tightly choked....at least half and very full

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Having bored more chokes than I care to remember , it was never a favourite job, there are a few things to consider about boring them out . Time taken plus the gear needed will govern the cost .

If the barrel is steel then there is usually no problem it using piloted reamers , the pilot being of an appropriate size behind the reamer to support it so that the tapered lead on the reamer enters the choke centrally the drive rod being supported with bushes mid way and at the chamber ends .I found it best to bore out in stages of between .005" and .010" depending on how hard the barrel steel.

Past experience taught me that many Spanish barrels needed to have smaller increments taken out to avoid pickups or rips .

The chokes were then finished to size on a honing machine and polished .

Chromed barrels needed to have the chrome bored away first ,I used a diamond home to do this before any attempt was made to use reamers .

It is of course possible to simply hone the choke out completely but this is time consuming .

Another point I must make is that that not all chokes were originally  concentric to the bore , lower priced continental guns mainly but I found it on guns of all makes and ages .  It is not noticeable with a heavy choke but when bored out to !/4 it can look and is one sided to the bore . 

Some people do charge daft amounts , We used to charge £35 per choke steel £40 for chrome .

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2 hours ago, Gunman said:

Having bored more chokes than I care to remember , it was never a favourite job, there are a few things to consider about boring them out . Time taken plus the gear needed will govern the cost .

If the barrel is steel then there is usually no problem it using piloted reamers , the pilot being of an appropriate size behind the reamer to support it so that the tapered lead on the reamer enters the choke centrally the drive rod being supported with bushes mid way and at the chamber ends .I found it best to bore out in stages of between .005" and .010" depending on how hard the barrel steel.

Past experience taught me that many Spanish barrels needed to have smaller increments taken out to avoid pickups or rips .

The chokes were then finished to size on a honing machine and polished .

Chromed barrels needed to have the chrome bored away first ,I used a diamond home to do this before any attempt was made to use reamers .

It is of course possible to simply hone the choke out completely but this is time consuming .

Another point I must make is that that not all chokes were originally  concentric to the bore , lower priced continental guns mainly but I found it on guns of all makes and ages .  It is not noticeable with a heavy choke but when bored out to !/4 it can look and is one sided to the bore . 

Some people do charge daft amounts , We used to charge £35 per choke steel £40 for chrome .

Very good point about being concentric to the inside of the bore, when I look at my guns there is a slight bias to one side in each of the barrels, very slight but if you give it more than a seconds eyeballing you can see it. 

I'm sure I've heard there is 2 methods to taking the choke out, one involves just a flat cut which would be a cheaper rough and ready method and the other involves a bit more finesse in following the taper of the barrel, I could be wrong. Or there's always the bubba cheap method of a hacksaw and barrels an inch or two shorter :whistling:

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A mate who is a pretty good shot bought an AYA Yeoman and couldn’t hit a cow’s bum with a banjo with it. His gunsmith friend took one look through it and laughed. He said no wonder it doesn’t shoot straight, I have never seen such eccentrically bored chokes, the pattern must throw a mile off. Sure enough, when he had bored it concentrically my mate could shoot as he usually did.

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26 minutes ago, London Best said:

A mate who is a pretty good shot bought an AYA Yeoman and couldn’t hit a cow’s bum with a banjo with it. His gunsmith friend took one look through it and laughed. He said no wonder it doesn’t shoot straight, I have never seen such eccentrically bored chokes, the pattern must throw a mile off. Sure enough, when he had bored it concentrically my mate could shoot as he usually did.

Would almost be similar to the barrels not being regulated properly. Remember seeing the guys on the TGS youtube channel shooting a baikal sbs that threw patterns all over the place, I think their suspicion was badly bored chokes or bad regulation of barrels 

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On 24/02/2020 at 20:53, Rob85 said:

So with the recent announcement regarding lead shot I now need to look at getting my aya yeoman chokes opened up to take steel as it's a gun I don't want to get rid of. Anybody know how much it would cost to have this done? They are sitting at standard half and full at the minute. I'm in northern ireland and we don't have as many gunsmiths about that can perform these mods. 

Rob you can use standard steel through the yeoman it’s only a problem if you wanted to use high performance steel shot which you don’t really need i take it your chamber is 2 3/4 if your shooting waterfowl within a reasonable range I also use a aya but mine is the number 3 magnum with 3 inch chamber I got my full choke opened to 1/2 Contact Gordon newell Hollow farm comber he and he’s Son fantastic guys to deal with Good luck 👍👍

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1 hour ago, Gerry78 said:

Rob you can use standard steel through the yeoman it’s only a problem if you wanted to use high performance steel shot which you don’t really need i take it your chamber is 2 3/4 if your shooting waterfowl within a reasonable range I also use a aya but mine is the number 3 magnum with 3 inch chamber I got my full choke opened to 1/2 Contact Gordon newell Hollow farm comber he and he’s Son fantastic guys to deal with Good luck 👍👍

Yea I had resorted to just rattling on ahead with my guns as they are, if I take the notion I might take them to hollow farm and get them done sometime, they quoted me the 30quid a barrel.

Only thing putting me off is the place can be very cliche-y with their customers and i wasn't too impressed when I went down in person to discuss steel shot with them and buy some cartridges. I asked for some standard steel to try through my gun after taking advice that my current chokes would be ok, only to be told by Gordon that they didn't have any standard steel and even with standard steel I would "split my barrels"(his words)... moving on I asked if he had any cheap guns in(I was pretty skint but wanted to see how this impending sales pitch went) that could shoot standard steel, oh of course he had... proceeding to bring out a Beretta and a Zoli, both over the 600quid mark with obvious surface rust on the barrels, but according to him they were worth it as they were 3inch chambered superior steel proofed to "future proof" myself.

I don't know whether he just wanted me to sod off as I wasn't interested in spending bigger money but I did leave with a bit of a sour taste after that.

No doubt I'll be back sometime as I've a pretty solid brass neck and it's my only local range to shoot clays on being only 4 miles away from me.

 

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