Shotgunworld.com

Just wondering if a Poly-Choke installed (soldered I assume) on a 12 ga. Browning Belgian barrel, can be removed and then later re-installed on the same barrel with that barrel cut to a shorter length?

Are these Poly-Chokes soldered internally using a special machine or what? Seems like any other way would foul the blueing on the barrel surface.

Thanks!

Well yes and no. They are soldered on. The one I took off long ago showed that the end of the barrel is turned down to fit into the back end of the Poly Choke and then soldered on. Then the barrel was re-blued. So it can be taken off and you would have an ugly odd looking end to your barrel. To reinstall it on a shorter barrel the end of the barrel would have to be turned down, soldered, and refinished.

I took one off a Belgian Browning A5 barrel that was threaded on. I believe the standard method of installation by Poly Choke was by threading the barrel as this eliminated the need to reblue the barrel. I had one installed on a Winchester barrel back in the late '50's
by Poly Choke and they did not reblue the barrel, so I am assuming they threaded the barrel back then.

Soldering would be risky since the collet fingers are spring tempered. If a smith got things a little too hot, he could kill the spring temper. Seems to me soft solder would be mandatory, but I have never seen one soldered on.

WOB

Back in the late 70's and early 80's, the sport shop I was smithin' at was an authorized ploy-choke installer.

The end of the bbls were turn down to accept a threaded adaptor. this adaptor was soft-solder to the smaller bbl dia. The poly-choke was then screwed onto the adaptor and timed for the sight to be at the top and loc-tited.

I believe the standard method of installation by Poly Choke was by threading the barrel as this eliminated the need to reblue the barrel.



The factory Remington Poly-Choke installed on the Model 31 pump shotgun was a integral part of the barrel.


A500R

When done by poly-choke, they were soldered on....and there is no need for rebluing after soldering, unless you have it done by a plumber!.....poly-choke sold some installation kits, and these were threaded installations, but they were prone to failure on long recoil operated semi-autos, since the threads just gave the thin barrel a place to break...a poly-choke "in house" installation will have the barrel outside diameter turned to match the inside diameter of the choke appliance and turned "on center" relative to the bore.....often the bore is not in the center of the pipe, so this step is quite important....the part is then soldered to the freshly turned surface.

I have some of the original paperwork from poly-choke for installers that shows the threading sizes of the various diameters and gauges, and another sheet that is about the sweat-on style (they used a special term for the heating method preferred to indicate those versions) and included notes about the special low-temp. silver solder that they could provide to the installers.

There is a blueprint sheet with included notes and another more compact print framed for wall mounting by the lathe for handy reference.

Another listing has all of the recommended tools available and used for fitting, such as the complete set of "qualifying" reamers used to match the interior to the shotgun bore.

Any threaded installations that broke off may have had an assist from stupid and sloppy installers and not necessarily have been an issue based on the mounting style. Over-tightening of the threaded collet body on a thin barrel is one real possibility that could compromise the material and allow a short life and future separation, and that would not be the fault of the design in that specific situation.
Really thin barrels were recommended to have a sleeve installed over the muzzle and silver-brazed in place before fitting the polychoke collet and then you wouldn't have a thin zone at the thread end. Usually that was recommended for barrels too small to fit a threaded version in the first place.

I don't remember seeing any chokes specifically broken off of a barrel, but I did see the collet fingers cracked and even broken off (and FIRED) with a nice deformity of the adjusting collar.

I still have plenty of variety of new polychokes and parts of all gauges and mounting sizes, and a few of the odd chokes and various unusual examples like the Poly-Matic.

kirbythegunsmith@hotmail.com

Answer to tacotime's first question is yes. I sent the barrel of an 1148 to PolyChoke and they took off the original PolyChoke, shortened the barrel, and reinstalled the original PolyChoke. Cost was quite reasonable and turnaround was fast.

Don't know the answer to the second question, but PC did tell me that the installation procedure when I had this done (~2006?) was the same as that used in 1948.

hp

holepuncher, what did PolyChoke charge you? If you don't want to post it, send me a PM. I have a couple that I need the barrels shortened and the PCs replaced.

Thanks

If the barrel is thick enough to instal choke tubes you can have it cut and threaded for chokes and then buy a Poly-Choke II that screws into the barrel. This way, you can use it when you want or use choke tubes.

As the proud owner of at least a couple of dozen old Polychoked guns over the years,,,,my first advice is that if works all right, then leave it alone and don't worry about how long the barrel is. The only, only trouble I've ever had with a Polychoke was the thing not shooting to point of aim, and then you've got to bend barrels to correct it. When they shoot straight, and most of them do,,,,it's a wonderful thing to have on your gun. They are ugly but they work.

To each his own. The idea of spending perfectly good money to shorten a good Polychoked gun,,,,that could very well be invested towards the purchase of yet another Polychoked gun,,,,is foreign to me. (But of course, I'm a shotgun addict. If I was a drunk I'd be laying on the gutter in skid row. ) But if somehow I would spend any money to mess with a Polychoked gun,,,,I'd spend it to have a sleeve added so it would take the standard Invector/Mossberg/SKB/Winchoke tubes. Then you could add a Poly II,,,, or better yet,,,start playing with a bunch of cheap choke tubes to see if any are much better than the other. I'd put in the standard choke tube because there are so many of them out there, and you wouldn't want an "overbore" choke tube anyway.

Good thinking, SX1. I think I will take your advice. I like short barrels. When I got these installed, the concensus was toward longer barrels, circa, 1960s. After using my son's 22" Browning A5, I'm hooked for short barrels for hunting. I'm not a clay shooter, so I don't need a long barrel.