[diyj98]

I picked up a nice Savage 311 Series H. How did Savage mark the barrels so that you can tell the choke? Both barrels measure about modified, but I'd like to know what Savage intended them to be.

[diyj98]

Does anyone have any idea of another forum where I might find an answer to this?

[Detritus]

disregard, OkieCruffler's answer showed mine to be useless info :)

[Okiecruffler]

Problem is, Savage didn't mark the barrels for choke. All of mine seems to pattern like full/mod except the one that had a meeting with a hacksaw. you might try www.shotgunworld.com

[diyj98]

Thanks, but I tried there already with no response. I don't understand why they wouldn't mark the barrels somehow. Mine both measure modified, but I've never heard of anyone making a double "modified and modified".

[Dave McCracken]

I've seen 311s with similar chokes in both barrels. Some came like that, others have been reamed.

Try the old dime trick, since these bores usually run close to .729".

With the shotgun proven to be empty, drop a dime in the muzzle. If it doesn't fall through, it's PROBABLY Full. If it squeaks through,it's modified.

Old 311s tend to tightness.Pattern with a good trap load and note the difference in spread, if any.

[diyj98]

I much prefer a micrometer to the old dime trick :) That's what I used to check the barrel constriction.

[JohnBT]

There's a chart in the '67 Shooter's Bible that lists info for Stevens marked 311.

12 guage

barrel: 26" IC/M
28" M/F
30" M/F

The 16 and 20 guage barrels follow the same pattern. The .410 is F/F.

John

[diyj98]

John, I would have assumed it was M/F, but both barrels measured the same. Thanks for the info from the book!

[Preacherman]

Bear in mind that if steel shot has been used in those barrels, it will very effectively "iron out" the choke in the softer steel used at the time to produce the barrels (they hadn't taken steel shot into consideration then, and were making them for use with lead shot only). If the chokes are the same, I'll lay bets that someone "shot out" the tighter choke by using steel shot. I've seen this many times on older shotguns.

I'd suggest talking to your local gunsmith about fitting screw-in chokes, if you like the gun. If you look around, you should be able to have this done for about $100, perhaps a bit less if you're lucky. Any aftermarket choke should be usable.

[diyj98]

I'd doubt steel shot is the problem, but you never know. It's seldom found around here and the shotgun shows very, very little wear. The wear I'm basing on the tightness of the lockup and the minimal wear on the internal parts. I did wonder if someone could have honed one barrel out for some reason though.

Screw in chokes would certainly work, but I wouldn't bother putting the money into the gun. I've got other shotguns for daily shooting. I just picked this one up because it was in such nice condition and the price was extremely right.