Cutting and Choking?

My opinion is that modern shot cup ammo will throw a very similar pattern from your 18" barrel as it would in a 26" barrel with the same choke. However the swing characteristics of the gun will certainly be a lot different. Another thing is that ti will probably cost you more to have the barrel threaded than buying something new. The prices of economical shotguns is very reasonable right now. Some of the ones out of Turkey aren't too bad in quality. Good Luck!

Unless you find a local gunsmith with the tools and a bargain price (I did but he is gone now) you are probably looking at $150 minimum to do the job. I bought a Stevens 20 GA pump at the local farm store a couple years ago for my wife for under $200 ($169). Weighs about a half pound more than the old hard kicking H&R I had.

JCooperfan1911 said:

Will there be any issues? And second, will the pattern of a 18.5” gun with a modified choke be worse than say a 26” gun with the same choke?

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I think it would pattern just fine. The only issue I see is putting that much money in that gun and getting kicked that hard each time a squirrel was shot.

If you have a friend close by with a lathe he could turn a tapered hole in a piece of round stock so you could swedge the barrel down .010 or .015. You'd then have a IC or LM barrel. I did that with a 8ga muzzle loaded I once had made. Also you could try to " judge choke " it. The bore is enlarged for about 6". You start back 8" and remove some steel working forward for 6", so 2" at the end, near the muzzle, is back to bore size. This allows the shot to open up and then it's tightened back up like the way a choke works. There is no easy way to do it. I've used a " split rod " and emery paper, and that takes forever [ but I did it while working in the shop, so it wasn't so bad ]. Or now I have adjustable reamers and made a tool so I could adjust it while it's in the barrel . The problem with that is the reamer can only be adjusted tight against the barrel so you're only cutting a half a thousand or so and then taking it out, cleaning it off, new cutting oil, back in for another go. Time consuming but not near as bad. If it were me I'd look for someone with a lathe. Good luck.

Years ago there were "poly chokes" that mounts to the end of the barrel and then you adjusted it to what choke you wanted, some were not pretty but they worked.
A lot of people had them removed so maybe you can locate one and have it installed, I think that would be cheaper than installing screw in chokes

It's a squirrel. Just hunt with what you have. The squirrel won't know the difference.

PapaG said:

Unless you find a local gunsmith with the tools and a bargain price (I did but he is gone now) you are probably looking at $150 minimum to do the job.

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This is accurate.
My old 870 Wingmaster magnum came with a fixed choke barrel and was threaded by Colonial Choke and Tool.
I'm extremely happy with it, as the work seems to be very good and the chokes are reasonably priced.
But I just went on their website and it's $200.

Rent a reamer and tap from this place https://4drentals.com/products/tool-rentals/shotgun-tool-rentals/ and do it yourself. It's not hard to do for someone who is competent with tools. Fairly cheap too, especially if you can spread the rental out between multiple guns.

“It's a squirrel. Just hunt with what you have. The squirrel won't know the difference.”

Spoken like a man who doesn’t hunt squirrels

JCooperfan1911 said:

Well I’m thinking of picking up a 20 gauge brass frame Henry single shot that has interchangeable chokes.

Would that be a good squirrel gun?

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Perfect.

The Henry single shots are beautiful rifles. I find the brass guns to be too heavy for my liking compared to the steel guns but In the single shot that extra heft may be helpful when shooting

Just buy a different gun. I am not sure you have enough barrel thickness to thread it.

d2wing said:

I am not sure you have enough barrel thickness to thread it.

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That would be one of the first things to check before proceeding to thread the barrel.

It has been many years since I hunted squirrels with a shotgun. My preference was a full choke and 6 shot. Shoot a few inches in front of the squirrels head, just catch it with the edge of the pattern. I shot more squirrels with a .410 than with any other gauge.

I haven't hunted or otherwise killed squirrels since I was a mid-teenager, but once I got my first scoped .22 LR, that's what I used instead of a shotgun.