Forcing cone lengthing on an old shotgun?

[Alvin in AZ]

Is lengthening the forcing cone on an old 50's shotgun really worth while?
What's been your experience on that?

Talkin' about my early 50's JCHiggens model 20 again (2+3/4" chamber).
That sucker belts the tar out of me.

Thinking about having the barrel cut and threaded for WinChoke tubes.
Got any opinons on that?

I need to lower the comb some.

As far as fitting, only took a little hand grinder (with a new sanding disk on it) to the rubber recoil pad, so far. Plan to get a black-solid one someday anyway so might as well experiement some huh?

Alvin in AZ

 

[TN Shooter]

Hi Alvin-

As far as I know, the reason most people lengthen the forcing cones in their shotguns is to help tighten the patterns by creating a more gradual constriction of the shotcup as it passes from the forcing cone into the barrel. I've lengthened the forcing cone in one of my long range duck/goose guns (Remington 870 3.5" Supermag) for the purpose of tightening the patterns and it has helped. But unless you want to use your shotgun for buckshot or long range waterfowling, I doubt the effort would really be worth it. But if your shotgun is an old favorite that you want to "trick out" for long range squirrel hunting or just for the heck of it, then I say go for it! It's not too expensive if I remember correctly ($50 to $75).

Choke tubes will make your shotgun more versatile, so it would be worth it if you plan to use it for different types of hunting, sporting clays, etc. I have added choke tubes to two of my favorite shotguns and I get more use out of them because of it. I already had a bunch of Remchokes, so I had my barrel threaded for these. I'm not sure about the variety/availability of the Winchokes, but I think they're pretty popular, too.

As far as recoil reduction, I HIGHLY recommend the Limbsaver pads. They have some made for specific models, some "grind-to-fit" ones, or even some slip-ons- they all work great. The "sorbothane" pads work pretty well, too.

Have fun and keep us posted with your project(s)!

Good shooting,

TN Shooter

 

[Dave McCracken]

Lengthening the cone does reduce the pressure spike and cut kick abit, but I doubt you can feel the difference.

If it's belting you, try lighter loads for starters. 7/8 oz loads work well enough that the International Trap folks use them on their 110MPH targets.

Light loads, good form, good fit, good pad. There you are....

 

[WolfMansDad]

When I was a kid, my father had an L.C. Smith "sweet sixteen" that he really liked, but it was kicking the tar out of him. He had the forcing cones relieved, and he may even have had it back bored too. After that, it really did become sweet, and he used it to kill a lot of birds. Patterns tightened up, and recoil was reduced noticeably.

 

[Alvin in AZ]

Thanks for the information guys.

I read about forcing cone lengthening in books but wanted to hear about it first hand for some odd reason. :/

My first post wasn't all that good or I would have mentioned the need to "tighten" the group, so the later "loosening of the group" would be a more controlled operation?

Brister said to open the choke .002" at a time so I went for .005" the first time and got no pattern size change at all. Not up or down.

I have sort of odd shotgun loads to work with tho...
3+1/2 - 1+1/8 - #4
3+1/4 - 1+1/8 - #5
...so experimenting is needed because most books don't even consider those a useful load for anything.

I know better for my odd situation of open spaces and tough game.

I guess "improved modified" is the goal... as tight of a pattern as I can get that is smooth and even from edge to edge. Then (as always did) limit my shooting to the range that suits my pattern and shot size.

Alvin in AZ
ps- Got a ton of WinChoke tubes left over from after my junky Mossberg got stolen... the theif did me a favor, turns out... now a I got what I consider a "good" gun Don't want to use screw in chokes if I can help it tho!

 

[sm]

Just me.

In all the hundreds of thousands of shotshells I have fired...I have never done the gun smithing on barrels (forcing cones, chambers, chokes, gas ports...).

I shot a lot of Winchesters - Nu-Line did my work. I told them the loads, what I wanted and let them mess with it. This before choke tubes were standard on guns.
Other brands- again let someone that did barrel work do it.

Heck, if I played my cards right, and someone fussed about my SX1 having been shot 2,000 rds since being cleaned ( gunsmith folks and pards I trusted) I let them clean the durn things.

I just shoot the durn things.

Oh I did all sorts of T&E and you name it...played with Stan Baker tools and what not..
Darnedest thing the card bunch was doing was having barrels made with more step in the forcing cone...
I was taking all this in...

Understand I am the guy that has been known to hunt ducks with JC Higgins, get the gun and me all muddy, use the sprayer at the car wash, clean the gun, lube with Dexron Automatic Transmission fluid , head out and with a buddy also using a JCH with a "turd on the end" run 100 straight and 49/50 at 5 stand.

I dunno, had a bucket of Blue Peter's reloaded with #8 and # 7.5 shot, got a wild hair to shoot ducks ( before non-tox ) and felled 'em the same loads at the clay fields later.

Camo? Don't own any - blue jeans, Tan shirt, Wax cotton jacket and just hip boots worked for me...Straw cowboy hat.

I like coloring outside the lines, running with scissors and doing stuff folks say you are not supposed to...
Messes with folks psych and they mess up when shooting...

Now would I intentionally shoot a pump gun with a turd on the end to upset the folks with high-dollar guns dressed like they just left Abrocombie & Fitch ?
In a heartbeat!

If you are going to be bad - be good at it - forgot, but I likes the song.

I am not bad - just consistent.