polychoke removal

[tpl77]

I have a barrel for a winchester model 12 and thought the polychoke was soldered in place. I heated the area quite a bit and had no luck. Does anyone know how these chokes are removed?

 

[andyjason]

i may be wrong, and probably am. as usual. i think that they are actualy shrunk into the barrel. everyone please dont yell at me if i am wrong.

 

[chris allen]

poly choke

I have put poly chokes on ,and yes they are soldered on. I believe some of the first series were threaded directly to the barrel , now a threaded sleeve is fitted to the barrel that the poly choke screws on to.

hope this helps,

chris

 

[kirbythegunsmith]

Details

Polychokes have been installed in a variety of manners, including the soldered and threaded situation, in that some have actually combined the threads with some flowing of soft solder to lock the joint more securely than tight threading.
I have seen wrenches to tighten the rear section of the body to the barrel, and it looks like a split-length handle with 3 different threads in the 3 central holes. That's one for each gauge, and when I first saw the device, it looked similar to an old split-die threading handle. The split allows the holes to be compressed onto the threaded portion of the collar to facilitate a tight grip. There are several screws crosswise between the threaded holes that are tightened for the clamping force application.
It could be that I also saw a smooth version that would clamp on the body section to the rear of the collar threads, but that version would possibly leave scrape marks if the turning force exceeded the clamping pressure, and that's not conducive to good customer relations. It may have been a rework of the threaded version, or a shop-made device.
The problem may be that some versions of the soldered collar type had not been soft soldered, but may have been silver brazed (soldered) which requires heating the metal to at least a low red glow.
I have seen versions that were induction brazed to the barrel. That technique is very precise in heat application location and amount. If that was with conventional "brazing" figure 1600 degrees F.+ to make anything move.

(If you were wanting to remove the choke so that you could sell it, the bodies are undersize inside, when new, so that they may be matched to the bore of the barrel. Anyone buying a used poly takes a chance in that the bore may not even be close to the size already cut, and I have seen plenty that were installed off-center, angled, bored crooked, and more sloppiness. I would never consider using the inner collar of a used poly.)

Conclusion: if you get to that situation, get a hacksaw. If you have threads on the end of the muzzle, get a hacksaw after you remove the choke. If it is turned just a small amount (since M-12 barrels are mostly small diameter) you may be able to blend with the rest of the barrel, but prognosis looks poor.

Yes, I do have both the threaded and solder-type poly's, external collars of both varieties, the Poly-Matic, Adjustomatic, Cyclone, and more, with most still new, and still in the plastic.

See my previous posts for more info.
[email protected]

 

[Jim K]

Yes, they are soldered on, sometimes even silver soldered or welded. The choke does not fit over the barrel, the barrel is cut down to install the choke; removing it will leave an ugly "step" in the barrel.

If you want to remove one, first make sure the barrel is long enough to be legal without the choke. If not, leave the choke on. (Many chokes were put on because barrel damage left the barrel under 18" and the choke made it legal again.)

If the length is no problem, do as Kirby says and just cut off the barrel behind the choke. You can then thread the barrel for one of the internal chokes if you want.

Jim