vintage poly choke settings & variations-questions

[duty-honor-country]

I have 2 Browning A-5's both have vintage poly chokes- but they are
marked differently.

The Sweet 16 gauge has 7 settings/clicks on the choke- they are:
SLUG--CYL--IMPCYL--MOD--IMPMOD--FULL--XFULL

The Light 12 gauge has only 6 settings, they are:
1--IMPCYL-3-MOD-5-FULL

After looking at the design of the choke closely, it seems this minor
difference in markings is not a big deal in reality. The design of the
choke seems to be tighten it all the way down for extra full, then one
click backed off for each larger choke setting, for a total of 9
settings.

On the polychoke website it says the chokes can be backed off beyond
the slug or 1 setting, but another 2 or 3 notches, see it here:

http://www.poly-choke.com/choke.htm

my question is, why does the 12 gauge have one less click setting ?? is
it because the bore size is larger ??

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[sta...@prolynx.com]

duty-honor-country wrote:
# I have 2 Browning A-5's both have vintage poly chokes- but they are
# marked differently.
#
# The Sweet 16 gauge has 7 settings/clicks on the choke- they are:
# SLUG--CYL--IMPCYL--MOD--IMPMOD--FULL--XFULL
#
# The Light 12 gauge has only 6 settings, they are:
# 1--IMPCYL-3-MOD-5-FULL
#
# After looking at the design of the choke closely, it seems this minor
# difference in markings is not a big deal in reality. The design of the
# choke seems to be tighten it all the way down for extra full, then one
# click backed off for each larger choke setting, for a total of 9
# settings.
#
# On the polychoke website it says the chokes can be backed off beyond
# the slug or 1 setting, but another 2 or 3 notches, see it here:
#
# http://www.poly-choke.com/choke.htm
#
# my question is, why does the 12 gauge have one less click setting ?? is
# it because the bore size is larger ??
#
The directions I have for the most recent one state that "Full" is one
turn from where it bottoms out, screwed down all the way. In other
words, screw it down all the way, back off at least one turn to the
"Full" mark. They do say not to fire it with the sleeve screwed down
all the way or damage will result.

The marks bear little resemblance to reality and didn't when they were
put out in the days of card wads and paper hulls. You need to pattern
it for all settings. If they weren't installed by Poly-Choke, you may
not shoot to P.O.A., either. Only way to tell is get out a big sheet
of paper or a patterning plate and have at it. I found with my 16 ga..
that slugs worked best at the I.C. marking, YMMV. Both 16 and 12 have
9 clicks on my examples. My 12 ga. A-5 one sits on I.C. most of the
time, gives Modified patterns with modern shotcups and hard shot.
Promo loads open that up a bit.

Stan

[duty-honor-country]

sta...@prolynx.com wrote:
# duty-honor-country wrote:
# # I have 2 Browning A-5's both have vintage poly chokes- but they are
# # marked differently.

# #
# # The Sweet 16 gauge has 7 settings/clicks on the choke- they are:

# # SLUG--CYL--IMPCYL--MOD--IMPMOD--FULL--XFULL
# #

# # The Light 12 gauge has only 6 settings, they are:

# # 1--IMPCYL-3-MOD-5-FULL
# #

# # After looking at the design of the choke closely, it seems this minor

# # difference in markings is not a big deal in reality. The design of the
# # choke seems to be tighten it all the way down for extra full, then one
# # click backed off for each larger choke setting, for a total of 9
# # settings.
# #

# # On the polychoke website it says the chokes can be backed off beyond

# # the slug or 1 setting, but another 2 or 3 notches, see it here:

# #
# # http://www.poly-choke.com/choke.htm
# #
# # my question is, why does the 12 gauge have one less click setting ?? is

# # it because the bore size is larger ??
# #

# The directions I have for the most recent one state that "Full" is one

# turn from where it bottoms out, screwed down all the way. In other
# words, screw it down all the way, back off at least one turn to the
# "Full" mark. They do say not to fire it with the sleeve screwed down
# all the way or damage will result.
#
# The marks bear little resemblance to reality and didn't when they were
# put out in the days of card wads and paper hulls. You need to pattern
# it for all settings. If they weren't installed by Poly-Choke, you may
# not shoot to P.O.A., either. Only way to tell is get out a big sheet
# of paper or a patterning plate and have at it. I found with my 16 ga..
# that slugs worked best at the I.C. marking, YMMV. Both 16 and 12 have
# 9 clicks on my examples. My 12 ga. A-5 one sits on I.C. most of the
# time, gives Modified patterns with modern shotcups and hard shot.
# Promo loads open that up a bit.
#
# Stan

That verifies what another family member told me- they also said crank
all the way down, and back off one click, that is full choke. Then
open it up one click at a time from there, as the range gets closer and
patterns need to be larger. Being there's only 6 clicks on the 12
gauge choke for full 360 degrees of rotation, that means there is 3
clicks more open beyond the #1 setting.

The 16 gauge choke only goes 2 clicks more open beyond the "slug"
setting, being it already had 7 stops in it.

Both having a total of 9 settings, according to the polychoke website.

[Ralph K. Compton]

Stan,

Are your instructions the written ones with the choke?

I went to the web site and it differs from what you described.

Ralph

[sta...@prolynx.com]

Ralph K. Compton wrote:
# Stan,
#
# Are your instructions the written ones with the choke?
#
# I went to the web site and it differs from what you described.
#
# Ralph
#
Yes, it came from Cabela's last fall. I'll see if I can find the
package insert. Somewhere I've also got scanned images from a
co-worker's 1960's installation booklet. Not sure if I've still got
them on the machine or if they've been burned off to CD. I'll see what
I can find.

Stan

[duty-honor-country]

Ralph K. Compton wrote:
# Stan,
#

# Are your instructions the written ones with the choke?
#
# I went to the web site and it differs from what you described.
#
# Ralph

I just got an official reply back from PolyChoke on this- actually both
chokes are the same- I look at the 16 gauge again today, it has 6
clicks, not 7. For some reason I got that mixed up.

The 16 gauge gun has "slug-impcyl-mod-impmod-full-xfull"

Oddly enough, the 12-gauge Browing Auto-5 has a very old choke on it,
that was made before 1948. The chokes with the numbers 1-3-5 on them
for settings are early style, pre-' 48 chokes. The 16 gauge has a
newer 1948-present choke. And they both have the same 9 settings.

Here's the email from Polychoke, quote:

"Actually both chokes have the same number of settings - 9. The choke
that is newer was manufactured starting around 1948 to current. the
settings are starting from the tightest to most open(x-full, full, imp
mod, mod, imp, slug, cylinder(x-full 1 turn out), reverse 1(full 1 turn
out), reverse 2(imp mod 1 turn out).

The older choke is set-up the same with 9 settings. full, 5(improved
mod), mod, 3(lite mod), imp, 1(slug or skeet), cylinder(full 1 turn
out), reverse 1(5 1 turn out) & reverse 2(mod 1 turn out).

(You) are correct, tighten the choke all the way tight and back up to
x-full or full depending on choke model, this is your tightest choke.

Good Shooting"