Screw In vs Jug Choke?
I cut down my Rossi 20 gauge to 18.5". It handles so much nicer now, but it isn't doing the job on squirrels anymore. I need to tighten the pattern up a little more for the bushytails. I looked into getting the muzzle tapped for choke tubes, but that will end up costing me more than the gun did. I recently learned about "jug" choking(reaming a section of barrel back from the muzzle to a larger dia.) and after looking into it, it looks like something I might be able to do myself. Just looking for some pros/cons of either option.
Answers & Comments
I have never heard of a jug choke. So, just how does increasing the inside diameter of the muzzle choke the shot pattern?
IF...(if)... your gun is a single barrel then there may be a way to choke with all three choke patterns.
Take a look at these Saiga 20 gauge screw-on (not screw-in) chokes.https://www.sportsmentacticalsupply.com/product/48...
The thread is 20 mm X .75 mm pitch. If your barrel is 20 mm or larger then your gunsmith could single-tool the .75 mm pitch threads on a lathe or cut them with a threading die. I would choose the single tooled threads.
You would have the choice of three choke patterns that would be easily changed out in the field.
First off, reaming the muzzle will enlarge the 'choke' and will make it worse. Your best alternative would be buy a barrel with fixed or threaded for choke. Either way, it will cost money. 18½ inch barrel is not a hunting barrel anyway.
I am sure that what you describe as a jug choke will cause your barrel to rupture at some point into the future. I would see about buying a new barrel that no one has f%^&*( with so it will be the way God and Mr. Rossi intended it to be so that you would have a functional firearm.
You an do it yourself with a Gilchrist Precision Choke Reamer, but by the time you buy the necessary equipment, screw it up, and have to buy a new barrel you might as well have it threaded for screw in chokes.
Can I ask WHY you did that ?