Cutting 1977 30" Full Choke Barrel?

[bosus]

Hi all,

First post! I just picked up a nice old 1977 Wingmaster Magnum that I'm going to restore as gun safe company for the '88 Express that I've had since I was 15. The stock's in good enough shape that I haven't decided on whether I want to strip it and refinish it, but the receiver is fairly pitted and needs to be reblued. Should be fun, and I appreciate all the inspiration I've picked up on this site.

Question: the barrel is a standard 70's 30" full choke, and I'd like to cut it to either 28" or 26" and thread it for choke tubes. Has anyone had success with this conversion? Some quick measurements this afternoon show that the construction begins fairly far up the barrel, so it's not looking like it will fly. If that doesn't work I'll just sell it and buy a new barrel.

Thanks!

[bosus]

Did a bit more research and measured a .838" outside diameter at the 26" mark, which should be fine for the True Tube choke. Gonna send it to Mike Orlen to cut, post and thread it. Will let you know how it goes!

[Synchronizor]

Part of the process for converting a fixed-choke barrel to accept interchangeable choke tubes is to bore out the existing choke. Unless you have a really incompetent gunsmith, the fixed choke in your barrel shouldn't cause any issues - even if you don't have the barrel shortened.