I usually don't mess with shotguns a lot and usually just grab mine for clays or birds every now and then. Recently I got thinking about the shot gun I learned how to shoot with. It was to the best of my memory an old stevens 820b with an adjustable choke at the end of the barrel, my dad called it a "poly choke" It had settings for full, modified, and improved, and about anything in between. it had vented ribs towards the last 1" of the choke. This gun was pure magic to me, as well as to me dad, it was very deadly on central texas doves. back in the 50's my dad used to be buddies with the mexican immigration service and could hunt anything anytime im mexico, he used to shoot ducks out the window of his airplane with it(don't ask LOL) This gun prolly had thousands of rounds through it and was well used. unfortunatly some years back the gun was stolen, I have never before or since found a shotgun that I shot as well as that one, not even close. So the question is what is the deal with these adjustable chokes, why arn't they more popular???

Not at all questioning your success with the Polychoke (I grew up with a similarly-equipped Mossberg that bagged a lot of doves), but the old adjustable chokes were somewhat inconsistent in their patterns. That is, while one might pattern beautifully when set on "modified", turning it to full might result in blown patterns. They could also be slighly out of concentricity with the barrel and result in throwing the pattern somewhat in one direction or another depending on where the choke was rotated. The only way to tell was to do a lot of experimenting, which almost nobody ever did.

The replaceable choke tubes that are found in almost every shotgun now have superceded the old "polychoke", and tend to do a better job of dependably manipulating pattern density.

my dad shot a 535,xxx SN Model 12 with Polychoke for EVERYTHING from about 1969 to 1995, probably some 60,000 rounds through it... maybe more, I don't know. it was DEADLY... he paid $25 for it...

now, I don't know a whole lot of what he did with the choke settings, but I do remember him telling me that the trap grade Model 12 (SN at 105,000) would be worth a bunch if it didn't also have a poly-choke on it... 'course, both guns had been modified when he got them...

Many years ago I had a Sears Ted Williams model 200 pump with a poly choke. Nice gun. As others have said, they faded from popularity. There is a company making an updated version, can't recall the name.

You might try checking out a couple of the auction sites. On occassion, they pop up there.

Pete

Ah, yes, the 'wonder winder'. I think they lost popularity due to a couple of reasons. First, they hung off the end of the barrel like a pinecone (thus ugly). Second, they could not handle steel shot, which is now mandated for waterfowl hunting (and some other areas as well).

I don't know what it was about this old beater gun, but almost without fail it dropped whatever it was pointed at. a few years before it was stolein my dad got a new beretta semi-auto fancy looking gun, for some reason neither of us could shoot it very well. I would probably think very seriously about giving up my left nut if I could have that old stevens back

DasMafia: Your Poly Choke and steel shot is living on borrowed time, my friend......