Sometime ago, there was a recommendation of a smith that offered special price for AR members. I e-mailed, but got no reply. Can anyone suggest a good smith to length several short 16 ga chambers for me???

Just order a long forcing cone reamer from Brownell's. It will be cheaper in the ;long run and it is vvery easy to do. Also get the chamber lenght measuring gauge to check your work.

I did the same for some of my own guns several years ago.

Keith

If they are high quality guns Kirk Merrington in TX is an ex Purdey Barrel maker and is probably the best in the US

I will second Kirk's work.
Butch

I assume this is an older gun if it has short chambers. If your gun has 2-1/2" chambers then it wasn't designed to shoot the heavier loads of a 2-3/4"chambered gun. Even if the metal will take the pressure the wood may not withstand the increased recoil. The proper loads are available from several sources, I use RST's in 7/8oz or 1 oz. but others are available.

It may or may not matter to you but if the gun is proofed and marked for 2-1/2" them you'll take it out of proof by lengthening it.

Before you lengthen the chamber, check the wall thickness of the barrel at the 2 3/4" mark... Bruce Stevens used to shy away from anything less then .090

I measured perhaps 100 different makes and found only Browning went as low as .085...never seen or heard of a Browning failing in that regard, but "rule of thumb" seems somewhat proper and reasonable

If you reload,the 2 1/2" chamber is plenty and there is 2 1/2" loads readily available.

And...there's something else to consider...If the gun ever returns to Europe there may be proof problems

Thank you all!!

Conifer, I suggest you send it to Mike Orlen, 79 Salem Street, Amherst, MA 01002 (email: michael.orlen@verizon.net) {phone: (413) 253-5665} . Mike has opened chokes, chambers and removed dents for me on 8 barrels. The last lot of 4 barrels I sent to him on 3/23 arrived today with dents removed and chokes opened to my specs. Ultra fast service and very reasonably priced. If you want Mike to check for adequate metal and strength he will certainly do so.