Hi all. SOme of you may have seen some of my posts in the hunting gear and gun review sections. I am a bit of an optics crank and love talking scopes and binoculars.
But I am getting interested in bird hunting (upland). My Winchester 1400 MKII 12 gge seem a bit too long for me. It is a bit heavey and unweildy. So I going to get a SxS or Over and Under for my dove and pheasant hunts. I am tending towards an older SxS or O/U made in AMerica like a Marlin model 90, Savage Steven 311, Savage 312, 330, 550, etc.
I am also looking at some older Tikka, Vlamet and some spanish guns. Most of these can be had in the 600 bucks and even much less in the case of the Stevens..
My Questions are>
1. On older double barrels, I assume the barrels are choked permanantly: What do I want as a choke combination for dove.
2. If I find a gun and it has F/F chokes, how do I change the choke? Must I get new barrels?
3. How do I measure my length of pull so I can get a gun that fits?
4. Why do may of the used older guns I see have Full/Modified as choke settings. Isnt full too tight for upland hunting.
5. If the Choke config is listed as F/M does that mean that the first barrel fired is full or the second?
I konw you upland guys are knowledgable about shotguns and I would appreciate any help.
okcmco
PS Keep in my I have other guns for Turkey and I don't do much Goose hunting so \this advice is for a dedicated dove and phesant hunting gun

I was just at a local gunshop and they had a few Citoris and one Beretta 686 in the 650-700 range.

For a new gun around 700 I would highly reccomend a CZ Redhead shotgun. One of my hunters has one, and he loves it, and I love it. That gun has been on a few dove shooting trips in Argentina and it is a very tight and good looking gun for the money. I am saving pennies right now for a 28 gauge CZ.

For early season I like to have IC/M in my over unders. My 20 gauge side-by-side has a M/F, which works well for that gun.

The nice thing about a shotgun with a F/F or M/F is you can probably have them threaded for chokes.

1. Not all shotguns are fixed choke, and which choke for doves really depends a lot on the gauge of shotgun you choose. You don't mention which gauges you are most interested in.
2. Some barrels can be threaded for variable chokes by a skilled gunsmith, and some can't.
3. I would go to a localtrap or skeet competition if you are not sureof how to determine of a shotgun fits you correctly.Some of the better shooters there "should" be able to help you out.
4. a Full/Modified combo is not to tight at all for upland. It really depends on the type of bird and terrain you are hunting. Wild pheasantin the prairie lands a F/M combomay be perfect. Hunting grouse up north in the thick timber and you'd probably want to open it up a bit.
5. Usually the Modified is the first barrel, and Full is the second if there is no mechanism to choose barrel order. The assumption would be for hunting over close flushing birds like pheasant you would want the more open barrel for the first shot and then the bird flies away you want a tighter shot pattern for it at distance. Now, most guys I know who hunt doves would reverse this as the birds are flying at you. Or if you were doing a traditional English tower shoot where the birds are flying towards you.

I hunt mostly with my 20 Red Label, with IC/M earlier in the year and then switch to M/F later in the season.