New to me 28 and 1st post

[shotgunred]

Hello, Nice site and very helpfull. Had I not found it I might have left a good one behind. I,m a bird hunter, rabbit, pretty much everything but I always listened to those who said the 220 was the single to have if you had a single at all. Hammerless etc. I stumbled on a 28 ga A, which looked to be on a larger frame, I scoffed till I found out it was and always is. Looked like it was kept in the barn but wasn't shot much. It is cleaning up nicely (but carefully). So I now have a nice "training gun" ha. I had a topper 410 as a youth. Shot it pretty well, but man I wish I'd had this gun. Uncut stock with pad is just right too. 

[Garnett]

Shotgunred,  the 28 gauge guns are hard to find.  I have one, and have seen only two others for sale.  When you finish your project, please let us have some pictures.  Best wishes, Garnett

[shotgunred]

Will do. Very nice pattern with this gun. Throws an empty a good 15-20 feet away! I mean this thing could put out an eye. Is a little hard to open initially but I have not cleaned internally yet.

[Garnett]

I have acquired 36 of these guns for research for my 2 books.  I would say that at least half are hard to open, and a few are very hard to open.  I feel this is because they were tightly fitted at the factory, and those that were not used much, while they may have been abused (sitting in a barn ), are still very tight from this lack of use.

If I understand you correctly, your stock has not been shortened, but has a recoil pad added?  I personally would like the extra length. The stock on mine has been shortened.  At some point in time I plan to add an "OLD ENGLISH" style black pad to get close to the original length of pull of 14 inches.

[shotgunred]

yes, full 14" wood + 1" pad.  How were these guns factory choked? Did they vary at all?   thanks.

[Garnett]

I have found nothing in writing or old catalogs about chokes.  I measured all my guns and most measured full choke.  A very few were modified choke.  Were they special ordered that way, or were the barrels opened up after purchase?  We may never know.

[Mike Armstrong]

Some of the modified choked guns were offered in the catalog descriptions, but I've never seen one so marked.  Most of the (few) open choked guns I've seen were originally full and had been opened to improved cylinder by a gunsmith or the owner.  Few of those were marked when the  work was done--my Utica 20 guage barrel is IC but not so marked.

It seems to me that most people who wanted a 220 in a more open choke than full just bought a 220P, or had a variable choke added after they owned the full choke gun (seen a couple of those).  The variable chokes, factory or aftermarket, are uh-uh-UH-GLEE but make the gun MUCH more versatile.

I've also never seen a 26" barrel except in .410, nor have I ever seen a .410 in any other length, in spite of the catalogs offering them in 28".

[Garnett]

Mike, I don't think we will ever know everything about these guns.  I will have to recheck my catalogs as I don"t recall seeing anything other that full chokes or the adjustable choke models offered.  I do know some special order work, not listed as available in the catalogs, was done.  The two people who I believe are the most knowledgeable on these two models, Carl Rowe of the R&D department, and John Callahan, former Savage Historian, are not of any help now.  I don't know the status of Mr. Rowe, but Mr. Callahan has retired and turned over his factory records to the Savage museum.  Before I started writing my first book, I asked Mr. Callahan if he was planning on writing a book, because if he was, with the factory records he held, it would be a waste of my time to try to compete books with him.  However, he did not even answer my question.

[shotgunred]

Some of the modified choked guns were offered in the catalog descriptions, but I've never seen one so marked. 

Are they marked as to choke at all and if so how? I don't see any on mine.

[Garnett]

I have not seen any markings, nor any references to choke markings with one exception.  I saw one comment saying his gun had a full choke because it had a "F" stamped under the barrel in front of the barre lug.  However, all guns I have examined have assembly numbers at that location, on the top left inside of the receiver, and under the butt plate, stamped in the wood.  These numbers are like F over CG, etc., so the F referred to could just be part of an assembly number.