• Vintage Shotgun Choke Markings

    Unlike most manufacturers, Savage chose not to mark their shotgun barrels with standard choke markings of Full, Modified, Improved Cylinder and Cylinder. Instead they chose to use a series of asterisk (*) marks as code to specify the choke constriction of a given barrel. This code can be found stamped on the barrel just forward of the receiver.

    *
    = Full Choke
    ** = Modified
    *** = Imp. Cylinder
    **** = Cylinder

    At some point along the timeline Savage switched from using asterisks to using numbers inside of a square box. Like the asterisks, this mark will be found on the left side of the barrel just forward of the receiver as shown in the photo to the right. Choke sizes corresponded with the numbers as follows:

    4 = Full
    3 = Modified
    2 = Imp. Cylinder
    1 = Cylinder

    If your particular Savage/Stevens/Fox shotgun is not marked with the asterisk system you will need to measure the bore diameter at the muzzle with a dial caliper or a choke gauge to determine the choke constriction. The following chart is for Browning shotguns, but the fixed choke sizes tended to be pretty close from brand to brand back in the day.




    *Update: Dec. 2023*

    As noted in the text above, the above chart and choke measurements are from current Browning chokes at the time of the writing of the article. These were included as generalizations so you could get a rough idea of what your chose was by measuring with a dial caliper or inside bore mic. THEY WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE DEFACTO MEASUREMENTS FOR YOUR OLD SAVAGE FIXED CHOKE SHOTGUN MUZZLES.

    The true choke constriction of any shotgun can only be determined by accurately measuring the difference between the actual bore diameter and the constricted diameter at the muzzle. To accomplish this one needs a bore mic of adequate size which is a very specific and expensive tool. Brownell's sells one for $650 if you're interested, but it only works for 12, 20, 28 and .410 gauges. The difference between the full bore diameter and the reduced diameter at the muzzle is the amount of constriction or choke. Most gunsmiths who do shotgun work will have this bore mic and will measure your bore for a small fee.

    SAAMI provides bore diameter specifications for each shotgun gauge with a +/- tolerance, but these are just guidelines or suggestions, not hardset rules. Additionally, over the years more and more manufacturers started a practice called back boring, which just means the bore diameter is slightly larger than spec. This widespread variation in bore diameters is why you have to measure both the full bore diameter and the muzzle diameter (or choke tube diameter) to find the amount of constriction or choke rather than just using the SAAMI spec bore diameter for a given gauge.

    Choke constriction naming can also vary a bit. What one company might have considered an improved choke another may call an improved cylinder or improved modified choke.
    Comments 2 Comments
    1. FrankBurnell's Avatar
      FrankBurnell -
      I have a Savage 440 12 gauge over under. Barrels are marked with 4 stars on the bottom of the barrels...not asterisks...(cylinder), but barrel measures 0.6875, which puts it in the full choke class....what's what?
    1. ed mo's Avatar
      ed mo -
      How do I find the date of manufacture for my newly acquired Savage FoxB series H 20 gauge SxS?