Nice outfits.
Everything old is new again.
It was called a Routledge bore, and claimed 85% of pellets in a six inch circle at 33 feet!
Very impressive. I would like to duplicate that!
It used a smoothbore from the start, though. During the 1930s, mini-skeet programs utilzing small clay targets were promoted by several firms. One such program was offered by the Routledge Manufacturing Co. of Monroe Mich. In april. 1937 Fred Routledge of that firm applied to the US patent Office for a patent on an invention that "relates to training equipment for skill in marksmanship" His patent application noted the use of a counterbore smoothbore barrel. The cal .22 portion of the bore at the breech end spanned about one-half the length of the barrel. The remaining 12 or 13 inches of the barrel was about 0.40" in diameter. In US patent no. 2,185,523 granted to Routledge on Jan 2, 1940, this counterbored barrel section was claimed to control the pattern of a standard cal .22 long rifle shot cartridge (containing at least 120 #12 pellets) so that 85% of the pellets would strike within a 6" circle at 33 feet.
Between 1945 & 1955 inclusive, Remington produced 2,653 model 121 Fieldmasters and 2,118 model 510 bolt-action single-shot smoothbore guns under the Routledge patent. Also produced by Remington for the Routledge firm were 5,557 model 514 bolt-action single-shot and 3,991 model 572 slide-action rifles with STANDARD (not Routledge) smoothbore barrels.
The above info is from an article that appeared in the November, 1974 issue of American Rifleman.
Interesting,,,
They had an indoor range
In the 1970’s called
Wingo,IIRC.
With lanes like a Bowling
Alley they would Lob an
Ice ball and you
Would shoot it with
A
22 rifle using shot.
I guess it didn’t
catch on.
It seemed fun.
The Building is now
A Traffic Court
in Kearney Mesa,San Diego.
I have made 22cal smoothbore zip-guns out of a old car antenna. To sight them you just bend the barrel until they shoot straight.. lol.
To do a proper ‘jug choke’ the over-bored portion of the barrel has to have a section of the barrel near the muzzle bored over the dia. of the muzzle.
It would have to be done in a lathe with a small boring bar.
That would allow the shot to spread out to fill the bore but then be choked back down to less than bore dia.
If I could draw it out I could explain it easier.
I was a tool and die maker in a former life, and I’ve done some work on shotgun choking and reloading for pattern improvement.
Nice outfits.