Alright gents. I have figured out exactly how I'm going to do this. It will likely be a while because there's a lot going on, but I'm going to use a 20 gauge choke tap/reamer for a Rem choke.
Yes, I know. 20 gauge is the wrong thing.
Sort of.
I'm wanting a full choke in this gun anyway, or even a little more than full choke is fine with me too. That's no problem with the 20 gauge.
I will have to taper ream the mouth of the choke at an angle so the wad doesn't strike the edge of the choke and thus blowing it out the barrel and stuck at the choke. So, it will be taper reamed or honed at an angle at the mouth to give it a smooth transition. I can do that on my lathe.
The thing with a 16 gauge full choke that I wasn't thinking of, 16 ga full choke is the same size as a 20 gauge cylinder bore choke diameter. So, the two overlap. But as I mentioned, I'll have to smooth the transitional area where the choke meets the barrel bore. That's no problem and there's enough meat on the choke to do it too. I just have to angle it at the mouth.
The 20ga Rem choke, the outside diameter of the choke itself is .704". The 16 barrel bore is closer to .648'ish. Plenty of room for the threads and I won't even have to ream out as much metal from the bore either as doing a regular 20 gauge barrel. So, this is going to be a win win.
When I do the rent-a-reamer thing, I will need to make my own barrel bushing to use in it though. Again, that's something I can do no problem.
In order for me to make a more open choke (like a modified 16 bore choke-which I also want to make one for it) I will have to bore out the entire 20 ga choke to 21/32, which is .656" and taper the mouth of it a little too-even less than I will need to do for the full choke, but that's simple enough too. So, this is certainly going to be a project that I can do.
The numbers line up. Everything will be within the minor/major diameters of everything, other than a few special details, but I can do this.
Barrel length is cut to about 22 inches. I didn't really want an 18 for this, and I didn't want a 28" barrel either. So, 22 inches seems like a nice handy length.
Stupid choke is gone now.
Already looking better at least.
By the time I get done with it, it should hold a decent pattern too. Just by putting it up to my cheek and looking over the barrel, it feels good. A bit shorter than most of the other guns I hunt with. But, not crazy short.
I know that it may look a little odd on such an old gun, but will probably go with a fiber optic front sight on it. To be honest, I'm considering one of the truglo snap on sights. I can drill tap the barrel, but there's not really any way to adjust it to the POI if you need to. With the snap on style, I will be able to at least move it left and right a little to fine tune it before I JB weld it and or/drill and tap it. That would probably give me a little more leeway.