Will fire harm a choke?

[Tom Foolery]

One of my students had a house fire a few years back and they lost nearly everything.  He asked today if I knew anyone that wanted a choke from an 835, a Kicks .680 but it was in the fire.  The stocks were melted but the gun did not get on fire.  He only wants $20 and I am going to buy it because he is a good kid and they probably still need some help, but if I were to want to shoot lead through it, would it be harmed, would it hold up?


Thanks

[BowBendr]

I believe it would be ok. The kicks chokes are built like tanks and I don't personally believe the fire would have gotten so hot directly on the choke that it would anneal the steel. I'd shoot it....

[allaboutshooting]

One of my students had a house fire a few years back and they lost nearly everything.  He asked today if I knew anyone that wanted a choke from an 835, a Kicks .680 but it was in the fire.  The stocks were melted but the gun did not get on fire.  He only wants $20 and I am going to buy it because he is a good kid and they probably still need some help, but if I were to want to shoot lead through it, would it be harmed, would it hold up?


Thanks

I would recommend that you contact Chuck or Charlie Boswell at Kick's and ask them about the affect of a hot fire on their choke tube. That choke is manufactured from 17-4PH stainless steel but I would be cautious about shooting it, at least until I spoke with one of them.

Thanks,
Clark

[ILIKEHEVI-13]

One of my students had a house fire a few years back and they lost nearly everything.  He asked today if I knew anyone that wanted a choke from an 835, a Kicks .680 but it was in the fire.  The stocks were melted but the gun did not get on fire.  He only wants $20 and I am going to buy it because he is a good kid and they probably still need some help, but if I were to want to shoot lead through it, would it be harmed, would it hold up?


Thanks

I would recommend that you contact Chuck or Charlie Boswell at Kick's and ask them about the affect of a hot fire on their choke tube. That choke is manufactured from 17-4PH stainless steel but I would be cautious about shooting it, at least until I spoke with one of them.

Thanks,
Clark

That's good advice. 

[the Ward]

Good advice!I would also ask your student if the rib or barrel on the gun warped from the heat.If it didn't,i would say it would probably be ok.If the rib came off the barrel(solder melted)or if the reciever itself melted(aluminum)then that would indicate the steel was exposed to very high temperatures and the choke may have been affected.Like you said it's only $20 and you would be helping out a kid in need,so i would probably just buy it anyway.I,m sure kicks could do a rockwell test on it to check if the hardness is in doubt.Our schools certainly could use more educators like yourself who care about our kids!Just be careful about talking about "gun parts" in school it could land you both in trouble in these crazy "P.C." times were livin' in lol!....ward

[R AJ]

I got a Rem modified choke for my 20 gauge that had been through a fire and it gave it a darkened blued coloration . The choke works just fine. If there is no sign of rust, whiting of the steel or such I feel like it is OK . Clark's advice to call and have the chokes at hand to describe exactly how they look to them sounds like a great move.

Be sure to brush all threads, clean and check the threads fairly often after greasing them with anti-seize lubricant before using if you go ahead with them.

[Tom Foolery]

Thanks guys, I'll give Kicks a ring on Monday. 

He is a good kid, I coached him and his brother in middle school football.  They come from a good family and they all hunt, brothers, sister, dad and mom so when they lost all their guns in a fire I went to the safe and drug out a Savage .270 Win that I had just won.  They are big .270 fans, I am not, so I scoped it, bought some ammo and gave it to them and they stilll use it.  It helped me out because then I did not have to actually admit to anyone that I owned a .270 and they killed 4 deer with it that season.


As for being careful in our P.C. times I agree but our school is pretty heads up on this stuff.  Everyone I work with either hunts or with the women their husbands hunt and own guns.  I have 1 fired and 1 unfired 20mm cannon shell and a fired 30mm cannon shell on my desk, we discussed the differences in round ball vs Mini ball and smooth bore vs rifled barrels.  I have quite a few unfired and recovered bullets in my desk that I pass around to show the grooves in the jackets and how they expand.  We just went over rate of twist, bullet stabalization, and why bullets drop over distance on Friday.  Quite a few of my kids hunt so I am contantly seeing pictures of critters they kill and we discuss the "best deer bullet" a couple of times each fall.  The principal and assistant principal are hunters also.  I get gobbling reports from teachers and kids through turkey season. 

I teach 8th grade American History.

[the Ward]

Thats good to hear that there are still some  schools left in the country that haven't succumed to the crazy left wing agenda you see on the news all the time.Should have guessed you were a history teacher,all the ones i had were great people!it was my favorite subject,and imo one of the most important.Let us know what kicks says about the choke if you can,.....ward

[turkey buster]

im sending my kids to your school!

[runngun]

Tom Foolery you are a good feller!!!  I was lucky enough to have had a teacher like you in Jr high.

Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

[allaboutshooting]

I'll just add my thanks to you for all that you do as a teacher. You will influence students for their lifetimes and I'm glad it's with common sense as well as formal education. I'm also very happy to hear that there are still schools like yours. It's what we need more of in this world. Thank you.

Clark

[Tom Foolery]

Thanks guys, I enjoy teaching American history, it's ashame they are taking it out of middle school in 2 years.  Going to be all "world history and world geopgrahy".  They are kicking American History to 1877 up to 9th grade and 1877 to Present in the 10th grade.


I'll let you guys know what Kicks says.

[Tom Foolery]

I called Kicks and they said shoot it.  The steel they use and the way they are tempered they said the only way fire would harm one of their chokes would be if it got hot enough to melt the barrel.

[R AJ]

I called Kicks and they said shoot it.  The steel they use and the way they are tempered they said the only way fire would harm one of their chokes would be if it got hot enough to melt the barrel.

Thanks for the follow up as many times we get right to the important facts of a post and then nothing.
If you get extremely high numbers from that choke you will have us roasting our chokes like a wiener over a camp fire. 

[the Ward]

Thanks also for the update Tom!And Raj,thats hilarious!