Long barreled 20's

[Frank Srebro]

I was looking for something last night and came across this piece by Almo out in Roswell. Not specific to Parkers but interesting reading from 1908, especially his apparatus to measure shot stringing. :whistle:

http://i1044.photobucket.com/albums/b450/silvers897/IMG_5437_zpsfpwtg6hs.jpg (http://s1044.photobucket.com/user/silvers897/media/IMG_5437_zpsfpwtg6hs.jpg.html)

[Dean Romig]

Who was Almo? Is Bob Brister one of Almo's decendants?

Very interesting stuff - Thanks Frank.

[Dave Noreen]

I wonder what "dense powder" old Almo was using? The heaviest 20-gauge loads I've found our North American ammunition factories offering in 1908 and for a lot of years later was 2 1/2 drams of bulk smokeless powder or 20-grains of dense smokeless powder such as Infallible or Ballistite pushing 7/8 ounce of shot. Such loads only available in 2 3/4 inch or longer shells. The lighter loads offered in the 2 1/2 inch 20-gauge shell were 16 grains of Infallible or Ballistite pushing 3/4 ounce of shot or 18 grains pushing 7/8 ounce of shot. I'm thinking 17 grains pushing 1 ounce would be pretty slow.

[Mark Landskov]

The heaviest I could find in my collection is a Peters 'Target' with 2-3/4 drams of Oval and 7/8 ounce of chilled no. 6. The fired hull would be at least 2-7/8", if not 3".

[Daryl Corona]

Your doing a GREAT job with that scanner Frank. Neat story, only on what kind of repeating shotgun do you think the barrel was cut from 32 to 28? What was the popular repeater of that time? Mrs. Almo and a 32" repeater. Sounds nice.

[Frank Srebro]

Daryl, I haven't found the right scanner as yet. The pic was done with my regular camera as a jpeg and it's about the tallest I can do without the print getting too small to read. I'm not a vintage repeater guy and I don't have any idea what Mrs Almo might have been using. Maybe someone else will chime in.

[Dave Noreen]

That is an interesting question! I can't think of any 20-gauge repeater being available in 1908.

[Bill Murphy]

Dean's comment about Bob Brister calls for more research. Almo's apparatus for testing shot stringing is primitive compared to Brister's Country Squire. My Country Squire is alive and running well, just waiting for a wife that will agree to drive it while I shoot at it.

[John Dallas]

Bill - Tell me your Country Squire has the 460 in it. If it does, it will pass everything except the gas pump.