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Bill Graham
05-03-2018, 10:07 AM
I heard recently that smaller framed guns by default had thinner walls than larger framed, in order to have the proper sized bores and fit to a smaller frame. While discussing whether or not the barrels on a #1 frame hammergun are thick enough with a friend recently, we pondered that and I wondered what the consensus is here, and if there’s any information from Parker about this. Thanks.

Rick Losey
05-03-2018, 12:10 PM
well- at least at the breech - that would make sense

as the size goes up -the frame is wider and the firing pin spacing increases so the barrels at the breech end must be bigger -

a wider set of barrels - with the same bore size - would necessitate more metal at the back end

the question would be- as the barrels are struck and the balance of the gun is adjusted

how much of this rear end affect will translate to thicker walls all the way down the tubes

i would guess - it depends on the gun and may not be a hard and fast rule

Bill Graham
05-03-2018, 12:31 PM
Thank you. In this particular case, the motivation for thinking about it is that the barrels in question on this #1 frame are on the thin side: Past the forend at 20 thousandths, and then thickening back up in the 30's towards the muzzles. Don't recall the breach end measurements, but there wasn't anything alarming there.

Gary Laudermilch
05-03-2018, 02:52 PM
My P grade 1 frame 12 with twist barrels were measured by Mr. Hosford. He recorded .115 at the end of chambers, .090 in front of the forcing cone, and a min. wall thickness of .031 and .032. He also commented that they were one of the most uniform sets of barrels he ever measured.

Bill Murphy
05-05-2018, 12:42 PM
I would check that .020 measurement against other guns known to be original #1 frame barrels.

Brian Dudley
05-05-2018, 04:20 PM
Barrel length can have an impact on wall thickess too. The longer barrels would be finished down more for the sake of balance.

Bill Graham
05-05-2018, 04:31 PM
These are 30”.

Dean Romig
05-05-2018, 08:08 PM
Wall thickness relative to frame size is equally dependent on bore size. Further, chamber wall thickness, beginning of forcing cone thickness, and probably the first 12" to 15" or so is also largely a result of both frame size and bore, i.e., gauge.





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Bill Murphy
09-18-2018, 11:01 AM
.020 "past the forearm" is definitely a sign that the gun has been fooled with. The scariest gun I have ever examined is the probably unique #1 frame ten gauge DH grade gun. It hasn't blown up yet, but the chamber walls are thin beyond description. It is factory original and is in the order book. It is #71767 as I recall. Look it up.

Mills Morrison
09-18-2018, 12:43 PM
I bought two 32" 12 gauges on 2 frames this year and both of them have about 22 thousandths several inches back from the muzzle with a long taper up to the low 30's at the end. I was wondering if they bored them out so the gun would not be too heavy?

Dean Romig
09-18-2018, 02:01 PM
That may not have been the result of boring but rather the result of striking.

What is the length of the choke tapers?



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Garry L Gordon
09-18-2018, 02:10 PM
.020 "past the forearm" is definitely a sign that the gun has been fooled with. The scariest gun I have ever examined is the probably unique #1 frame ten gauge DH grade gun. It hasn't blown up yet, but the chamber walls are thin beyond description. It is factory original and is in the order book. It is #71767 as I recall. Look it up.

Just curious, Bill, if you remember, what was the wall thickness that you describe here as "thin beyond description"?

Mills Morrison
09-18-2018, 02:47 PM
That may not have been the result of boring but rather the result of striking.

What is the length of the choke tapers?



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Several inches, but I did not measure exactly. Seemed really long.

Dean Romig
09-18-2018, 04:25 PM
When the choke taper gets up into the 6+" range I'll admit it does seem long. But that is very common on some Parkers.





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charlie cleveland
09-18-2018, 04:31 PM
mills i believe that weight had something to do with thickness of the barrel...my light weight guns all have thin barrels....have not measured them but you can tell by eye that they are thin....charlie

Mills Morrison
09-18-2018, 04:35 PM
When the choke taper gets up into the 6+" range I'll admit it does seem long. But that is very common on some Parkers.





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Could be 6, but I don't know for sure. One gun is 1889 and the other is 1906 or so. Very similar, despite basically two different Parker eras.

The variations in Parker barrels amazes me. They seemed to really know what they were doing though

Mills Morrison
09-18-2018, 04:37 PM
mills i believe that weight had something to do with thickness of the barrel...my light weight guns all have thin barrels....have not measured them but you can tell by eye that they are thin....charlie

You are right Charlie. It seems if they wanted to lighten the weight of gun, they made the barrels thinner.

Bill Murphy
09-19-2018, 09:01 PM
We did not measure the wall thickness of 71,767.

Garry L Gordon
09-20-2018, 09:34 AM
This information probably just confirms the obvious, but I have a GH 12 that has 30 inch Damascus barrels and is built on the #1 frame. It's unstuck barrel weight is 3 lbs 9 oz and the barrels weigh 3 lbs 2 oz. The gun weighs 7 lbs .55 oz. The chokes are .040 in each barrel and are about 4 inches long each. The minimum wall thickness at 9 inches from the breech is .047 for both barrels. This gun letters as weighing 7 lbs.

The barrel strikers could work wonders! Yes, these are factory guns, but when you look at the individual guns, they are much more like custom made than one would think at first glance.

Bill Murphy
07-21-2020, 07:07 PM
Dean, we don't know, by measurement, what the chamber wall thickness is in the #1 frame ten gauge, #71767. However, this measurement can be calculated by knowing the pin separation and breech dimension of a #1 frame gun. The formula would be to know the breech dimension, subtracting the pin separation, dividing by two. Maybe another known dimension would be involved, but I think I gave us enough to calculate the wall thickness of the breech, at least at the outside.

Milton C Starr
08-27-2020, 02:22 PM
You are right Charlie. It seems if they wanted to lighten the weight of gun, they made the barrels thinner.

I have seen this being the case with 10 gauge doubles , seems most 10 ga 2 7/8 doubles fall in around 9.5lbs and then sometimes you see the 10lb+ ones and the extra weight is in the barrels .

I think the MWT on my 6 frame 10 gauge is .070 if I recall correctly , but on the smaller 10 gauge frames I see something in the range of .040 most of the times .

charlie cleveland
08-27-2020, 06:52 PM
I have a 3 frame 10 ga with 30 inch barrels Damascus 3 1/2 inch chambers with the weight of 7 lbs 14 ounces...I figured this to be the heavest set of 30 inch barrels ever made but I was wrong I seen another 10 ga with 30 inch bareels that weighed 8lbs 10 ounces...I wish I had bought that gun just because of the barrel weight....the mozzles of my gun are over .100 thousands...go figure my gun is bad muzzle heavy...my barrels are not cut and the other guns barrel are not cut...my barrels are heaiver on the ten ga. than they are on one of my parker 8 ga s it was a 34 inch gun but now a 32 inch gun....that parker with 30 inch barrels had to be a record at 8 lbs 10 ounces.....charlie

charlie cleveland
08-27-2020, 06:57 PM
i know there are barrels that weigh more than 8 lbs 10 ounces but does any body out there have a set of 30 inch barrels at this weight or even can beat 30 inch barrels at a weight of 7 lbs 14 ounce....charlie

Milton C Starr
08-27-2020, 07:23 PM
I have a 3 frame 10 ga with 30 inch barrels Damascus 3 1/2 inch chambers with the weight of 7 lbs 14 ounces...I figured this to be the heavest set of 30 inch barrels ever made but I was wrong I seen another 10 ga with 30 inch bareels that weighed 8lbs 10 ounces...I wish I had bought that gun just because of the barrel weight....the mozzles of my gun are over .100 thousands...go figure my gun is bad muzzle heavy...my barrels are not cut and the other guns barrel are not cut...my barrels are heaiver on the ten ga. than they are on one of my parker 8 ga s it was a 34 inch gun but now a 32 inch gun....that parker with 30 inch barrels had to be a record at 8 lbs 10 ounces.....charlie

Charlie my 32" barrels on my 10 ga 6 frame is 8lbs 4oz , I bet those heavy barrels on the 3 frames are extremely muzzle heavy . The Bonehill I had was in the 10lb range and someone had punched those chambers out to 3.5" . It was extremely muzzle heavy .


I was looking at a Parker 10 ga hammer gun yesterday its listed as 10lbs and the barrels are marked at a even 6lbs , its a 3 frame 32" . I have seen some 10.5lb 3 frame 10 gauges but I would think they would be front heavy . Parker knew how to balance these big bores though , so perhaps they had a reason for putting heavy barrels on the smaller 10 gauge frames .


My 10 gauge barrels have alot of taper to them as well , they may be a 6 frame at the breech but they taper down to the muzzle like a normal sized 10 gauge say a 3 frame . If they had the contour of 8 gauge barrels they would probably be 10lbs haha .

Mills Morrison
08-28-2020, 11:31 AM
I have a 3 frame 10 ga with 30 inch barrels Damascus 3 1/2 inch chambers with the weight of 7 lbs 14 ounces...I figured this to be the heavest set of 30 inch barrels ever made but I was wrong I seen another 10 ga with 30 inch bareels that weighed 8lbs 10 ounces...I wish I had bought that gun just because of the barrel weight....the mozzles of my gun are over .100 thousands...go figure my gun is bad muzzle heavy...my barrels are not cut and the other guns barrel are not cut...my barrels are heaiver on the ten ga. than they are on one of my parker 8 ga s it was a 34 inch gun but now a 32 inch gun....that parker with 30 inch barrels had to be a record at 8 lbs 10 ounces.....charlie

Wow!