16 hammer 0 frame...

[Kurt Densmore]

...in a grade 2 with 26" bbls. This is only the second one of grade 2 I have seen. Anyone else on the board have one or aware of someone that does?? It has its fare share of issues as many 123 year old guns do....Bores are at 0.666 and constriction of 0.07 and 0.12. I may just take it out on a couple of duck hunts in the woods. Someone was even nice enough to open the chambers to 3" , which still left a healthy 0.090 of bbl wall thickness at the end of the chambers. It weighs in at a heafty 6.75 lbs. I am going to have to find some of those elusive 3" brass 16ga hulls one of these days.

[Dean Romig]

Nice find Kurt!

[Dave Suponski]

Congratulations Kurt! Good luck with the "Ol Girl"

[Don Kaas]

This the gun that was at Cabela's Gonzales. I had it sent to my local Cabela's and examined it closely. I sent it back. "its fair share of issues" were far to many for me. The very worn engraving is one thing but those barrels are ruined IMHO. .090 is not "hefty" for a set of 120 year old 0 frame composite barrels. Good luck with it and be careful.

[John Mazza]

Obviously, we mean 0.090" wall thickness (not 0.9")...

{If I had coffee already - I wouldn't have mentioned it.}

[Dean Romig]

Personally, with appropriate loads of say, 7,500 psi or less, I wouldn't be concerned with .090" at the front of the chambers. I shoot a GHe 16 0-frame that has not had the chambers lengthened that measures .065" and .067" which Oscar examined and told me was "probably safe to shoot with loads of 7,500 psi or less."

[Don Kaas]

Dean- your reliance on a off hand comment by dear late Oscar to justify the integrity of your own gun so often repeated by you on this and other internet sites does not comport with international proof standards nor the prudent opinions of most if not all professional gunsmiths. Will they blow Up? No, "probably" not. One stuck wad and the concept of prudent safety on these marginal (in the case of Kurt's gun) or beyond marginal (in the case of yours) bored out composite barrels has vanished. I merely caution prudence and inclusion of a margin of safety in evaluating the purchase and use of these old guns. This is something I think we should all encourage.

As to Kurt's guns, once I had measured the barrels and (for me personally) found them wanting, I immediately mentally moved to Plan B...have a set of Galazan's new 30" 20g barrels fitted to it. Adding up the cost of this including a re-cutting the engraving and re-casing, along with (for me) a mandatory re-stock quickly moved me to Plan C...send it back...I'm invoking Plan C more often than I used to, I hear there's a recession going on...in this case have 3 16g hammer Parkers made it easier but a G would have been nice...Good Luck with it Kurt!

[Harry Collins]

Kurt,

I have 48223. It started life as a 16 gauge, but it was monoblocked to 20 gauge before I purchased it. I have more fun shooting it than the law allows. Hope you have a ton of fun with yours as well.

Harry

[Kurt Densmore]

How would one know unless he was too measure the wall thickness on several 0 frame 16's that are still in proof..?? I did not have access to another parker but did have access to an English 16ga presumably in proof with its original 2 1/2" chambers and the barrel wall thickness at the end of the chambers was 0.85". I am not worried about this gun with normal 7/8 to 1oz loads with pressures comperable to that which were used in the day. You have a couple of 0 frame 16 hammer guns, when you get a chance measure the barrel wall thickness at the ends of the chambers and post up the information. By "heafty" I meant that the gun is 6 3/4 lbs which seems to me to be pretty heavy for a 26" bbl 0 frame 16. As far as that goes the barrels have more meat than most of the 0 frame 16 hammerless guns I have seen.

This the gun that was at Cabela's Gonzales. I had it sent to my local Cabela's and examined it closely. I sent it back. "its fair share of issues" were far to many for me. The very worn engraving is one thing but those barrels are ruined IMHO. .090 is not "hefty" for a set of 120 year old 0 frame composite barrels. Good luck with it and be careful.

[Dean Romig]

Don, I bow to your better knowledge and experience and your advice of a more prudent margin of safety on marginal or questionable barrels which may fall outside of accepted standards of proof.
I will accept your worthy legal advice to me on this matter and will no longer quote Oscar's letter (on his business letterhead) to me which I didn't take as an "offhand comment". But, again, you're right that I should use better judgement when giving my own offhand comments.

Dean

[Kurt Densmore]

Kurt,

I have 48223. It started life as a 16 gauge, but it was monoblocked to 20 gauge before I purchased it. I have more fun shooting it than the law allows. Hope you have a ton of fun with yours as well.

Harry

Nice Harry, Did they leave the 20ga bbls at 30" ?? That would be a lot of fun to shoot. I have shot a few rounds of sporting clays with it and enjoy it very much. I even got my wife to shoot a couple boxes in the yard and then go to the club for a round of sporting clays. She did really well with it. A set of 20 ga bbls added to it would be nice.

Kurt

[Kurt Densmore]

Obviously, we mean 0.090" wall thickness (not 0.9")...

{If I had coffee already - I wouldn't have mentioned it.}

Oppps...thanks John, I fixed it..

[Harry Collins]

Kurt,

I have resorted to employment and am not at home to go measure the barrels. As I recall they are 28", but you have given me pause. Could they be 30"?

arry

[Dave Suponski]

Harry,That looks to be one hell of a fun gun! What a great piece of wood.I have noticed that a lot of hammerguns have great wood on them.

[Harry Collins]

Dave,

Sorry to say the wood in not original. The stock was badly broken and before I knew of all the great repairs that were available I had Donnie Geems at Show Me Gun Stocks do a restock. I told him that it was a low grade Parker and not to get real fancy. He said he picked up a "scrap" from the floor. I think it is a nice "scrap" as well.

Thanks, Harry

[Dave Suponski]

Harry,I have to agree that is one great piece of scrap! What kind of butt treatment is on the gun?

[Harry Collins]

I asked Donnie to just checker it!

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I shudder to think how many doves that gun has killed.

DLH

[Kurt Densmore]

Harry, Nice stick of wood on that old girl...

Destry, I loaded up a few #2 bismuth for the 16 hammer gun. Couldn't get an ounce in the wad but was able to get 7/8 oz in there. I didn't count the number of pellets but it should be sufficient for birds over decoys. I may have to force Rich to used it seeing as he schooled me with his 28ga last weekend. I still owe him a cigar over that ordeal...:cuss:

[Destry L. Hoffard]

When I read that sort of crazy talk all I can do is shake my head......


Destry

[Bill Murphy]

I haven't measured the forcing cone area of my 30" 0 frame 16 hammer gun, but the stock book lists it at 7 pounds 3 ounces. I can't remember the marked barrel weight but I doubt that I'll ever blow her up. Marked barrel weight of two other 0 frame 16 hammer guns is 3-10 and 3-4. That 28" Laminated set at 3-10 is a real horse.