O Frame vs 1 Frame Question
 

I've never owned a 1 frame Parker so let's say you picked up an O frame 16 by the receiver in one hand and a 1 frame 16 with the other hand.

Can you personally feel a noticable difference in the size of the receivers ?

Thanks

At the risk of sounding flippant (and I do not intend to do so) it depends on how much the gun weighs. Not all O frame 16s are "light" and not all 1 frame guns are heavy. If the guns are unaltered, they are generally well balanced and carry well. I have 2 1 frames that weigh just north of 6 lbs. and two 0 frames that are nearly the same weight. My DH 16 built on a 1 frame has 26 inch barrels, and it carries in one hand really well (it's one of my go-to grouse guns). It's a little bit heavier than the others, but is nicely balanced and quick to mount.

If you are referring strictly to feeling a difference in the width, perhaps but I doubt it. The width is what: 1/8” or 1/16” inch?

Jay,

You are correct ... I was referring to the size difference of the receivers.

Sorry for my poor reading of your post. I can both see and feel the difference in my O frame and 1 frame 16s. It's subtle, but recognizable. I think the difference between the 2 and 1 frame 12s is even more apparent to the hand.

The svelte look and feel of the "next size down" is appealing. Does it kill more birds or break more clays...in my experience, yes.

The receiver on a 0 frame is more svelte to my eye.

I haven't seen that many but most of the 16's I have seen on the 0 frame just seem to have had a little extra attention. My VHE has really very pretty straight grain wood and it just fits as well as any double I own. I wonder if that was not a special order in most cases.

Here is a comparison between a 1 frame 16 and 0 frame 16. Both from 88,000 sn range. The 1 frame has the refinished barrels and is on the bottom in the first picture and the right in the second picture

The letters I have on my lighter frame guns (only 0 frame 16s and 1 frame 12s) do not show any special requests for a light gun, but they do indicate the weight. I'm sure that there was more to ordering than shows up in the letters, but there has never been a frame size noted in any letter I've received, nor have I read of such references on this site (at least to my feeble minded recollection).

Parker had its ideas about gun weight and stuck to them, at least within the boundaries of those ideas, even when accommodating special requests for lighter guns. There are documented cases where Parker refused to go too light (in their estimation) in building a gun.

Having noted this, I am still amazed at what the barrel strikers could do to lighten a gun and still maintain that "Parker balance."

Comparing similar off the shelf guns, 28 inch Trojans, 1 frame 16 vs O frame 20, the difference is immediately noticeable. Measuring or weighing they are very close, your eye easy to see.

Same gauge it’s noticeable too. I have a 12 G 30 inch 1 frame racked beside 12 G 30 inch 2 frame. Difference is obvious.

Take it a step further S&W made many frame sizes. In the small guns, I Frame next to a J frame, measured they are less than 1/8 inch apart in every dim. Eye or hand notices it right away.

Your eye is very perceptive, hand more so.

William