Arthur, the difference between unstuck and finished barrel weight has always been of great interest to me. Certainly, the craftsmen at Parker Bros. selected components based on requests regarding weight and handling, and the frame size was often what helped determine overall weight and balance. Having said that, I've examined my own guns -- those for which I have research letters specifying weight -- and compared the un-struck barrel weight to the finished weight and have found a rather wide degree of variance. It's clear to me that the barrel strikers could work wonders.
It is interesting that your 8 oz. (give or take a small amount) figure seems to come up with some frequency in my guns, also. My sample size is small in the grand scheme of Parker numbers, but at around 20 guns for which I have recorded weights, 8+ oz. is not uncommon.
I think quite a few guns have had their bores "cleaned up" over the years, and that obviously contributes to some barrel weight loss, but by how much, who knows?
An interesting question, for sure, but also a reminder of how much hand work was done on these "manufactured" guns.
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