198670 markings help

[Stephen Glenn]

I would like help identifying additional markings on the barrel flats and lug of my Parker Trojan.

By serial number it was made in 1922. It is a 12 ga with 30" barrels on a size 2 frame with ejectors. Pistol grip with end cap and plastic? but plate.

On the one side of the barrel flats is the initials JC in an oval. On the other side is the initials OV and an HT over an A. The 42 is the barrel weight correct?

On the lug is a 2 indicating frame size. There is also a 12 stamped on the lug at a 90 degree angle from the 2, what does that reference?

Also, what is the chamber length? I don't see any markings on the barrel as with newer guns. Will it shoot 2 3/4" shells or do I need 2 1/2"?

Thank you for teaching me and on any information you can provide.

Steve

[ED J, MORGAN]

JC is actually JG. for Jim Gerry, 12 on lug means 12 gauge, 4 lbs. 2 oz = unfinished barrel wt.

[Dean Romig]

OV is the standard stamp for Trojan Steel barrels. You will also see OV stamped on the action flats above or below the serial number.






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[Bill Anderson]

As far as ammo to feed it, I can bet over the years, since 1922, this old Trojan has had a lot of 2 3/4" shells through it without a hic-cup or concern, especially before the "forum days" where you are now told to be "careful". But, I guess the proper answer would be to have your gun checked out by a competent SxS gunsmith and measure the chambers. If I took your Trojan to the gunsmith near my house, who is probably 35 years old, and told him it was made in 1922, he would most likely tell me to put it above my fireplace or sell it and buy a semi-auto.

Bill

[Dean Romig]

I began hunting with a 12 ga. Trojan in about 1961 and fed that gun a variety of 2 3/4" "Duck & Pheasant" loads and all sorts of other stuff.





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[Researcher]

It is a 12 ga with 30" barrels on a size 2 frame with ejectors.

FWIW your gun has an extractor, not ejectors. The Trojan Grade was never offered with automatic ejectors. Parker Bros. 12-gauge guns built on the 2 frame are pretty stout. Being from 1922, your gun is from the same year Western Cartridge Co. introduced their high velocity, progressive burning powder, Super-X load --

Early Super-X 12-ga box, Super Excellant.jpg

[Mike Franzen]

How about the HT over A? What does that mean?

[B. Dudley]

Beleived to mean "Heat Treated and Annealed".

[Dean Romig]

This, from another thread, is Edgar Spencer's very educated opinion on the HT over A stamp.


"Every alloy is defined by it's range of individual elements, but also by it's heat treatment. A set of Vulcan steel barrels may have the same chemical analysis as a set of Acme or Peerless barrels, but those high end barrels may have a much finer grain structure, achieved from very precise times and temperatures. Does HTA stand for 'Heat Treated, Annealed"? I don't think so, simply because annealing essentially yields a nearly dead soft, stress free material. It's just my guess that it might stand for Heat Treated Alloy Steel. Those heat treat cycles for C, Cr, Ni, Mo steels are Normalizing, to achieve hardness and tensile strengths, and Tempering, to achieve ductility. It does no good to heat treat it to a high tensile strength, and have it shatter like glass.
If one supplier had orders for tubes, ultimately to be used in V and A grade guns, he may have made them all from the same heat of steel, and maybe even the same heat treat lots. He may have simply been asked to certify a certain number or quantity of rough tubes. In our own company, some castings may have gone out the door at $2.50 a pound, and others, of the same metallurgical history, at $50.00 / pound. It's how much paper with signatures that went with it that made the difference."





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