VH 12ga with 3" Chambers?

[Andy Martel]

Hello everyone;

New to the forum and have a few fairly general but specific questions that I could not find answers to using the search function.

Firstly, I work for a family run bait and tackle shop in eastern VA. I do a lot of archery and firearms work for the family. I am currently in the midst of an inventory of an estate of guns that belonged to the patriarch of this family. He had several nice firearms including about half a dozen VH and Trojan Parkers.

The question I have pertains to one of his favorite hunting guns which was/is a VH 12ga. The watertable on the bottom of the barrels is stamped 3in chamber. The gun also has a wide beavertail forend and rosewood grip cap and a few other fancy features I was suprised to see on a VH. He had added a Pachmyer White line Recoil pad to it as he had done on most of his hunting guns. Were these wood upgrades available on the VH? Were there any 12ga VHs factory chambered in 3" or is this something that was perhaps done by Remington later on down the line?

The gun's SN is 90735 is that helps anyone out. I am going to put up a few pictures for your consideration later today.

Thank you.

[Researcher]

That is a very early VH-Grade Parker Bros., early 1899. At that time this new lowest priced Parker double was offered "only in standard gauges, barrel lengths and stock dimensions." While there were 3-inch 12-gauge shells available at that time, from the ammunition factories they were no heavier loaded than the the heaviest 2 3/4 inch shells (3 1/2 drams of bulk smokeless powder, or 28 grains of dense smokeless powder such as Ballistite or Infallible and 1 1/4 ounce of shot). Their appeal was more and better wadding which many serious Pigeon shooters believed to be an advantage. Parker Bros. would chamber new guns for any length shell the purchaser requested, but the guns weren't marked in any way to show this chamber length. The "modern" progressive burning powder 3-inch 12-gauge throwing 1 3/8 ounce of shot was introduced by Western Cartridge Co. in the mid-1920s put up in their 3-inch Record hull. The 3-inch "Magnum" 12-gauge shell throwing 1 5/8 ounce of shot was introduced by Winchester and Western in 1935 along with the Winchester Model 12 Heavy Duck Gun. Very late Remington era Parker guns were marked with gauge and shell length on the left side of the barrel lug.

[Andy Martel]

Here are some pictures to help. Sorry it took a bit longer than I thought... got a little rush of business here at the shop. Boss is at the ATA show in Ohio and I am left here at the shop.... somebody has to drive the mule... besides I'd miss a whole week of the duck season if I went anyway!







If a real beaver had a tail this wide he'd be quick enough to spring your conibear trap and swim completely through before the jaws shut!

[Autumn Daze]

Andy, The wood on your gun does not look to be factory. The chamber length stamping is not Parker Bros.

[charlie cleveland]

i like this 3 inch gun even if its not factory markings.... charlie

[Andy Martel]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

i like this 3 inch gun even if its not factory markings.... charlie

He liked it a lot too. His son said that this was his main deer hunting gun (which is saying something because I'm not quite halfway through his inventory... I've done the doubles and the rimfires and am on gun number 53). Here in VA deer hunting is usually an affair done with buckshot and hounds. My boss said he remembered sitting between his dad's knees watching his dad kill a pair of deer with a single shell out of that Parker. When his father (our founder whose estate firearms I'm sorting out) was alive he was a real live wire. He used to do some things that would get you put under the jail today.

He and I got along grandly because we are/were both bird hunters and liked double guns and english setters. We were also both fringe outdoor rouges in our respective time periods and he kept a big slice of it in him til the day he died; yet he had a real old school sense of class too. I don't believe I ever saw him without a neck tie on.... especially whenever he was hunting. He was raised in a dirt floor house and started this business picking red worms out of cow patties. Very humble begginings. But his work ethic was one of those that this country was built on and he left a real legacy behind him. He used to brag about how smart he was... so smart he said that he even finished in the top ten of his high school class... 7th in fact! Of course... there were only 9 members of his graduating class!

By the time I had met him he was well on in years and was wheelchair bound and a bit cantankerous because he couldn't do all the things he loved so dearly any longer. He had a rotation of full time nurses he paid out of pocket and only kept them on the pay roll if they would tolerate taking him fishing at least once a week. I remember throwing a decoy over the light line for him so he could try and shoot a setting dove with a 28ga out of the passenger side of his Explorer... God Bless the man... I hope I still have that much passion and desire when I get to his age. He passed back in May.

Thanks for all the advice on the gun. I'm sure if it could talk the stories would be worth hearing.

Andy

[Bill Murphy]

Post a picture of the rib where the logo is stamped, and the left side of the barrel lug. That may give us some more information.

[Andy Martel]

Originally Posted by Dave Suponski

Andy, The wood on your gun does not look to be factory. The chamber length stamping is not Parker Bros.

Do you suppose, given where it is stamped, that this was something that the gun might have been returned to Remington for later on down the line?

Thanks!

[charlie cleveland]

andy that was a great story of this man....some one needs towrite hisstories down for his family as well as the rest of us old fellas....would have liked to have seen him take that shot with the parker and get 2 deer with one shot....hope i can get somebody tothrow a decoy out on the line when i get in a wheelchair which wont be to long....hope youfind out something interesting about the vh....what are the lenth of the barrels and how is she choked.... charlie

[Andy Martel]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

andy that was a great story of this man....some one needs towrite hisstories down for his family as well as the rest of us old fellas....would have liked to have seen him take that shot with the parker and get 2 deer with one shot....hope i can get somebody tothrow a decoy out on the line when i get in a wheelchair which wont be to long....hope youfind out something interesting about the vh....what are the lenth of the barrels and how is she choked.... charlie

Our website is acting up for some odd reason. I was going to post a link to the "About Us" page which tells the whole story of the business and how it got started. It really is a great piece of history. Business has been right here in this same building since 1954.

I'm headin out for the day. I'll post up some pictures of the rib stamping and try to remember my calipers so I can check the chokes tomorrow and I'll post up.

Andy