11-Gauge Parkers

[Richard B. Hoover]

The Parker 11-Gauge is sort of the Ophan Child of the Parker World. I think a lot of this has been due to confusion that has come about from some of the Early Catalog Descriptions of the wads to use; early magazine articles combined with the fact that many very early Parker 12-Gauge Lifters were chambered for Parker 11B or Parker 12B brass shells and some of the Parker 11-gauge guns were chambered for Eley Paper 11-Gauge shells or UMC 11 brass shells, but very many appear to have been also chambered for Parker 12A brass shells. These ideas are based on some measurements Bill Furnish, George Flaim and I made almost 20 years ago and on a careful reading of a number of entries in the 1872 and 1873 Parker Order Books. It is also clear that there are a number of 11-gauge Parkers that were not included in the list of 11's shown in The Parker Story. Several of these guns are shown as 10 or 12-gauge guns in the Serialization. The only way to know for sure is to inspect the barrels and accurately measure the internal bore/chamber dimensions.

I am trying to get more data to see if this hypothesis is fully supported by the early lifters. I plan to bring my bore and chamber gauges and micrometer to the SXS. I would greatly appreciate it if you would allow me to measure any of your early shotshells and the internal dimensions of the bores of your early guns for an Article I am writing. I can measure the bores and chambers of any gun from a 10-ga to a 28-ga. I would also like to measure some later period (1880-1900) 12- and 10-ga Parkers to determine the degree to which these barrels could have been overbored.

As large as the PGCA has grown since 1996, it may now be possible to completely solve many of the mysteries of the Parker 11-gauge guns.

Your help would be greatly appreciated. Please call me at 256-337-4082 if you want to chat. I am always interested in talking about these wonderful guns.

Richard B. Hoover