2 Vs 3 frame 12s - rambling questions

[OH Osthaus]

The threads about the 3 frame 12s got me thinking about maybe adding a heavy 12 to the mix some time in the future. Maybe another project gun.

While 3 frame 12's are not common, but I see more 2 frames with 32 inch heavy tubes.

I was looking at the frame measurements in the Parker Story- the difference in size between a number 2 frame and a number 3 seems to be around a 16th an inch depending on which measurement. About the same increase from a 1 to a 2. but as you go up the percentage of increase for 1/16 is less.

I have a 2 frame hammer gun, and comparing it to a 1 frame hammerless, I notice it is just a little bigger, the thicker breach being most obvious.

Most 1 frame 12's I have handled seems to be under 8 pounds, my 12 with light 28" barrels is just over 7 pounds, just a little more than my 1 frame 16.

My 2 frame hammer 10 - with 32 inch barrels stamped 5lbs 2oz - tips the scales at 9 pounds, so I expect a 12 with barrels in that weight range, on the same frame to be similar (although maybe more wall thickness with a smaller chamber?) That seems to be the same range as the 3 frame 12's mentioned in the past, but I doubt the frame size adds more than a few ounce to the guns total weight.

so -- Am I off on my guess about weights? I know that will answer itself when I start looking at individual guns.

so- except for the cool factor-and rarity, any practical difference with a 3 Vs a 2 in the field/marsh with something like non tox loads? A little more meat in the head of the stock for example?

for those that have one, what are the length and the weight stamps on your 32" 2 frame barrels?

[Researcher]

My heavy 1889 vintage, GH-Grade, 32-inch, 2-frame, 12-gauge has barrels weight stamped 5lbs 8oz and still weighs a bit over nine pounds even though they have lost two inches of their length. These barrels are very straight and thick. My Grandfather's 1890 vintage 3-frame PH-Grade has 30-inch barrels that swamp very fast and only weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces. I don't have Grandpa's gun, a second cousin in Minnesota does. When I recorded the specs of Grandpa's gun decades ago when my Uncle Howard was still shooting it, I didn't record the weight stamp.

[Mills]

I have a 3 frame 12 gauge and love it. It actually has 30" barrels. I have not weighed it, but it does have more mass than my other 12 gauges

[Ed Blake]

A 32" 3-frame 12 I own has a big swamp in the barrels and weighs less than a 32" 2-frame I also own. The 3-frame is nicely balanced and is a great shooter.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Ed Blake

A 32" 3-frame 12 I own has a big swamp in the barrels and weighs less than a 32" 2-frame I also own. The 3-frame is nicely balanced and is a great shooter.

that is the sort of thing I am wondering-

if the barrel weight is stamped before striking - then a swamped barrel could be uncharacteristically light for the weights marked

[Bill Murphy]

Cool factor and rarity does it for me. I can shoot dynamite in my two frame guns, so I don't need any more beef. However the three frames are so cool. My 16 gauge three frame is beyond cool. It weighs 8 pounds, 13 ounces. I have a DH 12 gauge two barrel set, three frame, that weighs 8-8 and 8-12, depending on the barrels installed. My three frame DH with sleeved Lefever Steel barrels appears as a 12 gauge in the order book, ordered at 10 pounds even. The two frame twenty gauge guns I am aware of, with swamped barrels, are ordered at 8 pounds even.

[charlie cleveland]

my 3 frame hammerless 12 ga barrels are marked 5 lb 10 ounce the gun weighs 9 1/4 lbs with 30 inch barrels..charlie

[Ed Blake]

Edward's 32" 2-frame 20 is right at 8.3.

[Mike Franzen]

My 2 frame, 12 ga lifter, 32" has a bbl weight 5lb 2oz stamp

[Alfred Greeson]

Sorry to be a new member but here in Tennessee we have swamps, have on occasion after drinking too much shine woke up in a swamp, spent too much time out on a ridge drinking shine and wandered down into a swamp but have never looked down a barrel and seen a swamp.
What is a swamp in your barrels?