Barrel composition of pre 1900 Parkers

[Bruce Day]

There are non Parker cheap barrels made of rolled steel edge welded and printed with a fake Damascus pattern. Don't shoot those. All the early lifter action Parker barrels I have seen look pretty stout and have ample wall thickness, and well they should because a common practice was to cram as much black powder in the hull as possible and blast away. I don't know about the back action lifters and hinge lock early Meriden Mfg guns.

People commonly say " low pressure " without defining low pressure. To me , assuming unaltered barrels, appropriate pressure remains Parker service loads as made. Some throw out 6000 psi for a 12 ga based upon British loads, but those are for thin walled 2" guns which are a long way from Parker stout. Others throw out 8500psi ( 12ga) without any apparent documentary justification . So I don't know what folks mean when they say low pressure. To me, I am more concerned with low recoil for target loads than low pressure, so that means 1 oz or less and maybe 1100 fps for a 12. Lots of confusion between low recoil and low pressure.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Bruce Day

All the early lifter action Parker barrels I have seen look pretty stout and have ample wall thickness, and well they should because a common practice was to cram as much black powder in the hull as possible and blast away.

as long as no one has been to aggressive in "cleaning" them up, they look like pipes, I don't think these have been honed at all




i do stick with lower pressure/lowwer recoil loads for the sake of the wood.

but, my 1904 VH was rebarrelled by Remington with modern chambers, I shot modern 2 3/4 in it (not all that many a year) and this year noticed a fine crack in the wrist of that old wood - i can't prove it- but my guess is stiffer loads didn't help