An observation and a question

[Eric Grims]

I grew up using a 16 gauge Trojan and it was the only gun I used through college.i loved the gun and I found that one of the most esthetic and attractive features of the gun to me was the taper in the rear of the barrels. It reminded me of the simplicity of the lines in a shaker design or an old grill on a classy Buick. As I picked up more Parker's I noticed that all were not so tapered. Am I correct to assume that this is where weight is generally removed from the barrels? Is this what is referred to as "swamping"? Whatever the answer some gradual tapers look quite elegant as if they were planned and crafted by someone with a keen aesthetic eye. Some just really stand out and add to the gun's character. How did the folks at PB approach this? Can someone set me straight?
Thanks

[Bruce Day]

TPS shows a photo of a taper gauge in the barrels chapter.

Taper is dependent on intended weight of the barrels and gun as a whole, which incidentally includes the starting width from the selected frame size.

In your example, the Trojan started with a #1 frame and tapered to 16 ga barrels. The taper would be less pronounced with a 12ga on a #1 frame or a 16ga on an #0 frame, etc.