Interesting barrel experiment- mixing and matching barrels

[Bill Holcombe]

I recently acquired a Trojan that has some loose family history with it. I have also recently acquired a CH that the barrels are being worked on. This is just a personal experiment for me as one way or another I intend for those bernard barrels to be back on this gun.

Anyway, I removed the cocking hook from the Trojan as I have read horror stories about people not being able to get barrels off when attempting this.

Anyway, as you can see below the Trojan barrels fit like they were made for it, the Trojan barrels have the removable wear plate, the CH barrels do not.

But here is the really fascinating thing to me. Conventional wisdom in parkerdom says to stay within 10k serial numbers of the gun you are trying to find a match for. There is more than a 100k serial number difference between these two shotguns. One was made pre-nitro powder, the other was made just prior to WW1. The CH was the cusp of the Parker High Grade guns and the Trojan was their "attempt" at making a "cheaper" field grade gun. Both are 2 frames and 12 ga. The Trojan Barrels are 28" and the Bernards are 30". Trojan unstruck weight is 4 oz heavier than the Bernard barrels.

I haven't yet tried to put the Trojan Forend on....theoretically it should work...but anyway, this was just idle curiosity on my part and by no means meant to say don't try to stay close on serial numbers. I just found it fascinating that 2 Parkers on vastly different ends of Parker production would have barrels that fit that perfectly.

[Jim DiSpagno]

Bill, they may not fit with the cocking hook etc installed. Just sayin

[Bill Holcombe]

I don't know on that Jim. The only other time I tried mixing barrels was on 2 3 dog DHs I had, one I bought from you, that were less than 5k serial numbers apart and I could barely get the barrel lug of either of them to fit into the action of the other.

Like I said, this was just idle curiosity.

[Jim DiSpagno]

I problem Bill just tried a set of 16 ga 1 frame bbls to a 1 frame GH 12 and without hook they went right on, with hook got hung up and had to disassemble so it’s a Crap Shoot. Good luck. Jim

[Jerry Harlow]

Just a warning: You may snap the Trojan forend on and find it nearly impossible to get off and you may even pull the screws out of the wood doing so. Don't ask how I know on a Sterlingworth that the other barrels fit "perfectly."

[Brian Dudley]

Usually when I hear people say "they clipped right on as if they wet made for it", I find that is not actually the case. I can see just from your photo that you are a little off face on the top of the barrels.

Good enough to close and shoot does not mean they are properly fitted.

Some barrels need little work, and others need tons, but they all do need some. I have had barrels that are 50 serial numbers apart that were no where near interchanging.

[Rick Riddell]

That is AWESOME, even if just out of curiousity! Goes to show the quality of Parker Brothers. Even the lowliest level guns were light years ahead of others entry level guns! Makes one look at Trojans a little different!

[Bill Holcombe]

Don't worry Brian, I have no intention of shooting it, and you are correct, the fit isn't perfect, but I was just shocked it closed. My curiosity was more inline with Ricks.

Mr. Early, curiosity got the better of me and the forend snapped right on and pulled back off thankfully with no issues.

Anyway, this was all in the purpose of exploration, I have no intention of shooting that CH with the Trojan barrels on it.

[Dean Romig]

Another thing I noticed Bill, besides the issues Brian pointed out is that the barrel breech on the left appears to be about .010" wider than the widest point on the breech ball and IF you were attempting to fit this set of barrels to your CH, would reguire some filing and fitting. As I pointed out earlier in our PM discussion of fitting 1 1/2 frame barrels to a 1 frame gun, this is one of the problem areas one might encounter.

Best, Dean





.

[Tom Flanigan]

I think it is a safe assumption that no parts of a Parker are perfectly interchangable, except for small screws. Most will require some fitting. I just re-stocked Trojan wood from a gun that was very close to the serial number of the target gun. I spend a day getting the wood to fit perfectly. Even the wood around the safety housing had to be modified. I was very surprised at the amount of fitting I needed to do to get it perfect.

[keavin nelson]

I recently had the experience of acquiring a VH "parts" gun that the barrels were heavily pitted on the outside, but not too bad on the bores. I tried them on my first Parker, from Dad 1970, that too had been well used. The left barrel had developed a small crack near the muzzle so I hadn't shot it in over 20 years. The parts gun barrels dropped right on without the cocking hook in place. No wobble at the hinge, and just a tad off face but tight (better than the original barrels). They look very nice on the gun with a new rust blue job! It did require a bit of adjustment on the hook. The guns are about 15000 units apart.