.410 Parkers

[Dean Romig]

Out of curiosity, what is the predominant chamber length of these not so common Parkers, 2 1/2” or 3” ??

Asking for a friend…





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[Bill Murphy]

A question best answered by our Research Chairman, Chuck Bishop, who has access to the stock books which cover the .410 era. I have always wondered about this subject also.

[Dean Romig]

So, number 215833 is the first production .410 Parker and that was nade about 1926 and there were 510 recorded .410 Parkers made but we know there were more through extrapolation, considering there are missing books after 1926. Do we know when Parker first produced a .410 with 3” chambers?






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[Dave Noreen]

It would likely be 1933 when the 3-inch .410-bore shell was introduced along with the Winchester Model 42. This was in the October 1933 Field & Stream --

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Capt P.A. Curtis may have been a bit off base saying Parker Bros. was first, as this from Ithaca Gun Co. was in the July 1933 National Sportsman --

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[Dave Noreen]

I'd suspect that the production would be heavily skewed to those first four years when the economy was booming. Parker production after that was pretty slow. I guess one could conversely argue that The Great Depression didn't have an effect on the folks buying such niche luxury items as .410-bore Parkers.

Also, we can't know how many Parker .410-bores built before 1933 have subsequently been bore out.

[Dean Romig]

Thanks Dave.

These pages from an early issue of “The American Rifleman” are what prompted my original questions.

I was going through one of Austin Hogan’s notebooks (that Pam gave me shortly after he passed) and, among other very interesting things, found these.



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[Dean Romig]

Curtiss may have been making reference to an actual Parker .410 "Skeet Gun" as being the first. Do we know if the Ithaca in reference was a true Skeet gun rather than simply a field grade?





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[Dave Noreen]

A while back one of our members posted this hang-tag for a .410-bore --

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It shows the 2 1/2 inch 3/8 ounce load. From the tables in the back of The Parker Story, this is the 206th .410-bore out of the 506 serial numbers listed.

[charlie cleveland]

how about those rustless steel single triggers on the 410 parker...a first for me....charlie

[Dean Romig]

Thanks Dave -

I wonder if we can presume that instead of a pellet count where only full & full are written along with the fact that 3/8 oz. loads were used, that 100% of the pellets fell within the pattern circle?





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[Dave Noreen]

Curtiss may have been making reference to an actual Parker .410 "Skeet Gun" as being the first. Do we know if the Ithaca in reference was a true Skeet gun rather than simply a field grade?



Ithaca didn't actually catalog a "Skeet Gun" until their 1935 catalog, but they did advertise guns for Skeet as early as July 1926.

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But, from the get-go Winchester offered a Model 42 Skeet Gun --

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[Dave Noreen]

Thanks Dave -

I wonder if we can presume that instead of a pellet count where only full & full are written along with the fact that 3/8 oz. loads were used, that 100% of the pellets fell within the pattern circle?
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From the 23 various hang-tags I've collected pictures of, up through 223605 they have actual pellet counts. From 232902 on up they show the choke.

[Dean Romig]

Is it safe to presume they are other gauges besides the .410’s?





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[Dave Noreen]

There are only three in addition to the .410-bore tag, 232902 a 12-gauge 2 5/8 inch Mod. & Full, 236030 a 20-gauge 2 3/4 inch Imp. Cyl. & Mod. and 240647 a 12-gauge 2 3/4 inch Mod. & Full.

I see the same thing on A.H. Fox hang-tags. Early tag have pellet counts and about WW-I they go to Full, Mod, Imp. Cyl. or Cyl.