10 Gauge Weight

[Arthur Shaffer]

What is the weight range of 10 gauge guns?

I mentioned that I had recently bought an 1874 Parker lifter in an auction. The gun was listed by the gun dealer as a 12 gauge but when I looked up the number in the serialization book, it showed it as a Damascus 30" 10 gauge. Grade looks to be above a base grade but below a 3 grade like I own. The barrel specs met the listing notes, so I questioned the dealer and was told they had tried a pair of 12 gauge snap caps and they seemed to fit OK.

I won't recieve the gun until next Tuesday, but I requested a letter which came today. It stated the gun was a 10 gauge built in 1874 but no mention of the chambers in the stock book (Number 1). No order book. The rough barrel weight stamped on the barrels in the ad shows 4# 2oz. I have a 3 frame 10 with 30" barrels that are marked 5# 10 oz. That gun weighs 10 #. That would seem consistent, but would a 10 gauge normally be found that light? I am thinking this might be a 10 ga with 12B brass chambers.

Some bore and chamber measurements will be in order as soon as it arrives.

[Bill Murphy]

Weight range for ten gauge Parkers is about 7 pounds 4 ounces to 12 pounds or more, so this is not going to help you at all. Measure your bores and chambers and that will tell the tale.

[Arthur Shaffer]

That was the plan when I bought it. The piece I left out was that the letter stated a weight of 8-1/2 pounds. That just seemed pretty light for most 10 gauges I have ever handled. Just wondering if it was ordered as an "upland" 10 so to speak.

[Dean Romig]

My 10 gauge Grade 3 Lifter with 30" Damascus Steel barrels on the 3-frame weighs 8.62 lbs. (8 lbs., 9 oz.)





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[Arthur Shaffer]

My 10 gauge Grade 3 Lifter with 30" Damascus Steel barrels on the 3-frame weighs 8.62 lbs. (8 lbs., 9 oz.)





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Wow! My similar gun with the laminate barrels is slightly a pound heavier than that. My barrels had an unstruck weight of 5-10. The barrels are incredibly thick even though they are actually true 9 gauge barrels.

[Milton C Starr]

7lbs low end to 16lbs extreme examples with 9.5lbs being the most common id say.

[Dean Romig]

Wow! My similar gun with the laminate barrels is slightly a pound heavier than that. My barrels had an unstruck weight of 5-10. The barrels are incredibly thick even though they are actually true 9 gauge barrels.



Just to make sure we're talking about the same thing, you keep saying "laminate" barrels Art... What is the rib marked? Does it say Laminated Steel?

Are the barrels you refer to actually "Laminated Steel" made by Parker Brothers and stamped with the P on the forward area of the right barrel flat? If yes, I have found that the Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels are generally heavier than other composite barrels found on Parker Bros. shotguns, barrel length and frame size being equal.
As an example, the 2-frame 28" Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels on my 12 gauge D Lifter have a pre-struck weight of 4 lbs., 8 ounces and the actual weight id 4 lbs., 1 ounce which is nearly a half-pound heavier than the normal weight of fluid steel or Damascus barrels of comparable length and frame size on any other Parker.





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[Dean Romig]

My barrels had an unstruck weight of 5-10. The barrels are incredibly thick even though they are actually true 9 gauge barrels.


Incidentally Art, in looking for a reference to the "true 9 gauge" you refer to, In the appendix pages of The Parker Story, beginning on page 1003, we see reference to the 8 gauge, then the 11 gauge, then the 14 gauge, but no tables making reference to a "9 gauge" so I'm guessing that you have a 10 gauge that is over-bored or honed out to a measurement that could be construed as a 9 gauge but what gauge shell actually fits the chamber perfectly? What gauge is the gun according to the Parker Bros. factory records? What is the serial number of this gun?





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