Shocking Question

[Arthur Shaffer]

I want to throw out a blasphemous question for general information.

Has anyone ever seen a Parker 10 gauge bored out to 8 gauge? I have seen people that have taken modern Matador II , I believe, doubles and done this.
The thing that piqued my interest was that I won an auction several months back for an average looking late lifter that was advertised as a 12 gauge that turned out to be the heaviest 10 gauge I have ever seen. It has untouched Damascus barrels, the gun is in really nice condition and the barrels are literally like sewer pipes in thickness. After boring and rechambering, it would have walls everywhere in a normal 8 gauge range. I already have 2 8 gauges, a Scott and a Webley, in a high grade and in excellent shooting condition. Problem is both are so old ( both 1871-1872) that neither were built with choked bores. I know the argument about degradeing a Parker, but 10 grade lifters are not a rare commodity. I have 6 right now. With the costs of a functional 8 gauge, the economics would likely lay in the direction of a conversion if I decide that I want an 8 gauge with more long range performance. With what I payed for the 10 gauge and the boring/chambering costs I would have around $1700 in a gun that could only be determined to be modified by checking the serialization book. There is no way any solid useable 8 gauge could be touched on the market for that.

[Bill Murphy]

Art, give us the actual bore dimensions of the guns you describe, the one you purchased. I spent several years with a 10 gauge Matador and there is no way it could have been bored out to an eight gauge. Give us dimensions of the Matador you describe.

[Craig Larter]

In the UK there was a guy boring out Madador 10's to 8ga. He stopped the practice since most of the modified guns developed barrel bulges behind the choke. Just for a frame of reference, I own and shoot three Parker 8's and a Lefever. The min wall on all of them is .060. The min wall at 9" from the breech is .120. The bores range from .833-.841. Another issue to consider is the only plastic wad somewhat available is the Gualandi industrial that measures .850 dia.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

I have a 10 gauge with. extra thick barrel walls I consider it a bonus, shoot that ten gauge and be glad your barrel walls are good, Gary

[Bill Murphy]

My Matador was the lightweight model, about 9 1/4 pounds. I don't know about the heavy Matador, wall thickness etc.

[Arthur Shaffer]

Art, give us the actual bore dimensions of the guns you describe, the one you purchased. I spent several years with a 10 gauge Matador and there is no way it could have been bored out to an eight gauge. Give us dimensions of the Matador you describe.

My post was likely confusing. I didn't purchase a Matador. I was referring to a pretty long thread on another gun board that I remembered from a year or so ago. Several people in that thread were discussing a specific Modern Spanish gun that they had rebored to 8 gauge. Some posters were looking for copies of the gun to purchase. I thought I remembered the model being a Matador II but that may well be wrong.

I will say as to bore diameter that I have two 8 gauge English guns, a single and a double. Both are in excellent condition and I have shown them to several expert collectors who all believe, as do I, that the bores in both are original. That said, I believe that the bores in European 8 gauges seem to be somewhat larger than American counterparts (in the time period of the two guns I own). I have tried published and tested low pressure loads in those guns with the Gulandi wads and they tend to not seal properly. I have had much better luck with 7 or 8 gauge fiber wads working properly, depending on the hull. I also found that the last batch of the wads I bought a few weeks ago were a loose fit in the hulls I tried, including Winchester, Remington and Track of the Wolf. None of them would seat with any wad pressure.

Every gun I buy goes through a check of bore and wall measurements, along with a borescope look. I will look up and check what I measured, but at the time I calculated the wall profile with an 0.835 bore and it seemed more than adequate. I will check it against the Parker measurements listed above.