When were the ribs attached Before striking or after ? I think what I want to ask is were the ribs put on before any striking ? I would think after they were struck and ribs fitted would make for a smoother solder joint .Therefore how did they know what unstruck weight would be ?

I habe a set of new parker barrels here that are bored, but not chambered. They have bottom ribs on them, but no top rib or rib extension and they are weight stamped.

Does the weight match the stamped ?

The ribs were attached before striking.



.

This set I mention is stamped 4 - 2.

When I put it on the scale along with a top rib and rib extension the weight is 3 lbs. 14 oz.

When I add in an unfinished forend iron, the weight comes up to 4 lbs. 2 oz.

I am just providing the info on this particular New (unfinished) barrel set that I have here.


In previous discussions here, which I was not involved in, it was suggested that MAYBE the stamped weight factored in the typical weight of a FE iron into the mix. a number of people weighed their barrels with complete forends attached and the weights came relatively close to the stamped numbers.
This is what leads me to think that there MIGHT be something to this idea... But... I wasn't there of course so that is all I can say.

See http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17928

Imagine how much barrel weight had to be removed in the contouring/finishing process. A significant amount I suspect. I also suspect that barrel making in those days was not an exacting process. It was up to the skilled barrel finisher to make a set fit the parameters for a given gun. Some required quite a bit of metal removal and some not so much. The weight stamp probably helped with the selection of a set of barrels for a given application, minimizing the work required. Even back in those days time = money.

I will post pictures tonight.

I weighted my Parkers barrels + forend with the following results
marked weight
VH 20 26" 3 3 .1
VH 20 28" 3-3 3 2.6
VHE 20 30" 3-7 3 8
VHE 12 30" 4 3 12.9
GH 12 26" 3-10 3 4.9
DH 12 26" 3-9 3 5.8

The 3 20 ga guns were almost spot on but all 3 12ga were light

That last post did not post as I typed it, the first # for weight was the marked weight after that the real weight Jim

Other than the serial number, is the weight information the most consistent set of marks stamped into the gun? I'm talking early to late production consistency.