FYI

And for those who do not know what Parkers were made to shoot, this is from a 1910 Parker brochure . Parker made no mention of chamber length .

I use an old credit card cut to the diameter of a cartridge to insert in a chamber , I push it in until the card stops, then I measure the distance it went in past the chamber opening . The chamber diameter can also be measured by inserting a bore gauge and determining where the forcing cone begins , and then measuring how far the gauge was inserted.

I have one on the way from Galanza for $55 with shipping. Would had rather had the Brownell type {like Gunther uses ) but O well better than what I have . Nothing ! Thanks to all ! Mark

I'm not familiar with the Brownell gauge.

Chamber Gauge just a thought
 

Perhaps this makes sence for a chamber gauge, just take a new, unloaded, never crimped hull and place it in the chamber, if it's a 2 3/4" hull and goes in all the way it's 2 3/4" if it's an 1/8" short you have a 2 5/8" chamber and so on. Can it be that simple ?:eek:

The Brownell gauge is a round solid steel ( like a shotgun shell ) You drop in like loading a gun and the circle lines tell you the chamber length. A different one for each gauge .

Am I correct, it appears to me that the velocities were taken at a range of 100' from the muzzle. If you were to extrapolate that what would the M/V be three feet from the muzzle ?

That answers my question, sounds like you take that new hull, mark it with a pen and you have a CSMC chamber gauge.

You would need to know shot mass per pellet , surface area, drag, air resistance , but I think you can take an educated guess and consider the muzzle velocities to be about 1150 to 1200 fps. And also consider that from 1890 to today, the standard trap load is a 3 DRE 1 1/8 oz running at about 1200 fps. Parkers , irrespective of barrel steel , were made to shoot at least these loads. Parkers were not delicate guns.

Actually, you take a new hull, mark it as measured from the front and you have a form of Brownell's gauge. They need to be measured from the front and measure to the breech. Most plastic hulls are short so they need to be marked to proper length. On a Brownell's gauge the marks are to the rear. This has been a confusing thread. The question was about chamber gauges and probably 2/3's of the posts are about choke gauges. All interspersed.

I bought a set of the Brownell gauges 25 or 30 years ago and they are absolutely the best I have ever seen. They are made, by my measurements, to the exact specs. I have measured a lot of European guns that wouldn't measure to spec, and some of those suffered from tight fit or sticky extraction when used. Note that they almost all would take a new hull with no effort. An emppty hull has enough give so that it will enter a tight chamber yet stick when loaded. I have used some quality brass shells as gauges and a few times in a pinch a new plastic shell. The best method, and it is a compromise, is to use a new long (3 or 3.5") hull and cut it to exact length. Most new plastic hulls are undersized to some extent but will work in a pinch. Fired hulls of all kinds are useless.

I wish someone like Wheeler will pick the business up and make them available.