That is certainly not what writers, such as A.P. Curtis and others, said back in the day. The last Ithaca Gun Co. Flues period catalogue (1925) states -- "Unless otherwise ordered Ithaca 28 Gauge and 20 Gauge guns are chambered for the standard 2 1/2 inch shell, 16 Gauge and 12 Gauge for the standard 2 3/4 inch shell and 10 Gauge for the standard 2 7/8 inch shell. Longer chambers are furnished if ordered on new guns without extra charge, but it should be remembered that shells of standard length do not give quite as good results in chambers which are longer than the shells and it should be remembered that extra long shells are more expensive and it is much harder to find a dealer who carries extra long shells in stock."

I find that 2 3/4 inch pretty strange in the 16-gauge, because 2 9/16 was the standard 16-gauge shell, and all the NID period catalogues from 1926 through 1933 state that their 16-gauges are chambered for the 2 9/16 inch shell.

short 10 and shorter 10
 

Ok, I'v read these comments about the 1/8 inch variances, but how about shooting a 2 7/8 inch shell in my old Parker 10 chambered for 2 5/8 shells?

How about shooting 2 3/4 inch shells in a 20ga that has 2 1/2 chambers?@ #

i shoot 2 3/4 inch 20 ga shells in 3 of my 2 1/2 inch chambered parker guns with no problems...and please some of you go pattern your longer chambered guns and see if yall see any differance in your patterns..charlie

About thirty years ago I was shooting a lot of Doves with a 16-gauge 1928 vintage A.H. Fox Sterlingworth Ejector Field chambered 2 7/16 inch intended for 2 9/16 inch shells. I was using those wonderful compression formed 16-gauge 2 3/4 inch Winchester/Western Dove & Quail loads that the folks at Olin provided us for a few years. I didn't see any problems shooting those shells in the gun, but it really ironed the crimp memory out of those cases. When I shot them in my 1909 vintage Remington Arms Co. KE-Grade with full 2 9/16 inch chambers and more modern 2 3/4 inch chambered pumps and autos the crimp memory was great and to this day I get better reloads from the hulls shot in longer chambers then those originally shot in that Fox.

Indeed sir. I've used 2 3/4 inch hulls/cartridges in 12, 16, 20 and 28 bore guns for years. Thousands upon thousands of rounds, too. Velocities are around 1150 fps. NEVER a problem. And the hulls come out looking totally normal.

Consider that the forcing cone accommodates an extra 1/8 to 1/4 inch of case material with no issues...

So I'm looking at a 1915 catalogue from the Edw. K. Tryon Company, the large, well known sporting goods distributor in Phila. On just one page there are (33) factory-loaded 12-gauge "high brass" 2-5/8" shells listed, with respected trade names like: Leader, Arrow, Ajax. The named shells were loaded by Winchester, U.M.C. and U.S Cartridge with Bulk and L&R dense smokeless powders.

Wow! There must have been many guns out there with 2-1/2" chambers intended for 2-5/8" shells ..... as per that 1/8" short convention we read about so often. :rotf:

If wooden dowel fits in between 2.86" to 3.1" then its redone to 2-3/4".
If forcing cone look elongated that may mean same, since a lot of time gunsmiths use elongating forcing cone reamers to do that.

I would not trust a wooden dowel to measure chamber length. I would only use an instrument designed for the purpose and that would measure in thousandths of an inch.





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I believe there'll be .005 tapper per inch, then when you hit the forcing cone there'll be a very fast tapper.