Day after tomorrow is opener in CA. I just substitute bismuth for lead. Same amount of BP.

This may be a silly question but if your are checked by a game warden and you are shooting hand loads or brass cased shells how do they check to see if you are shooting bismuth shot. Do they take one of your shells apart.

they certainly can if they decide not to believe you, as many as they want would be my guess

They have a magnet. It's good for steel but no so good for Nice Shot. You need to use a Hot Shot magnet or a rare earth magnet that they don't carry. A suspicious US Fish and Wildlife warden confiscated one of my shells to have sent to the laboratory. Name and contact information given. Never heard anything after that.

I have a Grade 2 hammer gun 2 7/8, which is at Brad's shop finishing a full restoration.

I have a case of RST lead 2 7/8 10s and they told me a few months back they will soon offer some non-toxic "Short" shells in several gauges, including the 10. As you may know, CA will ban lead for all game in, as I remember 2016.

The "before" pictures of this 10 are posted under the Hammer gun blogs and I'll post the "after" pictures there when I get it back.

I shoot a DH # 3 Frame - I love it above all others

I don't duck hunt, but sometimes use BP for pheasant and grouse.

Keeping up with fish and game laws is daunting in CA. Basically they can do anything they want.
BTW Rio of Spain is making bismuth shells in 12 and 20 3" shells. I'm looking forward to duck hunting with my 20 Repro with 3" bismuth.
Opening weekend of duck season got us 24 birds. My friend shot a Berreta auto and I shot a 1901 g grade with Vickers replacement barrels. He got a scotch double on Greenheads and I got one on Teal. More fun than a couple of guys should have.

Lets see the first 10 gauge double to arrive in our house was probably 1980 or so my pop bought this 1922 Ithaca NID Grade 2 32" barreled 10 gauge . I never fired it until a couple years ago . Then this past hunting season I shot this little unlucky buck with it at about 20 yards handloaded #3 Buck in the right barrel and handloaded 000 Buck in the left barrel .

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...psc6d89303.png

Have a circa 1881 W&C Scott 10 gauge 30" that my grnadfathers owned since about 1948 and at his death it came into my possession . It was given to him by Marion DuPont Scott . She happened to be a descendant of the DuPont powder Co. as well as owning the first American bred American owned horse to win the Grand National in England back in the 30's . I've owned this gun for 8 years now , I'd rather it was still with my grandfather and he was still here . This also happens to be the gun that got me started loading the short 10's . Twenty years before I had loaded 3 1/2" for a Remington SP-10 . Anyway here are a couple pics of the W&C with deer and dove it killed a few years back .

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...inghunt002.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...guns/Dove2.jpg


Picked a LC Smith Quality 2 circa 1890 10 gauge last summer . Needed to make a new firing pin otherwise it was okay . Used it last year during the DCP hunting and popped a doe at about 12 yards with handloaded #1 Buck .

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps8ee0a988.jpg

We've had this nice old 1845-1860 manufacture "Macfarlane" 10 gauge muzzle loader for about 20 years and I finally got around to shooting it this year . Have a nice load using 80 grains 2Fg and 12 "000" pellets . Plan to plow a deer with it this ML season .

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps01570cd1.jpg

This is a J Manton I bought by mistake about 5 years ago , it's a POS but I worked on it a bit and shot it some .

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...psb3b156a4.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps59a6cd4e.jpg

And finally my latest and FIRST Parker 10 gauge . A circa 1884 Grade 2 with 32" barrels that seem to be choked about IC/M on a #3 frame . Actually finalized the deal for this one yesterday .

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps7fca5e9f.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...psf7265fef.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps0ade3e8b.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps4fe686ca.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps91309b8b.jpg

Very nice Craig. Ten gauges are great guns and underrated

mighty good selections of 10 ga you have shown us..and i also like hunting with my ten gauges...i ve took a few deer also with my old ten s they are a hoot to shoot..i ve just loaded up some 000 buck for my old ten s i patterened them in the e grade parker ten and it does pattern mighty good out to 40 steps...getting one with a pumkin ball in the ten is next after i get one with the 8 ga pumkin ball...charlie

If you have a receipt for the non-tox shot carry it along with your license and you may be ok

I've seen the older style detectors they use have issues with bismuth because they're designed just for steel and are just a magnetometer. The Canadian guys took my word for mine being bismuth handloads without taking a shell apart but some might want to dismantle one shell. Could be the newer generation detectors, if there are any, have kept up with the influx of newer and different non tox shot types. I've considered carrying a small vial or ziploc with some bismuth shot or KTM or whatever to educate wardens who are not familiar with it.

. The Canadian guys took my word for mine being bismuth handloads without taking a shell apart but some might want to dismantle one shell.

With out a warrant? they better be sure the have "good cause" ? not sure how it works, that loaded shell is worth a lot to me in the field, 100's of dollars not just the 3.00 I have in it, scott

I suppose about eight months ago I won an auction on Gunbroker for what was supposed to be a rather rough DH 10 gauge hammerless of if memory serves about 1890 vintage . Anyway the UPS driver brings it to the shop , I open the box and the buttstock drops out not attached to the action . When I won the auction I knew the buttstock was incorrect . And beforehand I had asked the correct questions as the guys pics sucked and he told me he was 200% sure it was a DH blah blah blah . After the stock fell out I got the rest out to see where they busted the stock . And after looking at the metal it looked worlds better then the pics they had on GB . However the gun turned out to be a EH not a DH . Gun was bought as is no return . well I got on the horn with the fellow I bought it from text him some pics of the seriel number on the water table with the E marking etc etc packaged it up and sent it back as he agreed to refund any and all funds I had tied up in the whole fiasco . On hindsight I wish I had kept it and found another old stock to have fit to the gun .

After this deal I thought I had an NH bought but the shotgun Gods in the sky thought better of that deal as well .

I think I had 4 or 5 deals for Parker hammerless 10 gauge guns go south over the last couple years . Got to the point I thought I never would get one and to be honest I wasn't overly enthused about this hammer gun when I first laid hands on it . But after awhile it grew on me and with that being said I'll still need atleast one Parker hammerless 10 before I give up . Actually a pair would be better one on a #2 frame and the other on a #3 frame !

I was wondering last night did they make 10 gauge guns on the hammerless #1 action ?

And if so was this a common thing or relatively scarce ?

A DH-Grade 1-frame 10-gauge visited our PGCA booth at The Vintage Cup at Orvis Sandanona a couple of years. It was fairly rough, but either Ron Kirby or Mark Conrad vetted it. Only one I've ever heard of.

Dave, was the chamber length recorded on that 1-frame?

Yes, I sometimes trim my cases to 2 3/4 however

I don't recall. Perhaps Kevin McCormack or Bill Murphy remember.

We didn't measure the chambers on the #1 frame ten. I was afraid the chamber gauge would bust through the chamber walls. The chamber walls were very thin. The gun is in the Serialization Book, #71767, a 26" DH Grade. I've never seen another one.

In your "book" it says the gun left the factory with 26" pipes ?

I bet that thing woulda made a heck of a dove quail gun . I also "assume" it was choked rather open ?

Yes, the gun left the factory with its 26" tubes. My little 27" DH ten on a #2 frame weighs 7 pounds, 8 ounces. I assume the 26" gun on the #1 frame weighs a bit less.

Does the stock book say anything about the gun possibly having been rechambered from a 12 to a 10 such as the subject gun in "The Parker Convertible" by George Purtill in the Autumn 2014 Issue of Parker Pages?

I have not seen the original order for this gun. Maybe our research committee would post a picture of the original order, or the stock book entry, to answer your question. I assume the SB entry was accessed from the original stock book entry, which apparently stated that the gun was made as a ten gauge.

would have liked to have seen this 10 ga quail gun.bill if the quail ever getto a huntable number bring that short barrel bird gun to mississippi...charlie

who shoots short 10
 

I shoot 3, Parker, Smith and Daly and load for all 3

sounds like you got the ten under controel jim...nothing like a ten gauge...charlie

We have a customer that comes in quite often and he's kinda into British doubles . Anyway one day he brought in a W&C Scott in a 10 gauge that he wanted us to get Danny Patton to bend the stock .

Now this thing had some monster heavy pipes on it and I made a comment about them being kinda stout . Come to find out this gun had left the factory originally with Damascus 8 gauge barrels which he also had and was sent back at a later date to be fitted with factory fluid steel 10 gauge barrels . I wish I had taken some pics of it as he has since sold it down the road .

I truly would like to have owned that gun !

Correct me if I am wrong but was it not the general rule to say 10 gauge Parker's on #3 frames as waterfowlers and those on #2 frames were considered upland guns of the time ?

And I would assume at the time of manufacture this 10 gauge on the #1 frame would be considered a Light , Super Light or whatever the correct term of the time would have been ?

Extremely light, extremely rare, and probably built against the recommendations of Parker Brothers. Chuck, can you let us see the order for this unusual gun? #71767.

This weekend, I added one that Charlie would like. A nice little NH 32" ten on a #6 frame, barrels marked 8 pounds 1 ounce. I haven't weighed her yet, but I expect in excess of 13 pounds. Chambers are 3 1/2". My PGCA letter may indicate that the gun is a rebarrel with factory 3 1/2" chambers.

Sounds like a nice piece of artillery Bill

The gun has 3 1/2" chambers with damascus barrels ?

Not Damascus, but Twist Steel. If the gun was rebarrelled at Parker Brothers after the advent of 3 1/2" ten gauge shells, the gun could be factory chambered for them. Dave Noreen can tell us what the date of introduction for 3 1/2" ten ammunition, and maybe the PGCA letter will shed some light on a possible rebarrel from eight gauge. Some eight gauge Parkers were rebarrelled to ten gauge, and maybe twelve gauge after eight gauge guns were outlawed for waterfowl. I have one of those in my collection, and maybe now I have two.

bill i would love that gun...what a turkey gun...charlie

I brought a Parker 10 back from the fall Southern. 30 inch Fish tail lever nice Damuscus and Wood. I think it's a 2 grade. 10 lbs.

Will get some pictures posted

William

Congratulations.

DH 10
 

well I 'LL chime in now and say i ve got a short 10 ga

I have two Clay fields near me with good high towers. Thats were this 10 is going to spend it's time.

William