20 gauge 32" barrels DHE
 

Today at the California Side by Side club shoot a friend of mine brought a 20 gauge DHE Parker with 32" inch barrels and chambered for 3" cartridges also no safety was ever installed to show and tell, I informed him that I thought he had quite a rare gun. The serial number of this gun is 206769 it also has a straight stock, recoil pad and the medallion on the stock is engraved with the initials PEP. I noticed that the identification and serialization book does not have information on this serial number. I am hoping someone reading this may be able to shed more light on this gun, it is in about 90% original condition.
Thank you in advance,
Ken Descovich

Sounds like your friend has a very nice gun !

Parker Bros. seem to have made more 32-inch 20-gauges then other makers. Possibly DuBray taking orders for guns for California duck club members pushed this. The record tabulations in The Parker Story show 221 VH-/VHE-Grades, six PH-/PHE-Grades, 43 GH-/GHE-Grade, 171 DH-/DHE-Grades, 13 CH-/CHE-Grades, 21 BH-/BHE-Grades (one of these was Clark Gable's), one AH-/AHE-Grade, six AAH-/AAHE-Grades and four A1-Specials. On top of these, there are guns like my GH-Grade that started life as a 2-frame 12-gauge but later went back to Meriden for a set of 32-inch, 3-inch chambered, 20-gauge barrels. One year at The Vintage Cup at Orvis Sandanona, when Kevin McCormack and I were doing the PGCA booth, we had a display that included 0-, 1-, and 2-frame 32-inch 20-gauges.

I have searched the A.H. Fox production records and only found 47 regular frame graded 20-gauges with 32-inch barrels, and that 26 of the sixty some HE-Grade Super-Fox 20-gauges have 32-inch barrels.

Back about 2003 or 4 when I first started looking for a Fox 32-inch 20-gauge, at the Las Vegas Antique & Sporting Arms Show I found six Parker Bros. 32-inch 20-gauges, a fully loaded Ithaca NID 32-inch 20-gauge and a 32-inch 20-gauge Crown Grade L.C. Smith, but no Ansley H. Fox long 20-gauges.

Keep in mind that back in the first twenty-two years of the 20th Century the 2 3/4, 2 7/8 and 3-inch 20-gauge shells only carried a quarter dram heavier charge of powder then could be had in the "standard" 2 1/2 inch shell and pushed the same 7/8 ounce of shot. Their perceived advantage was more/better wadding.

As always, extremely interesting information! Thanks .

I agree Mr Noreen is a wealth of knowledge. This shotgun does not have a safety yet live pigeon shooting must have been a memory or very limited when this shotgun was built. I wonder if there would have been other reasons for the lack of a safety? I did take a few pictures but was un able to add to this thread, I did add them to my photo album though. Thank you for all the comments.

Although Dave's information about heavy loading of 20 gauges is largely correct, I once owned a #2 frame 32" 20 gauge that was ordered "to shoot one ounce, three dram loads". The serial number of that gun is 153,333 and it is out there somewhere. It weighs almost exactly eight pounds.

A lot of Parkers that were never intended to be used as "live bird" guns were ordered without a safety. Guns that were used as upland guns, of all gauges from 10 or 12 gauge and down that were only closed to battery when walking in over the dogs are examples. Some were waterfowl guns intended to be shot from a blind or duck boat at passing or decoying fowl.
Yes, these are live birds but not the birds that "live birds" that the term indicates. Those "live birds" are the ones that were used in the original form of 'trap' shooting. Even some shooters of inanimate objects (trap shooting after live bird shooting was too expensive or controversial) ordered guns without a safety.





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Dean,
I have a gun ordered by W.R.Crosby who as you may know was a renowned professional shooter back in the day. It's a 20 VH with 30" barrels and no safety. Interesting note at the end of the research letter states " gun compliments of Parker Brothers".

I checked the serial number on the Research Letter and the PGCA has no information for a letter.

Bill is right on. Here is a box from 1931--

Attachment 56076

I have or have access to all the Remington ammo catalogs through that era and nothing heavier then the 2 3/4 dram equiv. pushing one ounce of shot was offered in20-gauge, but I guess if someone ordered enough of them Remington would load them!?!

Serial number 153333 would be a 1910 gun, well before the above box, when loads like these were the factory offerings in 3-inch 20-gauge --

Attachment 56077

Attachment 56078

really enjoy the pictures of these old shells...charlie