The Mighty Short Ten
 

I went over to S. Berwick Maine to shoot some practice trap with my 32" NH. It's not a looker but sure shoots well. I had some 1 1/8 ounce 7.5's pushed along with 700x. They were shooting what they called Helter Skelter. Shooters standing at the 16 yard line but not changing stations. Somebody would call pull and another shooter might shoot it out from under them or if there was a miss there might be two or three shots at the same bird. I layed in wait for each target that was missed by at least two and often three shooters. Then I gave it some windage and figured in some drop and Whamo! I was on my game and the Big 10 busted 44 or 45 out the 50 long range droppers I shot at. It hit them hard too. Almost everyone there asked what I was shooting. They smiled when they saw it was 10ga, most never heard of 2 7/8 shells and all were stunned the gun was 117 years old. I joked with them that you would think there would have been some improvements to shotguns over 117 years :rotf:. The short ten Parker's are simply amazing in their long range performance.

Until you actually shoot a short ten for awhile you can not fully appreciate just how much more capable they are vs. a standard 12ga at long range targets.

Pete,
Great job! :bowdown:

I can't wait till I can take my 10 gauge Colt with 36 inch barrels out to the range.

Ken

Pete I have no doubt that the Parker 10s (of which I don't own) border on the mystical in their clay crushing abilities, but I would have to say that it's probably the "nut behind the bolt" that does the trick. I'll bet you can do the same thing with a 12.

Pete,

You are spot on. Those 10 gauge Parkers are nothing less than magicians wand and work so wonderfully with lite loads. We used to play cames like chip and out, killer, buddy and a few others for money and if you got lucky you could pay for the shooting. I didn't have a 10 in those day, but i'm sure everyone would have cried foul.

Harry

nothen better than the 10 for the hunting we do(pete,bob,bill). the 12 does not shoot as well or hit as hard with the bigger shot as the 10. i have done alot of shooting with my light 10 and heavy 10 the last few years and i am still in awe in what it can do at the long shot.:bowdown:

Ed, same nut behind the butt here reporting. I own several long barreled tight choke 12's. They do not and I believe can not break the targets as hard and consistently hard as the short 10 at long range. There is a huge difference. I shot registered trap for 15 years and shot nothing less than 1 1/8 7.5's for everything. I have observed tens or thousands of breaks. There appears to be no making up for the efficiencies of the larger bore.

the 10 ga is an awsome thing. i have shot game with the short 10 forover 45 years.best all arond gauge in my book. but the mighty 8 ga andthe monster 4 bore are truly impressive also. charlie

You are all getting me 10 ga excited, which I have never owned, but hope to own the Parker two barrel set on Gunbroker so I too can join in on the excitement that I can feel in your writings. It's a 126 year old gun and I hope it's shootable.

Bill

I love mine too... even though it was "bitten by the tiger" as Mr. Day would say. 32" fluid steel PH. Hammers the game!

Kudo's to you, I'd like to see the reaction on their faces when the mighty 10 smoked those birds. I'm not familiar with Parker 10's, what size of frame were the majority built on, and what was the lightest available? Just wondering

I got a #2 frame NH 30 inch barrels 8 pounds 8 ounces.

i have a 2 frame 30 in. EH at 8 lb 12 oz's and a 3 frame 30 in. and 32 in. NH that is 10 lb's even . scott

My little factory original 27" ten on a #2 frame was ordered at 7 pounds, 8 ounces. My #6 frame 34" ten weights 13 pounds, 8 ounces. There is a pretty wide margin of weight difference in ten gauge Parkers. One 26" ten on a #1 frame has been seen, but we did not weigh it. Maybe our research committee will tell us the finished weight of this gun, #71,767, a DH grade.

The lightest Parker Bros. 10-gauge that has come to light, that I know of, is the 1-frame DH-Grade a gent brought to the PGCA Booth during The Vintage Cup at Sandanona a couple different years. Ron Kirby checked the records on the gun and it was a rightious, very light, 10-gauge. The gun was in pretty well used and in rough shape, and lets just say the thoughts on the value of it by the owner and PGCA members present were widely divergent.

Jim Malone had a monster of a standard ten in CH- or CHE-Grade on a big frame with very long barrels but I don't remember the exact specs. I want to say 5-frame and 38-inch, but I may be off on that. Someone who knows will be along.

Hmmm.... Great minds.....

The C grade is a 38" as I recall, but I don't know the frame size, I'll guess a standard #3.

The big mystery in Parker tens is the date and serial number of the first ten made with 3 1/2" chambers meant for the modern Super-X shells. We would have to read the stock book copies and maybe even those would not tell us. My #6 frame gun has 3 1/2" chambers in pre Remington barrels, but I don't know what year they were installed on the gun. I don't know of a pre-Remington ten that can be documented as a 3 1/2" magnum.

A 10 gauge will put a 12 to shame in certain situations. I've been the "nut behind the bolt" on one too many times to not believe it. Doing some shooting with a friend down south this spring and started with a magnum 12 gauge which did alright, finally ran out of cartridges and switched to a magnum 10. The difference was so great that even I was amazed, the effective range and ultimate outcome was extended by a good 10 yards at the very least. A standard 10 will do the same for you against a standard 12 as long as you're doing your part of the deal.

Destry

My 32" 12ga hammer gun does the same as Pete describes at long range after everyone else has missed a clay. I love doing that! Folks can't believe it. I'm am going to have to try the same thing with my 10ga. That will be big fun.

Mine is a hammergun with 30" barrels on a #2 frame and 2 5/8" chambers with a wedge forearm serial #13979. Maybe the last one with a wedge forearm ? Because of the cost of new Remington hulls, I cut a hull to 2" to see if I could just trim the hulls everytime they went bad from reloading. Think I found a way to get many more reloads from a shell.

I shoot three Parker short 10's. My favorite all around is a hammer top lever dollar grade on a 2 frame and original 28" twist tubes and right at 8 lbs. A very "brown" gun overall but deadly on anything that flies. Favorite load is 1 1/4 oz. With its short shot column I think all the shot gets there at the same time and in pretty much the same spot. Hard to explain but these guns deliver their payload with class!

#55,314 EH #2 frame delivered 12/26/1888 still doing its job

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...1010011b-1.jpg

DH #3 frame 30" 10 bore

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u.../Ducks1a-1.jpg

The ultimate pheasant gun: Dollar grade #2 frame 10 bore, 28" tubes, hammer (2003)

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...anthuntJoe.jpg

I cut some back to 2 5/8" but I don't think I could go much shorter and still use a star crimp as the wad fingers of the SP10 was would have been too high. I believe most of these old 10's have "square chambers" and I wondering if that would upset the pattern from a shell less than 2 7/8".

Pete is exactly right. You should know whether your gun has square cornered chambers before you decide what ammunition to use. Chambers with tapered forcing cones are less ammunition sensitive.

Joe I hope you submit the pic of your EH for Parker of the Month, it's a great picture!

Joe Wood's EH 10 ga
 

Joe's gun has been in PP a couple of times. It may be the first 2 grade hammerless.

Best, Austin