3 inch Chambers
 

Did Parker make any 12 ga guns with 3 inch chambers? I have a gun on a #2 frame and the chambers measure exactly 3 inches.

The answer is, yes they did. But that's one you're going to want a letter to verify or else there will always be a question.

Did Parker actually cut them to 3” or were they cut to 2 7/8”??





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I stand corrected. I thought I had a letter that specified 3 inch chambers but I don't. So, I change my initial response to "I don't know. But that's one you're going to want a letter to verify or else there will always be a question."

Remington made 3" Parkers were stamped 3" on the left side of the barrel lug.

I finally received the DH from the auction house. I will post pics in a bit. I’m going to order the letter on it. Dean mentioned the serialization book lists it as a DHE, 32 in, single trigger, straight grip. It is marked DH but is indeed an ejector gun. Odd. From the R L next to the triggers, it appears it was converted from a single trigger to double triggers. The auction listed it with 30 inch barrels but apparently couldn’t use a tape measure. They are 32 inches with 3 inch chambers. The straight grip is original. The stock and forend are not. The stock is a very stout piece of timber, to put it mildly. The wrist area is about twice the circumference of an English game gun. LOP is a little over 14 inches to the Pachmyer pad. The forend looks very nice but is the most bastardized thing I’ve seen. The old splinter forend was glued into a larger piece of wood. It functions fine but bizarre. Atop the barrels sits a Simmons rib with Bradley beads. The engraving is crisp and looks fantastic. You couldn’t see that at first because the #2 receiver was black, and I mean black, with crud. Barrels are tight on the face with or without the forened, but loose on the hinge. Chokes are M and IM. Overall, it is one big beast of a Parker. It should make a decent clays gun. I’m taking it out tomorrow for a round or two of trap.

Pics
 

Here are the pics

So it is about a 1922 gun, more than a decade before Remington ever came into the picture.

Looking at the pics Joe, and noting it has been restocked, front and rear, it wouldn’t surprise me if the chambers had also been lengthened at the same time.



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Fajen or Bishops wood from Warsaw , Missouri, and Simmons rib. Simmons made up many of these in the 60’s and 70’s from their shop in Olathe , Kansas. It was also usual by Simmons to bore the chambers to 2 3/4 or 3” as part of general “modernization”. They did this to a lot of guns. Winchester Mod 12’s were fitted with a new stock , usually in black walnut but sometimes in maple or myrtle , a ventilated rib added , whiteline recoil pad and rebluing. Temperature control on the DuLite blue was a problem and many turned out purple hued .

Simmons also blued Parker barrels and frames. Sporterizing 1903 Springfields was also usual .

As of a couple years ago, they were still doing this type of work. Simmons also monobloc sleeved Parker barrels with straight taper tubes.

Bruce, that all makes sense from what I see of the gun. It came out of Omaha so that would also seem to fit. The stock is very nice, very heavy with great figure. Someone obviously spent some money on it. However, I’ll post a pic of the forend. That’s quite the contraption. It’s interesting the book has it as a DHE, and it indeed has ejectors. But, it’s marked DH.

SN is 201086

Bruce, that's interesting information. I have a 12 ga. BHE on a three frame (the Vorhees gun). It was originally a 34 inch gun with splinter forend. It still has 34 inch barrels but they've been monoblocked and a ventilated rib added. Also sports a BTFE now and was re-case colored. I know that some of the work was performed by the Delgrego's. Now I'm wondering if Simmons had hold of the gun at one time.

Joe, can you show some pictures of the vent rib?

All ejector guns are so marked. The E was not used .

Simmons Rib and Forend
 

Pics of the rib and forened.

The Del Grego shop bought rough inletted stock and forends from Fajens in Warsaw, then when Fajens closed its doors and the namesake became sheriff , bought from Donnie Gemmes. Donnie had been the Fajen production manager and built a large shop south of Warsaw in the Want ta Linga division . He hired a bunch of the old Fajen employees and does a lot a work . Donnie sells Parker inletted stocks and forends by the pallet inexpensively to a gunsmith in upstate New York, redoes the wood on Browning Superposed and with engraving turns a standard grade into a Diana or Pigeon. As last known, he was doing the Remington factory custom order stock work .

Donnie is an L C Smith person and a quail guy.

While at the local airstrip the other day fiddling with the airplane , I noticed that the ramp was crowded by our standards , meaning that it had about seven aircraft on it that were not hangered or usual suspects. No state licenses are required here but these aircraft were nice , costly , and bore licenses from Illinois , northern Virginia and New York . I wonder if they know they were in blue country .

One of our local guys got his Piper Apache finally running and took off for New York to fly several people back here.

Maybe something is going on back there . Things are quiet here . Cat fishing is good and the dogwoods are about to bloom so crappie and bass fishing will pick up.

Beautiful pic! I’m not surprised at all. As a Northern Virginia guy about to take off for a cabin in WV, I get it. Most of us are on telework and many are getting the hell out of here. I’ll work during the week and spend my weekends fishing some of the nicest waters on the East Coast. The air is clean and cool, and my family is always game for adventure.

While sequestered here on the farm with the wife and two daughters, we've been fly fishing every day for bream and anything else that will bight. Been hauling them in.

This is from the 1936 Remington Parker Flyer

I was able to get out today and shoot the DHE on trap. What a sweet, sweet shooting gun. I shot it as well as my O/U. It needs some TLC but will make an awesome clays gun.

Chamber lengthening to 3" in Trojan and VH, 2-frame, steel barreled Parkers

FYI: 11 low-grade, VH and Trojan Parkers ALL passed re-proofing with 18,000+ psi proof
loads after lengthening from 2 3/4" to 3" by Master Gunsmith Ed Lander, NH. This
speaks well to the steel and barrel strength in these utility-grade Parkers. Ed , like
Kirk Merrington, made many trips to England visiting and adding to his expertise
at the major shotgun manufacturing companies. Now in his mid-90's, Ed is no
longer gunsmithing.

Speaking of proof... is there any proof that "Master Gunsmith Ed Lander" actually exists? And what credentials has he earned that have bestowed that title upon him?





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Nice guy, smokes a pipe, drives a 1952 Henry J, eats buttered cold biscuits for lunch.

Let me get this straight... those are his qualifications for being a "Master Gunsmith"? :corn:

I think I understand.





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I’m eagerly awaiting the return of the DHE from Buck Hamlin, hopefully next week. It needed all around tightening, dents removed from barrels, opened the chokes a bit, repair mangled screws, reblue. Once I have it back, I will decide what to do about the wood. I will have the Silvers pad I bought from Dean installed, in place of the ugly white line pad, and the stock refinished. The stock is very sound and other than various dents and scratches, should be just fine. The forend though, I’ll need to decide whether to simply have the current contraption refinished and checkered to match the stock. Or, invest in having a new forend made. It’s a shooter for sure, but a 32 in DHE with vent rib and straight grip makes a heck of a shooter that I can feel will become a go-to clays and trap gun. I can’t wait to shoot it again.

there s just some thing majic about 32 inch barrel guns.....charlie

i have a 3 frame 12 ga parker that someone lengthened cambers to 3 inch...the bores are modified and modified it weighs 9 1/4 lbs...it is as good of pass shootin gun on ducks and geese as i ever had...its good on squirl out to 50 steps....i just wish parker had made more of these 3 inch guns were more of us could have had a parker factory 3 inch gun..if parker was still in busniss i would order ad grade 3 i/2 inch chambers straight stock 32 inch barrels choked mmodified extra full..with screw in chokes.weight 9 1/4 lbs....charlie

The sweetest Parker I own is factory chambered 2 7/8" (I assume for 3: shells) #3 frame 32"

thats a nice gun for sure...charlie

Charlie, Craig, love the #3 frames. I haven’t shot one but I do like big, heavy guns. That’s quite a beauty. And I bet hits like a hammer in the field.

3" Parker
 

Here's a full blown Remington era Parker CHE 32" vent rib beavertail forend trap gun with 3" chambers marked on the barrel lug.
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Nice, really nice guns fellas.

What a gun!

Great gun Larry. That gun and a case of Spencer Olin's 12-gauge 3-inch Super-X Lubaloy "Live Pigeon Loads" and one would be ready for the ring!!

Attachment 83506

I don't think I have ever seen a box of those "live pigeon" 3" loads. Has Researcher seen a box?

MY CHE
 

People have inquired about buying the CHE I posted. But, let me be clear, that is not my gun. I was merely posting it as an example of a 3" chambered Parker. However, it was offered to me. I won't be able to find out if it's still available until after the shutdown, unless that person contacts me through this forum. I didn't buy it because I already own this same CHE 32" vent rib, beaver tail forend gun and two didn't sound like that good of an idea.

that is a very nice gun...i like the chokes being marked on that gun..this is the first time i ve seen the chokes so marked on a parker...i seen the barrels are pretty hefty too...my 3 frame gun barrels weigh 5 -14...i like big heavy guns...charlie

Mine's 241538, same gun in a English stock. Thanks for the picks of the rib as I thought it was an after market install. One hell of a long range dove gun.

From my observations Remington started marking the chokes on their Parker barrels around mid-1940.