First Parker (Trojan)
 

After many months of looking I finally took a shot at a 12 ga Parker Trojan on gunbroker. With such a short description and limited photos I really won’t know much until I get it in my hands next week. BUT for $800 I figured it may be worth the gamble- and the fact it has 26” barrels and IC/M makes it very usable for what I hunt. After some research last night it looks like there weren’t many 26” Trojan barrels so I’m wondering if it was cut at some point or factory. Serial number puts it at 1927, and it looks like Parker started to offer 26” barrels after WWI- so possibly original.

I included a few photos- any insight on this gun would be appreciated!

i have one and it took a few years to find a 12 ga 26 in. mine is choked .026 and .009
S/N on mine is 222234

I have a 20 that Brad Bachelder restored for me. One of the best fitting Parkers in my possession. Great little gun. Trojans are so much fun to shoot.

You can figure out whether your gun was cut or not by measuring the chokes and by examining the end of the rib and the muzzles.

Photos of the muzzle end and the front sight from above will probably answer your question here.

I picked up the gun today, it’s in pretty worn condition but overall looks good. I attached a picture of the muzzle end. 26” and choked a fraction tighter than IC, almost like Skeet 2. And improved modified.

Any opinions?

looks factory to me, my barrel weight is 3 15 on my 26 in. trojan

That’s good to know! Is yours chambered 2 5/8”? Curious what shells you shoot out of yours.

Just bought some 2” low recoil shells from RST, as the 2.5” are out of stock and not estimated to be back until after bird season.

Thanks!

A 2-frame Trojan will easily handle 2 3/4" standard velocity shells.

You wouldn't believe how many have been shot in that gun in its lifetime.





.

Well that’s good to know, I was just thinking the shorter chambers would have a modern shell not pattern too well. I’ll grab some and check as soon as I can.

I believe the 2 5/8 chambers on the trojans were intended to handle the 2 3/4" shells.

As long as you don't go shooting steel, or super heavy loads, you should be all right shooting most normal modern 2 3/4" shells. I Shoot the nobel sport 20ga low recoil 2 3/4" shells from my 20 ga Trojan. And, I've killed turkeys with 2 3/4 pheasant loads as well with that gun.

Congrats on your first Parker, Trojans are great hunting guns.

Back in the sixties I hunted pheasants and ducks tith a Trojan 12 and always shot 2 3/4” shells and these often were magnum loads.





.

Congrats on a great little Parker, lots of fun waiting for you with that one!

She shoots! Feels good, a touch heavy for woodcock cover, but really look forward to pheasant season with this gun. Got a few boxes of shenk shells 2.5” # 6s on the way. Curious to see how these are, was nice to find 2.5” shells outside of RST

I have a 20 Trojan that was used a lot and it even has an Ithaca star burst pad on it but it is one of my favorite guns and fits me like I ordered it. It even had a bad dent in the choke area of the right barrel which I had removed and you can't tell it was even there. Hard to beat the performance or price of a well used Trojan. No one ever heard a pheasant or duck yell "Look out he's shooting a Trojan!" but I wouldn't have been surprised. Talk about what if it could talk!

Now time to start looking for your 20 Trojan

My BIL Jamie got to Grouse Camp in VT before me and just sent me this pic…


.

Dean, the wood was 50-60 years younger. Guaranteed it's dried out more by now. The magnum loads of our youth are not friendly to the stocks on these vintage guns.:eek::whistle:

David, given that your barrels are solid, keep the dram equivalent to 2 3/4 or less, 1200 FPS or less and 1 oz or less and you'll be fine shooting 2 3/4" out of that Trojan. It's the wood that takes the punishment when we shoot snotty loads in these guns.

Here are the Remington era chamber specifications from the Specification sheets that were reproduced in The Parker Story.

Attachment 119661

No one can tell you over the internet what ammunition may or may not be safe in a given gun. But, a 12-gauge 2-frame Parker in solid condition should handle 1 1/4-ounce progressive burning smokeless powder, high velocity lead loads and has probably in its life digested plenty of Super-X or Remington Express.

Were there ever 12 gauge Parker’s chambered to 2 1/2”
? The gun shop that made the transfer for me measured it while I was filling out paper work and he swore they were 2 1/2” not the usual 2 5/8”… not sure of his skill with the gauge as it seemed to take him a while..

A "made for stock" gun such as the Trojan would be very unlikely to have a special ordered chamber length. I have posted this many times as this is my favored method of measuring chamber depth --

Chamber depth is considered to be the distance between the breech end of the barrels and the joint between the chamber body itself and the forcing cone, which reduces down to bore diameter. This is loosely based on the length of the "Fired" shell. Today, theoretically when the crimp opens on the shell being fired the end would land at the junction of the chamber and cone. Prior to WW-II many companies had the practice of holding the chamber about 1/8 inch shorter than the shell for which it was intended. Fly in the ointment is nominal measurements often differ from actual ones in both chambers and shells. A very good method I have found of measuring chambers without much outlay of cash, and is quite accurate enough for virtually any situation, is a common 6" flexible machinist's scale which you likely have. Hold the barrels with muzzles toward a light source, not necessarily a concentrated one a window is great, while looking into the breech and the cone will be thrown in a shadow. May have to move the barrels around a little until it is distinct. While still looking into the chamber simply slide the scale in until you observe the end coming flush with the shadow line & mark position of breech end with your thumb. Remove and read the scale. I usually repeat this a few times to insure I am getting a consistent reading, but you will be amazed how accurate this can be done. While I own a Galazan chamber gauge, I use this more often than not. The chamber body itself has a taper of about .005" per inch. Sometimes chambers were cut with slightly worn reamers giving a slight undersize chamber. If the chamber is a bit undersize a gauge made to "industry" standards will not go in to the true depth of the chamber. A.H. Fox Gun Co. shotguns are known for having tight chambers. The machinist’s scale method can be more accurate.