1894 Vintage NH-Grade
 

After gracing my gunrooms for the last 21 years, since bringing it home from Newville, PA, I shot a round of skeet Sunday with my only Parker Bros. 10-gauge.

Attachment 55313

Attachment 55314

Attachment 55315

Missed two at Station one, one each at stations two, three, four and five. Then kind of got the hang of the 3 5/16 inch drop-at-heel and ran six, seven and eight. I shot a nine pound Model 3200 tube set for eleven years in NSSA Skeet, back in the 1970s and 80s, but for the last decade or so I haven't shot much with any gun much over seven pounds. Used Gauge-Mates and my regular STS 12-gauge 7/8 ounce reloads. No recoil issues!! :)

now - its time to load up some short ten rounds and try it again

Back eleven years before I bought this Parker, I left the same shop with an Ithaca NID No. 2 Super-Ten. That year the Winchester/Western catalog had an asterisk next to their only remaining 2 7/8 inch 10-gauge load being offered, the 4 3/4 dram equiv. 1 5/8 ounce of #4 chilled, that meant discontinued "available subject to stock on hand." So, I bought every box they had (24) at the Potomac Arms end of season ammunition sale. Haven't had much use for 1 5/8 ounces of lead #4s over the last 31 years, so I will likely die still owning 23 boxes!!

I know the feeling.

Ooohhhh, I got use for those short tens in #4!

My all-everywhere hunting and fishing buddy Al of years ago wouldn't shoot anything but a 10 on waterfowl. One day he stopped at the old corner sports shop in Beltsville MD where the old geezer owner Clint Bowman told him he was going out of business and the sale would start that weekend. Al asked if he had any 10 gauge ammo in the closeout sale and Clint took him behind a counter and showed him 2 full cases of this exact same ammo, one in #4 shot and one in #5. Forget the exact year (1970-71?), but these were the heavy cardboard cases of 20 boxes each.

Al bought them both and shot them up on ducks for the next 15 years at our hunt club near Wye Island. Al shot an early, good quality AYA 10 ga. 3 1/2" magnum with 32" barrels, using BBs or #2s for Canada geese and the smaller shot for ducks. He was the only guy I knew that shot only 10 ga. for both back in that era, and could really handle that gun, making some spectacular pass shots on both ducks and geese at extreme ranges.

I'm pretty sure I visited the same shop of which you speak several times in the last fifteen or so years . The first few times with the original owner and then later with the present owners . Sad to say at the time I wasn't looking for doubles but rather Pre 64 Model 70's .

Do you ever stop looking for pre64 M70's?

Rich a little aerial wolf control with the 10ga #4's ?

I've tried to buy these shells from Dave on several occasions. Apparently he's keeping them.

DLH