Front Bead measurement
 

Did Parker have a standard length they used from the middle of the front sight hole to the end of the barrel or was every gun alittle different? Don't remember reading this in the Parker Story but they did say that the barrel lengths could be off + or - 1/8 of an inch. The Parker serialization book says as much as a 1/2 inch. I was thinking that if Parker had a standard length they drilled the holes for the front beads from the end of the barrel then you could tell easily if a barrel was cut.

Usually when barrel lengths are odd measurements, that would be in the very early days. And the bead location can vary in those days as well. Eventually the bead position did become much more consistent. However, I cannot definitively say that every one is exactly “x” distance.

The easiest way to tell if a barrel has been cut is the appearance of the muzzle, the termination of the matting (if matted) and the presence of choke.

Weren't the later guns especially the Remington Parkers more consistent with the bead location than the early guns? The matting on the ribs seems to vary on where they terminated it on several guns that I have looked at.