A & B Brass Shells
 

Back in the 1870s & 1880s do the stock and/or order books state if a gun is chambered for brass shells only or for paper shells?

A brass shells for guns chambered for paper shells.

B brass shells for guns chambered for brass shells only.

These chamber and bore sizes are very confusing. I'll try and explain what I see in the stock books. Stock book #1 and 2 show under the "bore" column, 10A, 10B, 12A, 12B. It doesn't say anything about brass vs. paper shells. The last letter designation for "bore" size that I've found is S/N 4989. That's in the middle of 1875. After that it's just 10, 12, etc for bore sizes. I have found entries that state 12B/14 and 12A/11. I understand going down to a 14 bore size from a 12B but not going from a 12A to a larger 11 bore. Very confusing and I've read The Parker Story and it didn't help!

As I've understood it Chuck, the chamber can be one size, e.g., 12A... but the barrels may have been bored to 11 gauge. we have seen a few examples (Price, Hoover, Hogan, et al.) and I would presume, conversely, the 12B/14 would follow a similar recipe.





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