Beautiful gun and case combination. Thanks for sharing.
I don't know of any North American ammunition manufacturers offering a 2 5/8 inch 20-gauge shell. The lengths normally offered in 20-gauge in the first couple of decades of the 20th Century were 2 1/2, 2 3/4, 2 7/8 and 3-inch. The heaviest loads the ammunition companies offered in the 2 1/2 inch 20-gauge shell was 2 1/4 drams of bulk smokeless powder or 18 grains of dense smokeless powder such as Infallible or Ballistite, pushing 7/8 ounce of shot. That was the heaviest 20-gauge load offered in the 1903, 4, and 5 UMC Catalogues. By 1910, UMC had begun offering the 2 1/2 drams of bulk smokeless powder or 20-grains of Infallible or Ballistite dense smokeless powder, pushing that same 7/8 ounce of shot, but only from the 2 3/4, 2 7/8 or 3-inch hull.
In the early 1920s, when progressive burning smokeless powders were introduced to shotgun shells, Western Cartridge Co.'s Super-X load leading the way, the high velocity 1 ounce 20-gauge Super-X load was put up in Western's 2 3/4 inch FIELD shell.
The other ammunition companies followed suit, and put out their 1 ounce, 20-gauge, high velocity load in a 2 3/4 shell. Peters going the others one better and also offered to put the 1 ounce high velocity 20-gauge load up in a 2 7/8 or 3-inch 20-gauge case. In the early 1930s, after the Olin's took control of Winchester, they revamped the Winchester ammunition line to where the Winchester Super-Speed and Ranger shotshell lines pretty much mirrored Western's own Super-X and Xpert lines. During the 1930s and early 40s, Winchester offered a 20-gauge, Super-Speed, 1 ounce load, in a 2 1/2 inch case as well as a 2 3/4 inch case. Load No. 58 was their 2 3/4 inch, 20-gauge, Super-Speed load, and according to Winchester Catalog 89, Load No. 57 was the same load in a 2 1/2 inch case. Load No. 57 and 58 were still being offered in the 1941
Winchester Ammunition Guide.
Guess I've babbled on enough about 20-gauge shells!!