Three-inch, and even longer, 12-gauge shells have been around here in North America just about as long as cartridge shotguns. Quite a few Parker Bros. doubles for Pigeon shooters and other gun cranks were ordered chambered for longer shells in the thirty some years before the progressive burning powder 12-gauge Super-X type load with 4 drams equiv. pushing 1 3/8 ounce of shot came out in the mid-1920s. These earlier long shells didn't come from our ammunition factories with loads any heavier then could be had in the 2 3/4 inch shell. They had more/better wadding which many serious shooters believed to be an advantage. Many of these earlier guns ordered for longer shells were often made on heavier frames. From what I've seen the few 12-gauges built in the late 1920s and 1930s for the 3-inch progressive burning powder shells were made on the 1 1/2 frame, but have a bit different exterior barrel profile for the longer chambers. The 12-gauge 3-inch Magnum shell with the 4 1/4 dram equiv. pushing 1 5/8 ounces of shot was introduced by the Olins in their Western Super-X and Winchester Super-Speed shells in 1935 along with their Winchester Model 12 Heavy Duck.
Here is what Parker Bros. had to say a few years after the A.H. Fox Gun Co. introduced their HE-Grade Super-Fox and Hunter Arms Co. added their "Long Range" --
Parker Long Range -- In the 1929 "Flying Geese" catalogue the Brothers P had this to say -- "Magnum, Super, and variously named guns about which so much is now being written are not a new development in the gun makers' art.
For the past twenty years Parker Brothers have made guns to handle heavy charges of powder and shot, giving good patterns at long range. Recent improvements in powder and by shell manufacturers have served to make the Parker Long Range gun even more effective, so that today the Parker built and bored to secure the full power of modern loads with which one may confidently expect to bring down game at distances a few years ago considered impossible, is up to date but not new.
Parker Long Range guns are built to guard the user against abnormal recoil. The weight of the barrels is so distributed that the gun handles the heaviest loads with comfort. The purchaser of a Parker Long Range can rest assured that he will receive a gun, easy to handle, sufficiently heavy and properly bored to shoot the heaviest loads for the killing of wild fowl at extreme ranges."
The 1937 Remington era catalogue adds -- "Ordinarily Parker 12 gauge guns are chambered for shells up to and including 2 3/4 inches. These guns can be furnished with special long range choke boring to give more effective results at extreme ranges. 12 gauge double barrel guns, with the exception of the "Trojan" are also available with 3 inch chambers for use with maximum long range heavy loaded shells. So chambered, Parker guns are guaranteed to handle these shells properly."
"Parker 10 gauge guns are regularly chambered for 2 7/8 inch loads, but are also available with 3 1/2 inch chambers for use with maximum loads. No extra charge for a Parker Long Range Gun. Guns should never be used with shells longer than those for which they are chambered. See table of complete specifications on page 34."
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