Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Noreen
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.
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Thank you, that is very good information. That seems to be inline with the British gun I own, and the ones I've been looking at. In British proofing they also had two 3 inch designations. The 3", 3 1/2 ton, 1 1/2 oz service proof would seem to very close to what the Parker 1 1/2 frame guns were designed for.
The later 3", 4 ton, 1 5/8 oz service proof would be what we would call the modern "Magnum" 3 inch cartridge.
I've developed a very effective, low pressure bismuth load for my British 3", 3 1/2 ton gun, and am searching for another gun to use with the same load. I would love to add a Parker with original 3 inch chambers. It sounds like it might be a long search though.
So here's another question, did later Parkers get marked with their chamber lengths on the barrels? The Parkers I've owned are earlier guns (1880's) and none are marked as to chamber length. I would be concerned with finding a Parker with "original" 3 inch chambers, instead of one that a gunsmith had worked on.
Is there a way to identify them without an order book lookup?