[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Jerry Harlow

The guns were placed in a Lead Sled both for the targets with TSS, and also to find the center of the bores on three different guns yesterday. I understand that mounting a gun of different dimensions changes how well one shoots a particular gun, and when one finds a gun that they just can't miss with, it is wise to shoot it exclusively. The old saying is to beware of the man who only has one gun. He knows how to shoot it.

But I think many are missing the point that what good is a gun that has the center of the bores on each barrel that is three feet apart at forty yards and they shoot that way, as the VH with .027 in each barrel indicated? The 20 gauge Sterlingworth that I took last year to turkey hunt did not pattern to the point of aim at forty yards, so I knew on that gun if I took a shot at that distance, I had to aim almost a foot to the left of a turkey's head to center the pattern. But I don't know that on each gun and they will have different pattern locations at this distance apparently. But the closer in one gets the difference in the centering will be less extreme.

Old turkey hunters will say how did I miss that bird, I had it right on him. Maybe this explains some of it as we trust the guns too much to be regulated. If one looks at the NRA American Hunter magazine they will show the pattern of a gun and show how many shots hit each quadrant. But often the point of aim is way away from the center of the pattern. Not so extreme on single barrel guns.

p.s. I do aim at turkeys and deer and really try not to point, which pointing causes me to say "How did I miss that bird?".

Jerry, do you know if the barrels or chokes were ever work on? I assume Parker regulated gun barrels as it bored the chokes and established patterns. When I visited Connecticut Shotgun, Tony G. took me through the "factory" and showed me all of the various processes. I saw the barrels being tested and was told that they were adjusted if they did not hit in the same spot when tested. The honing rods (my word, I don't know the technical terminology) were longer than the length of the barrels and run through from the breech to insure concentricity. The barrels would not move on beyond this point unless they were regulated. It's hard for me to believe that Parker would have done much differently.

This is perplexing to say the least.