Forrest,
I regret my wording may have been awkward and I assure you I did not mean to insult in any way. I am very well aware that Parker enthusiasts are extremely knowledgeable about shotguns. However, I have been wading in this 11-gauge thicket for over two decades now and things just seem to get curiouser and curiouser. There is no doubt that Parker made 11-gauge shotguns in the 1866 to 1875 period. They designated many of them as 11's in both the Order and Stock books. This was done even in cases when the guns were chambered for 12-gauge shells.
To support this notion, I attach a copy of Pgs. 48 and 49 from the Parker Order Book of 1872. As you can see, Order 2075 of July 1st 1872 was for a $150 10 Ga Parker with 30" barrels, chambered for 10A brass shells and shipped with 50 10 A shells. Order 2076 was for a 1-11-32 $135 Damascus barrel gun and 50 12A shells. Similarly 2078 was an Order for a 135$ 11-ga Parker and it was sold with 100 12A shells. Order 2071 was for a $75 12-ga. gun and it was shipped with 3 doz shells at $6 and 50 paper shells (price not shown). Order 2293 of Feb. 1873 from W. L. Harrod of Norwalk, Ohio was for a $100 Iron Barrel 11-ga Parker with "Stock Tough and Curly" and "No Checking" was chambered for brass 11B shells. I have an 11-gauge Parker that was chambered for 11A Brass or 11 Paper shells. I also have one chambered for 10A brass shells and have seen data for another one.
I have measured the bores and chambers of many Parkers, but they were almost all early lifter guns. Many of them are precisely 12-gauge (.729" bores chambered 12Barrels (such as the Meriden Prototype #06 that was initially thought to be S/N 90 and a 14-ga gun because of the 12B chambers).
The Proof Testing of barrels was well established in Europe before Charles parker started making shotguns, and there is evidence he was well aware of those standards. The History of Shotgun Proving is beautifully described in the small book by Purdey and the 1868 Provisional and Definitive Proof loads are given in the Table by Greener (Attached). Parker was not required to use these standards, but there is evidence in TPS that Proker Proved all of his barrels and the standard Provisional and Definitive Proof loads shown in the Greener Table appear to have been used at the Parker Factory.
Now the mysteries
are:
Why would Parker have made 11-bore dimension barrels and called the guns 12-gauge during this serial number range? This would have resulted in lower pressures, and possibly improved patterns by reducing deformation of the shot.
Did they Proof test these barrels with the loads and charge for 11-bore barrels? And are there any records about precisely how Parker Proof Tested their Barrels at different times? Maybe they changed back to the correct bore dimensions when chilled shot was introduced? Does anyone know if the date of the introduction of lead show with antimony added to increase the hardness is at about the same time as the S/N 70,000 Parkers??
I am delighted more people are becoming interested in measuring their barrels. I have a nice set of Bore and Chamber gauges. Unfortunately I can not go to the SXS, but would be delighted if someone would be willing to measure the bores of some of the wonderful guns that will be there.
Yours,
Richard