What shells to shoot in Trojan/Vulcan barrels?

[Dale Medders]

I have 2 Parkers. They both have 2 9/16 in chambers.
One has Trojan Steel Barrels (1920) No pitting.
I have been shooting my own 2 3/4 in low pressure reloads of 5800 psi in it for years. Anyone advise against that? Can I shoot 2 3/4 in standard field loads also?

The other Parker I have not shot.
It has 2 9/16 in Vulcan Steel Barrels (1912) Minor pitting in the bores. Is it OK to shoot the low pressure 5800 psi 2 3/4 loads in it?

Any advice appreciated

[Bruce Day]

Parker patterned your guns with 1 1/8 oz 3 dram loads. You can buy these today from all manufacturers.

Your gun was intended to shoot up to SAAMI max loads of the day, generally around 9800 psi . You may want to review the table of proof and working pressures in The Parker Story.

5800 psi has no basis in any Parker literature. Persons may desire to shoot reduced loads for their own reasons or because of a poor condition gun, but lesser loads for either chamber pressure or recoil were not Parker requirements.

Shells marked 2 3/4 " will vary from 2 5/8 to 2 3/4" when shot per SAAMI standards. These will be fine and will result in an approximately 300 psi pressure increase on an average 8000 psi cartridge. You may wish to review Sherman Bell's tests reported in the Double Gun Journal.

[Dale Medders]

Thank you Bruce

[Drew Hause]

For clarification, and lest the unknowing review this thread and make an unfortunate mistake, the wall thickness of both those barrels has been carefully measured.
I would suggest the first question before providing load advice should be "What is the wall thickness at the end of the chamber, the forcing cone, 9" from the breech, 9" from the muzzle, and the minimal wall thickness and where?"

Bruce has posted a 1900 Parker hang tag several times which states that the 12g 2 5/8” chambered gun was patterned at 40 yds. in a 30” circle using 2 3/4” shells with 1 1/8 oz. No. 7 chilled shot and 40 grains (3 1/4 Dram) of DuPont Bulk Smokeless powder.
1920s tags listed both 1 1/8 oz. and 1 1/4 oz., still with DuPont Bulk Smokeless.

More information about the shells our vintage guns were designed to shoot here
https://docs.google.com/a/damascuskn...UOZEFU/preview

[Bruce Day]

I answered on the basis of what most Parker 12's were intended to shoot when made. Guns found today could be badly pitted, bored out, rusted out, seams split, bulged or other reasons why they are not as made.

Most shooters and many gunsmiths do not own wall thickness gauges. Bore gauges are owned by a greater number of shooters than wall thickness gauges. A simple bore gauge will quickly determine if the gun is at or near nominal diameter for the gauge and as made by Parker. If the bore is far out of nominal ID, then wall thickness becomes necessary to know. Twelves usually have wall thickness to spare. The issue is more acute with 0 frame 16's or 00 frame 20's. Some 20's will be a factory wall thickness of .022". See Robin Lewis's excellent latest Parker Pages article.

In my opinion, and others may differ, it is not necessary to check the wall thickness of every gun, unless there is something about the bores that give a person cause for concern. I do however, check the bore ID on all guns I own or may consider obtaining.

[Brush Buster]

Hello Bruce , Since you mentioned the wall Thickness Gauge and the Bore gauge ,I wanted to ask, which bore gauge would you recommend ? I seem to be the odd man out ,I own a Barrel Wall Thickness Gauge and use it regularly especially to measure a Newly purchased Damascus Barreled gun or to measure Fluid Steel Barrels if honing appears suspect to me ,but I don't own a Bore Gauge for measuring choke !

[Bruce Day]

I mostly use my 12ga finger. Probably a dime is the most used choke gauge. Some will have apoplexy about that.

I have an inexpensive Brownell's bore and choke gauge that I use. I have lust in my heart over those fancy and costly wall thickness gauge sets, I'll probably leave it at that.

By the way, most who know me know that I feel we make way too much about what loads to shoot and cartridge lengths. These Parkers were made for any reasonable load that didn't rattle your teeth or leave you black and blue. I don't think these super duper Golden Cloud Ultra Max Prairie Firestorm pheasant loads are appropriate for any gun or bird, but there are a lot of off the shelf loads that work fine.

[Drew Hause]

90% of us are likely adult males who can choose the degree of certainty we require when using our vintage doubles, while recognizing that we can't really know what the barrels have been subjected to in the last 100 years.
We do however have an obligation to make some reasonable effort (likely to be defined by a personal injury lawyer) to avoid injury to a shooting/hunting buddy (a grandchild?) by flying shrapnel.
https://docs.google.com/a/damascuskn...vwLYc-kGA/edit

A $120 Manson gauge from Brownell's is a small investment to help establish the safety of the gun we are using
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...prod20463.aspx

Or the excellent Hosford gauge
http://www.hosfordco.com/sporting-sh...ess-gauge.html

If we only shoot and hunt alone, we may certainly choose to do whatever we wish.

[Brush Buster]

I'll jump into the middle here , Just asking as I would like to be able to measure my chokes accurately ! As for the expensive gauge , it is but in the long run ,I feel it has saved me a bundle by knowing if the "" Expensive ""Gun I just purchased is safe to shoot or has thin barrel walls ,with that said ,I prefer Perfect barrels but if they are not I much prefer pitted to honed as with the Wall thickness tool ,I can generally measure the pits and come out with a pretty good idea of what I have ! As for loads ,I prefer a low recoil but mostly for the sake of the Old Wood on the Classic Older Guns I normally carry to the Field , because I have already measured the Barrels and feel they are safe ! Just my thoughts on the subject for what it's worth and usually these days I shoot RST Ammo !