EH vs. GH

[Bill Graham]

The grade section of the site states that hammerless grade 2's became EH and GH grades. What's the difference? How do you tell them apart?
Thanks.

[Dean Romig]

In the early hammerless guns the 12's, 16's, and 20's were G's and the 10's and 8's were E's.

Edited for accuracy after Researcher's post below.





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[Bill Graham]

Thank you.

[Researcher]

Delete

[Researcher]

Long before the .410-bore was introduced, the Quality EH and NH had been dropped. From the introduction of the Parker Bros hammerless double through about 1900, the 10-gauge carried a $5 premium over the smaller gauges in grade 1 and 2. By the catalog (circa 1901 or 2) that introduces the Parker Bros. automatic ejector the Quality EH and NH were gone and the 10-gauges were the same price as the smaller gauges in the grade 1 and 2. From the catalog circa 1900 --

Quality E.H. Blue Ink Catalog.jpeg

Quality G.H. Blue Ink Catalog.jpeg

Quality N.H. Blue Ink Catalog.jpg

Quality P.H. Blue Ink Catalog.jpeg

From the catalog circa 1901 or 2 --

Quality G.H. Ejector Catalog.jpeg

Quality P.H. Ejector Catalog.jpeg

[6pt-Sika]

I was curiouse about this I have a circa 1899 E marked as such and also have a circa 1904 10 gauge marked G . I was curiouse as to what year the change was started as well .

[Bill Murphy]

Some catalogs refer to the EH/GH as one or the other, but not consistently. In my experience, the NH/PH situation is different. Very few large frame grade 1 guns were marked as a P grade in the early days. They seemed to be reliably stamped with the NH marking. The confusion about the markings on the gun are probably a result of the marking being applied before the barrel selection was made. Another odd situation is that the eight gauge was not described as an EH or an NH, only the ten.