The 1897- 1898 period must have had all the employees talking about what management was up to, because of all the 'Firsts' in fairly quick succession.
When I acquired 88490, a Titanic barreled CH, I went looking through the book at where it fell in the history of 'steel' barrels, Titanic barrels (compared to the the earlier introduction of the Whitworth barreled AA grades.)
86736 was the first appearance of Titanic barrels, a DH I believe.
86817 was the first steel barreled CH, also Titanic steel, and 87712 was the first steel BH, again, Titanic steel.
I saw that 88220 was the first use of Vulcan steel barrels, but didn't know it was a BH. A short while later, Parker fitted Vulcan steel barrels to a CH, 88725,
The first steel barreled 20 gauge was 88402, a DH, but what really caught my eye was 89539, what may be the first 24" barreled gun, and a DH 20 gauge, no less.
This got me thinking what a great grouse gun that must have been, and no sooner did I think that, I found a 24" DHE 20 gauge. Sure, it began life as a 30 inch gun, but cylinder bores is about right for the north woods of Maine. Several plump birds would attest to that if they could.
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