Range day with the Parker 10 gauges

[Milton C Starr]

Ive had my 6 frame since last April I think and just now got around to shooting it and the 3 frame grade 2 I picked up from Wayne a few months back. Also decided to take my deer rifle to the range since I have fired it since January . I hate to say it because I love the big guns but the 3 frame seems to shoot alot better than the 6 . Theres about a 3lb difference between them well 3 1/4 lbs I think if you want to get technical . My oldest brother is not tolerant to recoil so when Im trying to compare guns I let him shoot them and see if he notices more than I do . He said for him the extra 3lbs doesnt make enough difference to justify the weight. The 3 frame seems to get on target quicker and it patterns the #4 RST Bismuth loads better than the 6 frame . Which I thought was odd because going by a micrometer its choked alot less than the 6 frame. I still love the big gun though but I think I see why the 3 frames were the go to size for the 10 gauge .

Onto another observation , the lead loads are 1 1/4 oz at 1100fps and the bismuth is 1 1/4oz at 1250 fps . The lead loads are extremely dirty however the bismuth loads are fairly clean I assume perhaps they are loaded to a little higher psi . Now for my rifle I been having a debate with a group of Weatherby shooters on the 340 Wby and its recoil . Its similar to a 30-06 with a good recoil pad not bad at all, but I realized I never shot it with the brake off. So to be fair I decided to fire it with the brake off .... yeah im never doing that again thankfully my safety glasses stopped the scope from imprinting a Leupold logo on my forehead haha .

I noticed on the 3 frame hammer gun the right barrel after every shot there is black soot on the primer my guess is loose chamber tolerances causing blow by ?