Appropriate Shells?

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Brett Trimble

I have a 12ga Parker made in 1922 with 32” Titanic steel barrels, no. 2 frame, weight 8lb 5oz. The barrels are in excellent condition, no dents, wall thicknesses fine. The chambers are 2 3/4. I had the gun lettered and there is no mention of chamber length.

My local gunsmith pronounced the gun safe to shoot with modern loads - but not steel shot as it’s choked tightly. When I asked about specific safe loads the conversation got mushy.

I’d like to use the gun for ducks over decoys and pheasant.

After doing much research it would appear that the max safe loads would be approximately 1 1/8 oz, 1300 fps and pressure 7kpsi-ish? Does this sound right? I would love to use
1 1/4oz at 9-10kpsi but I gather that that’s way too much?

I’d love to hear opinions from those that have dealt with this situation.

Best,
Brett

Nobody can give you a guarantee on what your gun will handle based on this description. IMO 2 frame 12ga guns with fluid steel barrels can handle heavy loads and most likely all of them have at some point in time. If you go to the Hodgdon Reloading Data Center online you will see many recipes for 2 3/4" hulls shooting 1 1/4 ounce of bismuth using Longshot powder with a psi between 8K to 9K. Personally I would pick a recipe at the 1250 fps not just for lower pressure but also lower recoil. A load like that is all you need for ducks with the proper choke, I speak from experience. I have shot those loads through a number of 2 and 1 1/2 frame 12ga guns without issue. When bismuth first hit the market it wasn't available to reload. The original bismuth cartridge company loading was 1 3/8 ounce. I shot a bunch of that through a 12ga Trojan in the early to mid 90's with no issues.