Purpose of frame sizes...

[Pa SxS]

Murphy, I recently did a letter on a gun where the order book requested a 2 1/2 frame. That's the only reference to a frame size I've seen in a order book and one Parker never made (I know never say never!). When I questioned the current owner, he said it was on a size 3 frame so I figured Parker rounded up to the next even size. Off the top of my head, I can't remember who requested the letter. Did the original customer think Parker made a 2 1/2 frame?

[Bill Murphy]

No, the 2 1/2 frame was not a commonly known entity, but obviously, it was a term used among factory people to designate the #3 frame. Whether some retail customers knew about the big frame is doubtful, but the terminology made it to the order books. No one "rounded up" 2 1/2 to 3. The #3 frame is 2 1/2" wide according to the frame dimension chart in The Parker Pages. I have no idea why factory people didn't use the same numbers we do, but they apparently didn't. I also don't know why other frame sizes weren't described in "insider's lingo", but they don't seem to have been, at least in my experience.

[Bill Murphy]

Since frames did not have a frame number stamped on them, the only way a floor mechanic at Parker Brothers could identify a #3 frame was to measure it with whatever measuring device he had in hand. A #3 frame was 2 1/2" wide.

[Dean Romig]

Bill, we presume that measurement is across the face of the bolsters, correct?





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[Dean Romig]

Here is a set of 30” ten-gauge 2-frame Damascus barrels I have that I am in the process of fitting to my 12 gauge 2-frame DH No. 90739.
They are very heavy and are swamped to only about 1/16” on their entire length.

You can see the unstruck weight of 5 lbs. 11 oz. which is pretty heavy for a set of 30” 10 gauge barrels made for a 2-frame.


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[Bill Murphy]

In 2013, on this thread, Chuck says he has only seen one gun ordered by the "2 1/2" designation to denote a wish for a #3 frame. I have two of them just in my meager collection. Do you think maybe Chuck has seen a few more since 2013? In my opinion, customers didn't know anything about a #3 frame or a 2 1/2 frame. The customer only knew "big" or "heavy" and the person writing the order at Parker Brothers knew that meant a 2 1/2 inch frame in a 12 gauge gun. My #3 frame 16 gauge specifies "2 1/2" as the frame size on the order. I'm sure the customer only knew "real heavy", not any particular frame size.