Terry Schraner

[MarketHunter]

Some of the later Parker 3 inch guns were marked with chamber length, at least in the 10 gauge and 12 gauge types. I'd be interested to know if any of the long chamber smallbore stuff was as well.

A friend of mine is deep in some research into the early shells for these guns. He's out in California where one of the big suppliers (Selby) was located and has some really interesting pieces of ammo in his collection. There's a ton about smallbore duck guns in a publication called "Western Field" which he had luck finding on micro film or fische at one of the university libraries in California.



Destry

[Bill Murphy]

Long barrel 20 gauge Parkers were made in frame sizes 0, 1, 1 1/2, 2, and 3. I was not aware of the #3 frame variation until a California auction several years ago where an assortment of large frame heavy twenties was offered. There was at least one twenty in that collection that weighed about nine pounds. I would like to own that catalog today, because all of the guns were listed by serial number. It would be an interesting research project to examine the orders for those guns. My old #2 frame 32" twenty was ordered at 8 pounds with chambers for 3" shells with no mention of frame size in the order. It is #153,333 and I would like to have it back. My #3 frame 16 was ordered at 8 3/4 pounds if I remember correctly.

[Setter Man]

I have seen a very nice, well restored, 20 VHE with 32" barrels, straight stock and Silvers pad built on a #1 frame that probably dates to the early 30's. At what point did Parker start chambering 20's in 3" as opposed to 2-7/8"?