duck loads!

[Richard Flanders]

I know and 85yr old lady up here who shot the choke out of the nicest Ithaca 37 I have ever seen and had some kind of screw in choke installed and is still shooting the gun. This lady has shot a LOT of ducks. Whenever she comes to camp with us I get the job of hunting with her to make sure she's ok and I can tell you that it's an honor and that there's no place I'd rather be; no one in camp has the nerve to suggest that they take that job from me. What a trooper she is. She flew her Super Cub and C-185 all over Alaska, mostly for hunting, until she was 75 and my hunting partner and neighbor now has the Cub. She was a physician and after she retired at 75 she spent TEN YEARS working at and on developing medical clinics in the Aleutians and then wrote a book on her experiences at it. Her motivation and work ethic could embarrass the stoutest of all of us.
As for the original subject here, I could be wrong here but bet that if one were to reload shells with a double layer of shot wrap or a layer of wrap inside a cup, no type of hard non-tox shot, be it steel or the iron Hevi-shot, could hurt a Parker. I've only shot KTM, bismuth and Classic Doubles out of mine and give KTM the clear nod for being the best of the three.

[Big Friend Ten (BFT)]

Originally Posted by Richard Flanders

I could be wrong here but bet that if one were to reload shells with a double layer of shot wrap or a layer of wrap inside a cup, no type of hard non-tox shot, be it steel or the iron Hevi-shot, could hurt a Parker. I've only shot KTM, bismuth and Classic Doubles out of mine and give KTM the clear nod for being the best of the three.

Roger that Richard!

I do not recommend a steady diet of steel or Hevi Shot in a Parker mostly because of the strain it will put on a 100 year old stock.

Modern steel shot shells have really thick wads, at least the good ones do.

The problem with steel is the extra velocity needed so that when the shot finally gets to the duck or goose, it has the required energy to penetrate. To achieve the extra muzzle velocity, and to cycle dirty autoloaders, steel shot is loaded to near SAAMI maximum mean working pressures. A Parker with good barrel thickness will withstand the pressure but that pressure may in turn loosen the action. Maybe, maybe not...

Then there is the recoil produced by those high velocity steel shot loads...

I like Nice Shot, Kent TM, and Bismuth for my Parkers. In a pinch I'd shoot a low condition "shooter" with steel or Hevi Shot.