A.H. Fox 20 gauge 3”

[Researcher]

Having the Parker Bros. 32-inch barrel, 20-gauge, chambered for 3-inch shells on a 2-frame reduces recoil.

[Mills]

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

Having the Parker Bros. 32-inch barrel, 20-gauge, chambered for 3-inch shells on a 2-frame reduces recoil.

Exactly. That is why I would prefer a heavier frame

[Bill Murphy]

My 3" Parkers are on #0 and #2 frames. Sorry, no #1 frames, although I would like to own one.

[Stan Hillis]

My 1929 DHE is a no. 1 frame with a set of 32", 20 ga., barrels. Having used it on doves for three seasons I have found it to have relatively no recoil at all. I would never wish it to be on a heavier frame. Just my personal experience, and my preference. It weighs 7 lb.s 4 oz. with the 20 ga. set, and 7 lbs. 6 oz. with the 32", 16 ga. set. Just about perfect for me.

[David Noble]

Stan, what an awesome gun and certainly a rare setup, especially if the barrels are both Parker Bros and original to the gun. But would still be a very desirable combination if not!
I hope you will post pictures of this sometime.

[Researcher]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

My 3" Parkers are on #0 and #2 frames. Sorry, no #1 frames, although I would like to own one.

Did you ever measure the chambers in that set of 1-frame 32-inch barrels you relieved me of? I don't recall ever measuring them.

[Stan Hillis]

Originally Posted by David Noble

Stan, what an awesome gun and certainly a rare setup, especially if the barrels are both Parker Bros and original to the gun. But would still be a very desirable combination if not!
I hope you will post pictures of this sometime.

Thanks, David. Here's a couple from the files:





Additional photos cab be seen by viewing the original for sale posting here by the former owner, and now friend, Mr. Rob't. Harris:

https://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=28370

I hope there will be many more photos with the gun pictured after-hunt ........

Thanks much for your comments.

[Bill Murphy]

Dave, I never did measure the chambers on the big barrels. The barrels were in a condition that prompted me to sell them. Mr. Harris mentions that his 20 gauge barrels needed some serious attention. They sound like the barrels that you and I owned. I didn't record the serial number and according to Stan, the original serial numbers are gone now.

[Stan Hillis]

My friend Bill, I did not mean to imply that I thought the original serial numbers are gone from the 20 ga. set of barrels. Please tell me what I said that may have, inadvertently, led you to that conclusion and I will modify my previous comments to be easier to understand. I can see no evidence that the original serial numbers have been removed by welding over or any other means.

Here is a pic of the two barrel sets by each other. It is plain that the numbers on the 20 ga. set are not exactly the same font as the ones on the 16 ga. set, and that they are not as straight, obviously stamped by individual numerical stamps without the help of anything the keep them in perfect alignment. However, I do not know that they still couldn't have been done like that at the factory, if the gun had been returned many years later for the 20 ga. set to be fitted. Not having much knowledge of how that was handled by Parker I will leave that conclusion to be drawn by yourself and the other more knowledgeable gents here than myself. Is the difference in the font and arrangement of the digits evidence of non-Parker work?



It has been put forth that the difference in the barrel steels between the 16s and the 20s, on my gun, is not in itself damning, but that 20 ga. barrels that were added to a gun at a later date than the original manufacture were often Vulcan Steel, regardless the grade of the original gun. Again, I fall back on other's superior knowledge about this as well.

It would be nice to know for certain, which I doubt can ever be determined with absolute certainty, but either way it doesn't lessen, or add to, the attraction I have for the gun. I love it and consider myself a blessed man for having it in my stable.

All comments concerning this are welcome, and appreciated.

[Researcher]

Last I saw that set of 32-inch barrels, I originally got from Bud Stanley at a Spokane gun show, Malone had them.