11-Gauge Parkers

[Richard B. Hoover]

Austin,

That plot is very strange. I would like to read the article where it was published. By the very definition of shotgun gauge it truly makes no sense. Did it say where the bore diameter was measured? It was well known long before Parker started making shotguns that a gun with a bore diameter of 0.740" to .751" is a tight 11-bore and .751" and above is a wide 11-gauge and should be proof tested accordingly. It seems to me that such over boring of the barrels would result in loss of pressure, permit escape of gasses around the wad, and reduce the shooting quality of the gun. Parker always prided themselves on making a hard shooting gun. I had always thought they abandoned production of eleven gauge guns by the mid-1870's. Why would they make 11-bore barrels for "12-gauge" guns? That is really wierd. Please give me the info about the Parker Pages article---maybe it gives some clues.

Thanks,


Richard

[Hammer Fan]

Originally Posted by Richard B. Hoover

Austin,

That plot is very strange. I would like to read the article where it was published. By the very definition of shotgun gauge it truly makes no sense. Did it say where the bore diameter was measured? It was well known long before Parker started making shotguns that a gun with a bore diameter of 0.740" to .751" is a tight 11-bore and .751" and above is a wide 11-gauge and should be proof tested accordingly. It seems to me that such over boring of the barrels would result in loss of pressure, permit escape of gasses around the wad, and reduce the shooting quality of the gun. Parker always prided themselves on making a hard shooting gun. I had always thought they abandoned production of eleven gauge guns by the mid-1870's. Why would they make 11-bore barrels for "12-gauge" guns? That is really wierd. Please give me the info about the Parker Pages article---maybe it gives some clues.

Thanks,


Richard

I am by no means an expert on this topic, all I can go on is guns that I have own/examined myself. My 12 bore G hammer has .751-.752 bores with .810 chambers (45,000 serial # range). Also, my 10 bore D hammer has .793 bores with standard chambers as well (50,000 range). I have recently examined another 0 grade 10 bore with this exact configuration (25,000 range).

I use thin walled brass in both my 12 and 10 bores, with 11 and 9 gauge wads respectably. From what I understand about this topic, these dimensions are common for Parker guns of this vintage. I don't know when "modern" dimensions became the standard, i.e .729, .775 etc. for Parker guns, although Austin's chart gives us a pretty good idea. There is nothing that confuses me more about Parker shotguns than the 11 gauge discussion. According to some people's definition I own one, as do many others. I think the larger bore diameters are just common for early guns.

Time to break open my copy of TPS to bone up on this topic.

[Austin W Hogan]

Thank you for your inputs. That graph appeared in Parker Pages a few years ago. It is based on measurements of bores of guns with .810 chambers, made with a Stan Baker Bore gauge. It represents mostly my own Parkers; I had many more measurements but did not "busy up" the plot. The measurements were made in a similar way as those of the Super Fox in the DGJ article.
I spent a pleasant day with TSP, reviewing King's work, and bore measurements. I can only conclude that King's tooling used from around s/n 7000 to 70000 bored .750+/- twelve gauge bores. Also, 11 gauge guns are no longer listed in catalogs and price lists after 1872.
I will write a summary of this for Parker Pages.

Best, Austin