I don't know how to reference a thread number, but I started a thread on 12/8/21 titled "11 gauge" on this very subject. You can go to my profile and read the 2 pages of comments. I brought up this issue of 10 vs 9 gauge and 12 vs 11 gauge. I found reference in the Parker Story that the writers believed that the standard 12 gauge had 11 bore barrels and the standard 10 gauge had 9 bore barrels. Their writeup stated that with paper shells coming into play, there was a mixed market and it was mot until March 1892 that the stock book contained a note that henceforth, unless the barrel was stamped with an "O" that it would be a normal 12 gauge barrel. I presumed that the "O" was meant to indicate oversized or overbored. They further stated the same notice concerning 10 gauge was included in the stock book "a few months later".
Chuck joined in and said he had never seen these notes in the stock books and asked for a detailed reference, I went back to TPS and posted the actual page numbers in TPS and the date called out in the order book. I was (and still am) hoping that he can either confirm these notes or disprove the accuracy of the discussion. To date I am not aware that this has been done. Since no one else has access to the records, the research people will have to do this.
This would settle a couple of the long standing issues collectors have, including the honed/not honed and 12/11/10/9 gauge discussions that go on, and the other is the meaning of at least a lot of the mythical "O" stamp questions.
My main concern then was that most people don't own bore gauges, and when someone finally had access to one, they immediately decided that they own a very rare and desireable gun. A lot of collectors, even some acknowldged experts, seem to take the position that if the barrel is 11 gauge, it is an 11 gauge gun. This was/has not been true in other countries with proof laws and was not wholely true with Parker until around 1900. There are scholarly articles in Double Gun Journal that take this position. I personally think that the term used should be chambering instead of the improperly used gauge when refering to a shotgun. You commonly see an English proofed gun that has 13 gauge barrels with 12 gauge chambers, and are marked as such. Unfortunately, the Serialization Book lists the column heading as B for bore but I suspect that more often the data there is the chambering.
Read the entire original thread to see more comments on this question.
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03-18-2022, 08:42 AM
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