Underlifter Parkers at SXS

[Kevin McCormack]

Richard, what happened to you? I thought you were going to come see me about that LOOOOG trunk case I brought to the Southern to sell. Too late now; some old guy bought it, grumbling about the fact that the new handle I put on it wasn't "original" and that he was skeptical about it being able to fit and handle his 8 ga. underlifter hammer Grade 5 with 40 inch barrels...........

[Twice Shooter]

Mr. Hoover, Could you please post the numbers for an 11 gauge chamber or possibly a reference where they can be found? Thank you, Tom

[Richard B. Hoover]

Originally Posted by Tom Carter

Mr. Hoover, Could you please post the numbers for an 11 gauge chamber or possibly a reference where they can be found? Thank you, Tom

Tom,

From looking at the 1873 and 1874 order books it seems that by that late period the majority of the 11-ga Parkers were chambered for 12-A brass shotshells. these have essentially identical diameters to a modern 12-ga shell (0.810" head to 0.800" mouth). A modern 12-ga shell fits perfectly in these chambers. These chambers are in the Parker 11-ga #4005 that I shot in the hammer-gun event on Sunday morning.

Some 11-ga Parkers were chambered for the brass 10A shells--a modern 10-ga shell fits these chambers perfectly.

Several of the very early 11-bore Parkers (1866-1874) were chambered for the 11 paper or 11A brass shells (0.825" head to 0,810" mouth). My poker Parker has these chambers. If a 12-ga shell is loose and a 10-ga shell will not go in the chambers, the gun is chambered for the extremely rare (almost non-existent) 11-ga shells. In this case the chambers provide a solid test.

As a result of this fact, several of the early Parker 11-ga guns were chambered for 12A or 10 A shells based on what we have discovered by bore measurements, even though they are listed as 12-ga or 10-ga in the Parker Serialization due to the chambers and the way they were annotated in the stock and order books. These guns can only be recognized by careful study of the bores. Since most of the 11-ga guns pre-date the stock hooks and since many were erroneously entered as 10-ga or 12-ga, I think the number of 11-ga Parkers that were made could possibly be twice as many as are shown in the Serialization or as appear in the listing in the Parker Story.

[Richard B. Hoover]

Originally Posted by Kevin McCormack

Richard, what happened to you? I thought you were going to come see me about that LOOOOG trunk case I brought to the Southern to sell. Too late now; some old guy bought it, grumbling about the fact that the new handle I put on it wasn't "original" and that he was skeptical about it being able to fit and handle his 8 ga. underlifter hammer Grade 5 with 40 inch barrels...........

Sorry I missed out on the case. I spent most of my time in the Parker tent measuring gun barrels.

By the way, Why didn't you put an original handle on it for the nice gentleman? He may also be unhappy if your non-original handle foes not hold up under the weight of those big barrels. When he brings it back, give me a call. I have nice light weight 11-bores.