Mid Bead...Rhyme or Reason

[Bill Murphy]

Dean the two rear beads on the "Gold Hearts" gun are gold and enormous. When shouldered, a pigeon at 26 yards will just fit in between the rear beads. Like any woman, Annie Oakley liked to have her "stuff", including her pigeons, just so. I have not shot the gun with the original 30" barrels because I haven't measured the wall thickness. I have shot the 34" Parker Special Steel barrels plenty. The gold plated Parker trigger doubles occasionally so the old girl has to come apart I guess. I have not experimented to see whether the doubling would stop if I shot heavier loads or switched the selector to "left barrel first". The refinishing consisted of the buttplate and both sets of barrels, that's it. Ken Hurst spent many hours on the buttplate, which was a rusty, pitted, throwaway until he agreed to perform his magic with the file and gravers. Bill Hambridge finished the buttplate and screws just before his disappearance. Timing is everything. The buttplate is a museum piece although Ken somehow refused to specify payment, mentioning our friendship as compensation. Oh well. Dewey Vicknair finished the 30" Damascus barrels just before he quit doing Damascus refinishing as a "price list" item. Again, timing is everything. He managed to nicely redo the Damascus barrels in black and white without removing or disturbing the gold balls. Dewey also did the 34" steel barrels, and quite a job it is, considering what he had to work with. I don't think the gun had always been stored indoors, although the wood and the steel barrels seemed to suffer very little neglect compared to other parts. Even though the entire project was the result of the work of several talented artists, I would not own the gun except for the generousity of PGCA member Daryl Middlebrook, who arranged the exchange of ownership.

[Autumn Daze]

Chris,I you look at my original post you will notice that the VHE 32" gun has the mid bead at 18 3/8" back. That is much further back than the other guns. And its stocked at 2 1/2"DAH. Coincidence? Who knows...

[CSL]

Originally Posted by Dave Suponski

Chris,I you look at my original post you will notice that the VHE 32" gun has the mid bead at 18 3/8" back. That is much further back than the other guns. And its stocked at 2 1/2"DAH. Coincidence? Who knows...

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Dave,
I had a look at my 32" VHE vent/rib Trap last night and it measured very similar to yours with a little higher shooting dimensions at heel = LOP 14-1/8, DAC 1-1/2", DAH 1-3/4, and mid-bead dead on at 18" from muzzle....

Maybe if we had some other shooters here post the stock dimensions of their 32" barreled guns with bead measurement, we would see a consistent pattern with relation to stock height and mid-bead placement?... Would also be interesting to see the differences in mid-bead placement between vent/rib and standard rib same length barrels with similar stock dimensions... Just a thought, and Hope we get some feedback on this...

Best, CSL
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[Double Play]

After reading this entire thread a couple of times I'm not sure if there was a factory standard or not and if there was such a standard where was the measurement taken from. So far it's been suggested the measurement could be from the muzzle, from the breech, and someone suggested measuring from the butt to the bead. I checked three guns last night that letter with double beads and all three measure 18" from the muzzle. Because all three guns have different barrel lengths (26"28"30") I have to assume that it's the relationship of each bead to the other that would be the most important dimension. I like double beads for checking gun mount but find them impractical for shooting as I try to focus on the lead edge of the clay or the head of the bird when making a shot.

[Old and Reliable]

[QUOTE=Larry Frey;15153]After reading this entire thread a couple of times I'm not sure if there was a factory standard or not and if there was such a standard where was the measurement taken from. So far it's been suggested the measurement could be from the muzzle, from the breech, and someone suggested measuring from the butt to the bead. I checked three guns last night that letter with double beads and all three measure 18" from the muzzle. Because all three guns have different barrel lengths (26"28"30") I have to assume that it's the relationship of each bead to the other that would be the most important dimension. I like double beads for checking gun mount but find them impractical for shooting as I try to focus on the lead edge of the clay or the head of the bird when making a shot.[-

Larry, for field hunting conditions I couldn't agree more- I removed the mid-bead sights from my VR 28" Mossenburgher 835 nasty weather waterfowler, I didn't mind the VR but the little brass bead distracted me-I only want to see the birds head in focus- haven't shot the little 16 PH on clays yet, but will not remove the mid bead for any reason-

?? If you do that, will that allow moisture to "weep" into the top rib section?? I sealed the 1/16" unthreaded hole in the VR on the 835 against moisture just for that reason.

[Double Play]

Francis,
Sealing the hole is good idea even if it doesn’t go completely thru the rib as it could be hidden and made to look a little nicer. I have seen were the weep holes in the bottom rib are sealed by pressing a piece of lead shot of the appropriate size into the hole then shaping the softer metal to match the rib contour and finishing with a little cold blue.

[CSL]

Originally Posted by Larry Frey

I checked three guns last night that letter with double beads and all three measure 18" from the muzzle. (26"28"30") .

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Larry,
What are the actual Stock dimensions DAC, DAH, LOP, of these three Parker's (26"28"30") you referenced as having a mid-bead 18" from the muzzle?...

Best, CSL
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[Double Play]

Chris they are all over the place but I will list them here for you. I think the distance between the beads is an important factor because if they are spaced to far apart it becomes difficult to focus on both beads at the same time.
30"=1 3/8"x 2 1/4"x 15"
28"=1 5/8"x 3 3/8"x 15"
26"=1 1/2"x 2 1/2"x 14 1/4"

Each of those guns lettered with two beads and were spaced at 18". The next gun did not mention a second bead in the letter and may have been added later. Its spacing is 16" from the muzzle.
32"=1 1/4"x 1 3/4"x 14 3/4"