Defining a Parker Long Range shotgun

[charlie cleveland]

nothing stirs my blood like talking about these 3 inch guns be it 12 ga or 16 ga or 20 ga...they are special too me....charlie

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Here’s one I immediately fell in love with when Tony advertised it on his website in 2002.
I was trying to round up some of the money when it disappeared…
Good thing though - I would probably have found myself single a lot sooner than now…


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I didn’t see it in the description with the picture , but did you find out if it had 2 7/8” chambers ?

[6pt-Sika]

Kinda along these lines I have a DH 16 gauge 32” on a 2 frame I purchased from someone here less than a year ago . It’s a 1916 gun that’s PG DT splinter FE drop at heel is 2 1/2 and lop to the SB is 14 1/2” with a weight of 8 pounds even . Both barrels are full plus . To me the 2 frame is unusual as well as the letter verified 2 7/8” chambers . This past tower shoot season I was fairly regularly making shots on pheasants I normally wouldn’t try with my 12 pigeon gun .

[charlie cleveland]

this gun must of used the 3 inch 16 ga shell...bill murphy has a big 16 ga gun also...I like hearing about these heavy weight guns....charlie

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by CraigThompson

I didn’t see it in the description with the picture , but did you find out if it had 2 7/8” chambers ?

Back then I was so new to Parkerology that I never even considered asking. I never asked and if it was in the rest of the description I wouldn’t have thought to remember.





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[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

Does anyone actually have an unmolested Parker Bros. 12-gauge, gun chambered for 3-inch shells, from the period 1923 to 1933 that letters as such?

Dave has gotten me to reflecting:

I have owned 3 and still hunt with a Long Range 3 inch LC Smith, a Super Fox 3 inch gun of which I have owned two, and retain two M-12 3 in Heavy Duck guns.
I have not actually seen or handled a Parker 3 inch gun. It does beg the question:how many Parker 3 inch or 2 7/8 inch guns were actually made
and sold?

Other manufacturers by the 1930s were surely taking up market share: Winchester, Fox (Sterlingworth), possibly Ithaca, and some British doubles.
Fox later used up the last of the HE grade barrels and frames to market
a waterfowl heavy Sterlingworth. The price of that rarer late Fox was close to the original Super Fox HE price. Not many were offered or sold.
The Depression and new game law restrictions on geese and duck limits played a part in supply and demand. Many hunters bought used Model 12 pump shotguns in the 30s because they could not afford even a used double gun.

An Abercrombie and Fitch NYC 1933 used gun catalog, personally owned- offered a Parker A-1 Special for a bit over $200.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by henderson Marriott

possibly Ithaca,

I have no doubt an NID in 3" 12ga would handle the heavy load well

but Ithaca's specific entry to the long range waterfowl arms race was the 2 7/8 Super 10 - not to be confused with the later 3 1/2 magnum 10 boat anchor

The Ithaca Super is a wonderfully efficient hunting tool

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Rick Losey

I have no doubt an NID in 3" 12ga would handle the heavy load well

but Ithaca's specific entry to the long range waterfowl arms race was the 2 7/8 Super 10 - not to be confused with the later 3 1/2 magnum 10 boat anchor

The Ithaca Super is a wonderfully efficient hunting tool

I like my 3 1/2” Ithaca Boat Anchor, but I do have to buy longer sleeved shirts after using it. It’s a turkey killing machine.

[Researcher]

Do we have a number on the L.C. Smith Wildfowl/Long Range guns? A quick look in Houchins this morning while my oats were cooking, I didn't see one.

The count of their records Ithaca Gun Co. did back in the 1960s showed 87 12-gauges built on the NID magnum-frame. The Magnum-12 wasn't listed in the Ithaca Gun Co. catalogs until 1937, but we see 12-gauge guns throughout the 500000 serial number range. However, some of these 12-gauges built on the NID magnum-frame that have surfaced have 2 3/4" chambers.

A.H. Fox Gun Co./Savage Arms Corp. built about 950 12-gauge HE-Grade Super-Fox guns but how many started life chambered for 3-inch shells is not known.

Some other manufacturers tried their hand in the field as well. Davis Warner Arms Corp. offered one of their N.R. Davis doubles which they called Hy-Power Grade --

Davis Hammerless Guns 1926 E.K. Tryon.jpg

The Hy-Power Grade doesn't appear in the Crescent - Davis Arms Corp. paper from the 1930s.

[Craig Larter]

2704 Long Range and Wild Fowl LCS were made.