New Hammer Gun!

[charlie cleveland]

in other words a 10b chambered gun will not chamber a paper or plastic hull is this correct....what was the purpose of the 10 b chambered guns.... charlie

[Roundsworth]

Charlie, I really don't know what the real story is on the 'A' and 'B' shells. I went through my brass shells and found a 12B, but no 10B. I can still take photos to show the differences with the 12s. I recall reading a passage somewhere that stated that the inside diameter of the paper hull is the same as the inside diameter of the 'B' brass. So, maybe the bore of a 'B' gun is more along the lines of our modern, standardized bore, and the 'A' bore is/can be much larger.

[Roundsworth]

I made some rudimentary measurements of the bores on my hammer gun and came up with .808" for the bores just ahead of the chambers, and .759" for both chokes. She's choked pretty tight! These are very svelte barrels, given the unstruck weight of only 5 pounds and 30" length. They taper down quickly, just beyond the chambers. I wonder if a letter would say if someone ordered the gun to be light?

[10 bore]

does any one know what the size of chamber dia from A shell and B shell is? and can the smaller chamber be reamed to fit the larger shells?(todays shells) thanks scott

[Roundsworth]

These are chamber dimensions from the 1870s era Parkers:

10A - .845" to .860" diameter

10B - .815" to .825" diameter

[Roundsworth]

Scott, I imagine that value on an excellent condition 1870s Parker would be diminished. RMC can make lathe turned brass shells for you, but I don't think they do well with anything but black powder. That is the impression I got from various threads concerning the subject here.

[Roundsworth]

The locks have been cleaned and reassembled. It pays to invest in a mainspring vise, repro or original! The scratches on the exterior of the lockplates were there when the plates were colored. I had to use my high powered magnifying glass to see them properly. Sorry about my macro photography. One of these days I'll get it! I sure wish other forums could upload photos as easily as this one.

[10ga Hammer]

Mark, Those cleaned up nice.Great colors!

[Roundsworth]

The hammer faces are barely dimpled from use. There is just a little mark in the colors. The stock has a couple of teeny weeny cracks that I will be able to stabilize quite easily. Overall, the gun appears to have been used very little. The bores have some pitting though. As nice as this gun is, I would be willing to place a decent wager on the fact that 90% of the signs of neglect happened after the original purchaser passed away. Maybe not, but I like to think so. As always, Cheers!