Defining a Parker Long Range shotgun

[Double Lab]

Originally Posted by todd allen

Thanks Daryl. Maybe some day soon after some favorable climate change we can get together and work towards whirled peas.

Probably not in this lifetime Todd. Let's just go shooting.

[Double Lab]

Originally Posted by CraigThompson

I got a text from a guy that runs a ring in PA a couple days ago for a friday saturday shoot . Sadly I'll be out of the country (I hope) . But in the two days shoot there will be a 20 bird 28 gauge race . I'm kinda new to the pigeon game but I'd never heard of lesser gauge races .

I would however like to try my DH 8 in the pigeon ring with my light 1 1/2 ounce load in the right barrel and the heavier 1 3/4 ounce load in the left barrel .

Our friend Honest John used to have a 28ga event. I've got the perfect gun for that.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Daryl Corona

Our friend Honest John used to have a 28ga event. I've got the perfect gun for that.

Yes sir that little Perazzi would work very well for that I do believe !

If I were going to be here for the event I would be calling a friend in Fredricksburg thats connected with the Fausti chicks and see about getting a Fausti SxS 28 that was 32" or possibly 30" .

[Double Lab]

I was thinking of my 30" VHE 28.

[charlie cleveland]

my definition of a long range gun...abig bore with long barrels lots of choke and will drop the quarry be it wild foul or beast at least out to 60 yards every shot ...charlie

[Stan Hillis]

I agree with you, Charlie. Many people today do not know what true long range wing shooting is all about. They assume that shotguns are necessarily short range tools. They're not.

When you get the chance to watch a truly long range shotgunner at work it is an amazing sight to see. However, really long range shotguns are very specialized tools, and require a unique skill set.

[Cold Spring]

Originally Posted by Kevin McCormack

So far as I understood it, Parkers chambered for 3" shells at the factory are easily distinguished as such vs. essentially larger framed (e.g. 2 and 3-framed guns) 12 ga. guns whose chambers were lengthened after market to accept 3" shells; if you lay as straightedge along the FULL LENGTH of an original factory 3" chambered gun, there is no "swamp" or taper to the barrels, they are straight along the full length of the barrel. Guns bored after market show a decided taper or "dip" to the parallel line from breech to muzzle. And as the case with Fox HE grade guns, most were marked "3 " but not all of them.

I've recently become interested in these late Parker 1-1/2 frame/3-inch Long Range guns. I highlighted part of Kevin's post and question whether they really were straight along the full length of the barrel from breech to muzzle? The width across the 1-1/2 frame barrel breech is about 2.290" and width across the muzzles (32” barrel) is about 1.610". And if perfectly straight and without a transition “swamp” for at least a few inches forward of the breeches that might make for a decided heft and odd look to the back end of the barrels.

Or is it, that the barrels are straight tapered without a swamp from a point beginning some inches (10-12?) ahead of the breech and out to the muzzle?

Can someone with an original late 12 ga/3-inch gun on a 1-1/2 frame please check this for us?

[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

Frank:
One of our seldom seen PGCA members has a later Remington-Parker VHE 12 GA chambered and marked "3-in" chambers. At one time he had considered selling it, but now is off the radar screen. If he can be contacted again, I will ask about his frame size and possibly get him to do some measurement checks for all interested

As you may know, I am the present owner of the Parker Bros. VHE 2 7/8 inch gun that belonged to you then Reggie, through Mike K. -I believe. It is the same gun that graced the Winter 2021 issue of Parker Pages so well described by yourself.
Under the heading "all things come to those who have patience", I have recently manged to obtain an Ithaca Flues straight-stocked 12 that has 3 in chambers. Also recent and in the running is a 1924 LC Smith Long Range Field grade, with straight stock, much case color and original barrel finish remaining-with wood checked. So with the Super and another Long Range Smith, I have managed to corner a representative collection of American duck, goose and turkey artillery pieces. Excellent "bird guns".

Another tangent but related subject that I am doing research on is modern lead shot shell performance, along with non-toxic shell attributes, usage within these shotguns at the century mark. While the actions of these double guns may handle some reduced velocity/ pressures of modern offerings, the aged walnut stock material certainly was not made to handle the higher velocity loads of some of today's tungsten or bismuth loads.
Would that the DGJ was present to publish articles keeping our double gun aficionados
constantly current on the realties of modern shot shell velocities.

The era of John Olin's 1920's Super-X shells has passed. With shot column technology, non-toxic heavy shot, and increased performance-based commercial research:
We truly have 3-inch guns from another era, that can CHAMBER 3-inch shot shells, but
caveat emptor as to which ones are safe in our guns. And is it realistic to safely expect the same levels of performance-or greater- in 100-year old shotguns?
The Model 12 Heavy Duck guns may see more use than ever expected-as velocities approach 1500 fps in modern loaded shells. ( We do have RST and Boss, however.)

[Bill Murphy]

I think the 3" Remington era Parker mentioned by Lt Col Marriot is one I saw when it first surfaced in the retail world at least a couple of owners ago and I declined to purchase because of its poor condition and its light weight and 1 1/2 frame. Any comments about swamped barrels or not swamped barrels should be put to rest by measurements of outside diameter, breech to muzzle in 2 5/8" and marked 3" barrels. I seriously doubt that a 1 1/2 frame Remington era 3" marked gun has any different barrel taper than does a normal 2 5/8" 1 1/2 frame gun of the same era. I would like to see a 3" marked Remington gun placed on an accurate scale. I think Frank would like to see the same.

[Researcher]

I see WLM has listed an over eight pound 1923 vintage VHE, 2-frame, 32-inch 12-gauge on GI. No mention of chamber length in the text.