The misinformation regarding barrel matting termination to determine cut barrels is one of the most pervasive misconceptions for new Parker collectors. There is an expectation that rib matting stops at the front bead and a bar of un-matted rib is found from the front bead to the rib's end. No bar at the end of the matting and a flag goes up! No bar at the rib's end is a viable guideline, but not an absolute rule. Most of the time, but not always, expect to find the two barrels touching at the muzzle end for un-cut barrels. But sometime to get barrels regulated to shoot to point of aim wedges were inserted to separate barrels and other times some cut barrels may touch. Again, barrels touching is a guideline and not a rule. On uncut barrels, the space between the barrels and the ribs at the muzzle end should have visible triangular metal filler strips, called keels, and not simply solder. Cut barrels may or may not have visible keels, because the original keels were tapered triangular wedges about one and a half inches in length and depending on the barrel length removed, some length of keel may still be present. Shortened keels would "probably" have more solder showing than normal because of their taper allowing more solder area to be visable. No keels at all indicates cut barrels. If in doubt, measure the bore diameter, the length of chokes, the actual barrel length, and if possible, check the factory production information. If the chokes are 4 inches or longer and the bore diameter is factory, it is likely that the barrels are uncut. But, even the factory letter can get it wrong on occasion. There are factory original Parker barrels that are +/- 1/8" of what is stated or standard. 27 7/8" barrels are not necessarily cut, as is the case with 28 1/8" barrels. The internal dimensions of the bores and chokes are probably the clearest indicators.   <-- back