Guess I'm going to have to try shorter words or something. The fact that the Super-X was a "new" 2 3/4" load does not make it the first. The fact that the standard 12ga chamber length (prior to the introduction of the Super-X) was 2 5/8" does not mean there weren't guns out there with longer chambers. Just that they were in a minority. As to the rest . . . if you don't understand that there were no common standards for proof and service pressure prior to the creation of SAAMI, I don't know how to make that any clearer. Wow. . . my wife, who after many years just left a job in which her major role was to put engineer English into something "the masses" can understand, often expressed frustration. Now I can see why.
And thanks, Miller, but I can put words in my own posts. No need for you to do so. Increased payload/velocity/pressure of the then-new, hotter loads are ALL of significance in the guns in which they are used. I have a sub-6# Prussian Daly Featherweight. Even if I knew that the pressure on a 3 3/4 DE, 1 1/4 oz 12ga load were sub-9,500 psi, I would not shoot it in that gun. NOWHERE have I ever indicated that recoil is a benign force.
Rabbit, I agree with you: SAAMI has done nothing to compensate for the increased recoil generated by faster and heavier 12ga loads. Now my question to you is: Are you seeing a lot of modern 12ga guns shoot loose because of those loads? If the answer is no, then would that not indicate that there must be some other factor which is being regulated (like pressure, which SAAMI does regulate) that plays a truly critical role in metal wear? I'd add here something we have not addressed: The SAAMI pressure standard for 3" 12ga is the same as for 2 3/4" (11,500 psi service pressure), even though the shot charges are significantly heavier. Maybe someone ought to get their hands on a Ruger Gold Label and put a few thousand 3" shells through it. Volunteers?
Something else we have not mentioned in our discussion of classic American guns is that they are not equal. Even all Foxes, all Parkers, all Elsies etc are not equal. Example: Foxes had 4 different barrel weights, with a difference of 3/4 pound between the lightest and the heaviest 28" 12ga tubes. Parker made guns on several different size frames. Elsie made a Featherweight (not to mention the Long Range Wildfowl). Thus, whether an American classic double--properly cared for--could survive the increased pressure and recoil of modern American 2 3/4" loads might well depend on which Parker, Fox or Elsie you happen to own. A Fox with No. 1 barrels . . .totally different expectations than a Fox with No. 4 barrels. Although if you stuck with the hottest ammo available in 2 5/8" for that Fox, I'd say your chances are a whole lot better even with the lightest barrels.
