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Operating from memory now so correct me if I'm wrong but as I recall the 75mm/17.6 style of chamber mark went out in 1924. This was applied only to guns which received smokeless powder proof & was the length of chamber over the chamber diameter just ahead of the rim seat or the rear of the chamber in other words.
A normal 20 ga chamber would have been expected to measure about 17.7 here so this indicates a bit Snug chamber. As long as the shells enter freely though should present no problem.
Note however, even though this gun was chambered 3" & proofed as such it would not have been intended for modern day 3" Magnum Shells which were not on the market at time of proof. 3" shells were available in the old days but were not heavily loaded. Some desired them for the benefit of extra wadding.

3 inch 20's earlier than the current modern crop of "more shell than one needs in a 20" today?? I have never heard this before. And that is just one small reason why I try and look at this board at least once a day!! Thanks for that tid bit of knowledge 2-piper.

Perry;
I once had a list of all the hull lengths available in the various gauges from UMC back around the turn of the last century. On nearly all of them you could get from 2�" to 3" in 1/8" steps with 3�" being available in at least the 12 & 10 gauges & 2 9/16" thrown in for the 14 & 16 gauges. There may be some other lengths in there I am forgetting, but unfortunately I misplaced that list somewhere over the years.

Stevens had a very early pump gun in 3" 20ga, in fact may have been their very first pump. Operating from memory here, but may have been a model 20. It had a very short breech bolt with correspondingly short receiver. I have a post 1907 Lefever Arms Co 16ga H grade double with 3" chambers. This gun appears to have had very little use & as the 3" hulls would have been available at the time it was built, but never really became a standard, I highly suspect it was ordered this way. There would seem to have been little incentive to have had it rechambered later. I seem to recall having read of an "Old" Parker 20ga with original 3" chambers but don't recall the circumstances now.

Does the shooting of a 2.5" or 2.75" shell out of a 3" chamber affect the performance of the shot and its distribution?
BillK

Suggest you pattern it out of your gun and decide for yourself...Geo

The shotgun pictured is really nice. One I'd be proud to shoot. This one is definitely not jabc!!

Sorry I was not paying attention, but that sneak Raimey already added images to the proof marks thread

It was manufactured by Manufacture Liegeoise d' Armes a Feu
For a shop or dealer named Louis Rerle'
Despite the very odd 75mm chambers, the load indicated is 1.68 grams = 26 grains of a 33 grain bulk powder = 2 1/4 Dr. Eq. with 21 grams = 3/4 oz. shot, and that is what I would use.

And here it is
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=182949

And since it is at least 110 years old, it deserves an evaluation by a doublegun specialist before use, especially careful measurements of the wall thickness at the end of those long chambers and into the forcing cones.

Thank you Drew Hause. That post in shotgunworld.com back in 2009 was mine when I first acquired the gun. At the suggestion of the replies I sent the gun to Gunter Pfrommer for evaluation, cleaning and an addition of a recoil pad to lengthen the stock to my dimensions. Gunter noticed the gun was slightly off face and he replaced the hinge pin and it came back tight as a bank volt. Gunter did an excellent job.
I have shot it using only mild 2.75" inch shells.
BillK

That's correct. The gauge followed by chamber length in a sort of sideways horseshoe was the mark used from 1924 on.

Yeah, you really have to really keep your eyes on ellenbr as he is a fiend & has sticky fingers when it comes to photos.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse