I just checked my Parker EH 10 gauge for the presence of that screw though the short top rib section. I could not detect any screw, or even a joint indicating a 2 piece rib. Also, the rib over the chambers is matted which would hide this screw if present. Of course, mine is a hammerless gun.
I also took another look at Sherman Bell's "Finding Out For Myself- part II" in the Winter 1999 issue 4 of Double Gun Journal. On page 32, there are pics of the ruptured barrels. On pages 34 and 36, Bell describes what he found in his post-mortem. He seems to think the ruptures originated in the thinner area between the chambers, and mentions a screw that retains the extractor and runs upward between the barrels and ends just under the short rib extension. Both chambers peeled open, but the ruptured area did not break totally free of the barrels as this one did. However, the condition of the shells looked much worse and the primers were blown out in the nuclear loads he used which developed over 29,000 and 31,000 psi respectively. I hope we can get a better look at the damage and maybe learn what actually happened. Of course, all Damascus is not created equal, and the tubes in this old hammer gun may have been structurally inferior to the pitted tubes Bell sacrificed.
