doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What do you shoot in a 2 5/8 chambered Parker?

I shoot 2 3/4" shells in my 2 9/16" chambered Parker all the time with no ill effects at all. The spent shells exhibit "pinched" plastic but it's pretty negligible.

Will Evans posted the result of shooting 2 3/4" loads in his 2 5/8" chambered (assumed to have been accurately measured) Parker. Maybe it was only a bad batch of plastic?



Less impressive is a "feathered" case mouth; 67mm on left



All these shells were 2 11/16", which I would use if there was evidence of a longer hull entering the forcing cone. Sherman Bell did not test 2 3/4" shells in 2 5/8" chambers so we have no pressure data however.

Interesting, these are from a 2 5/8 V grade
I haven�t experienced anything as described, shells are labeled 2 3/4, but fired measurements are 2.67

Therein lies the problem. The fired length of nominal 2 3/4" shells is almost never 2 3/4". At one point, I had quite a collection of once-fired hulls, both American and foreign. I can't recall any that were longer than 2 3/4", and some were quite a bit shorter. The difference in whether you might end up with blown ends on the shells--as shown in Doc Drew's post--might well be a question of just how much shorter they were. Some guns with 2 1/2" chambers--especially true of those going back to the 19th century--won't work well even with British shells from boxes that tell you they're appropriate for use in guns with 2 1/2" chambers. Result being the blown ends you see in Doc Drew's post. And reports of sharp recoil. At which it's time to stop doing what you're doing and use only true 2 1/2" hulls in those guns. The problem seems to be short and sharply tapered forcing cones. More of a "step" than a cone.

Many of us--having read Sherman Bell's report on long shells in short chambers--have reloaded standard American 2 3/4" hulls to appropriate low pressures and used them in guns with short chambers, without incident. But it clearly does not work with all 2 3/4" hulls in all guns with chambers which measure shorter than that.

right but we're talking about Parkers.

I have a whole stable of English guns dating from the late 1860�s to 1925 and all are original 2 1/2� proof guns. I shoot 2 3/4� � reloads exclusively in all of them and have never had a problem. Hull mouths are nice and smooth and hulls go through a number of reloads before being tossed. I noticed the picture of the blown hulls showed ammo loaded with #4 Nice Shot, a non tox load. I wonder if this shot wasn�t responsible for the blown hull mouths. Also, I�ll bet these shells are loaded to near SAAMI maximum pressures. I never even get close to that with my reloads.

The blue shell in Drew's second picture is what mine looked like - I called it "pinched" and Drew called it "feathered" but the result is the same no matter what it is called.

Mine were 2 3/4" factory AA with #8 lead shot at the trap range... and I shot a lot of them back then. These days I reload 16's, 20's and 28's and generally buy my 12's from Morris, or bum a box from a friend if I run low.

Joe, at what point in time did Parker make the statement about using 2 3/4" shells in guns with 2 5/8" chambers? The reason I ask is that SAAMI pressure standards aren't the same now as they were when the organization was established back in 1926. I don't know for sure and I don't want to assume, but my guess would be that at some point, as the industry standard (especially in 12ga, which is where the change occurred first) changed to 2 3/4", Parker began boring 12ga chambers at 2 3/4" rather than 2 5/8". Thanks.

From the Parker site:
12g Parker SN 71792 c. 1891 was patterned with 1 1/4 oz. No. 7 and 42 grains DuPont. A 1900 Parker hang tag states that 12g 2 5/8� chambered guns were patterned at 40 yds. in a 30� circle using 2 3/4� shells with 1 1/8 oz. No. 7 chilled shot and 40 grains (3 1/4 Dram) of DuPont Bulk Smokeless powder. (Courtesy of Bruce Day)

Researcher has that information - perhaps he will come on and showus.