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

Larry, I apologize for being slow responding to your question. In short, I do not know the answer. However, I have a VH from 1928 that has 2 5/8� chambers and a B grade SB trap from 1930 that has 2 3/4� chambers. Whether Parker was only chambering trap guns longer or all guns I do not know. Hopefully someone with a later gun will chime in.

Hey Joe, not sure if you will get an answer, Parker custom chambered, my best guess would be around the 20�s 2 3/4 became standard.

I�m leaning more towards 1930 but just a guess.

No problem, Joe. As indicated above, Researcher is probably the guy most likely to know for sure. It's a mess to keep straight between all the American makers, because they didn't all switch to 2 3/4" as standard--and they didn't switch all their gauges (12-16-20) at the same time. The best I can do on Parker comes from a 1936 A&F catalog. They'd made the switch to 2 3/4" standard by that time on all 3 gauges.

As of 1934--according to an article in "Army Ordnance" that year--SAAMI had different service pressure standards for 2 5/8" 12's (9500 psi) and 2 3/4" 12's (10,500 psi). The current SAAMI 12ga standard is 11,500 psi--but I'm not sure when that was established.

There is a difference between sharply tapered and stepped forcing cones. The old guns shooting fiber wads had short, or sharply tapered forcing cones, to help seal when using fiber wads. I had a Parker 10ga that had a step at 2 5/8" in. There were no tapers. I believe it was for brass shells. For that reason I cut the shells at 2 5/8. All the rest of my shooting short chamber guns [ 12ga ] I never cut the shells, just shoot 2 3/4". Sherman Bell did do test with 2 1/2" chambers using 2 3/4" shells. Most of the time pressure went up around 500psi, and once around 900 or a 1000psi. I don't have that article right in front of me but will try to look it up. I have measured a couple of my SxS Remingtons and they all had 2 9/16 chambers. I hand load and keep pressures down around 7500, so shooting longer shells in short chambers has never bothered me. I just quite measuring chambers.

Bell's test of 2 3/4 in 2 1/2 chambers was done in the winter, 2001 DGJ.

"OLD" SAAMI specs for the 12 gauge 2 3/4" shell sho a max angle from the horizontal axis of 5� for the chamber cone. With standard chamber & bore sizes, this will give a cone length of about 0.400", or just over 3/8".

They also showed a minimum chamber length of 2.616" or a bit under 5/8".

You were "Very" wise to trim those shells for use in the early (I assume with that chambering it was early) Parker with a stepped chamber. It likely was made for the short 2 58" paper shells. Brass shells have thin walls & require oversized wads. A stepped chamber would be a decided disadvantage with them. NO shell should be fired which allows the end of the shell to lap into the bore itself upon the opening of the crimp.

Re Bell's "long shell in short chambers" tests, the average increase was 738 psi as a result of the longer hull. The greatest increase was 1,216 psi, and there were 3 others within a few psi one way or the other of 900. There were also a couple that showed an increase of less than 350 psi. Bell also pointed out that simply lengthening the forcing cone without lengthening the chamber would eliminate much of the increased pressure.

Assuming no forcing cone issue, and assuming you build in enough of a safety cushion by working up lower pressure reloads, you shouldn't have a problem shooting longer hulls in shorter chambers. I've done a lot of that personally and have never had an issue.

Short shells for short chambers can be loaded on a regular 2 3/4" loader using the Hartin crimp method. No adjustments to the reloader are necessary. I only own one 2 1/2" chambered 12, but have loaded Hartin crimped shells for it with no issues. I don't shoot it much anymore, and will likely be offering it for sale in the near future. I shoot low pressure 2 3/4" shells in my 2 5/8" chambered 16 Parker. No torn shell mouth issues yet.

My biggest need right now, for short shells, is for my 2 1/2" chambered 20 ga. Parker. It will likely get some Hartin crimped reloads, too.

SRH

I've shot low pressure 2 3/4" 20ga reloads in several Brit 20's with 2 1/2" chambers. Mostly 3/4 oz which I use for recreational skeet. No problems at all. I use mostly Rem Gun Club hulls. No problems with case mouth damage.