doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Parker Made Widgeon Club Guns.....

The double gun manufacturers were not the only ones making long-chambered 20-gauge guns prior to WW-I. The J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. made their No. 200 20-gauge pump gun designed for 3-inch shells.

Destry, That 3-inch 16-gauge shell is mighty scarce! The only one I've seen is the one pictured on page 159 of Stadt's book on Winchester shotguns and shells.

Several years ago while traveling in Charlotte, NC, I met a gentlemen in a gunshop there and we struck up a conversation over the 20-bore DHE he had just purchased. To make a long story shorter, he eventually invited me to his home where I spent hours looking at his interesting "stuff'; a lot of which had been inherited from his grandfather. One of those inherited items was a high-conditioned BHE Parker 20-bore with two sets of factory 3" chambered 30" barrels (both with their own forearms). He said this gun was purchased new by his grandfather in the 1920's; and that one of the Parker salesmen had come to his home to close the sale and take the order (also on hand was a letter from the PGCA authenticating originality). I wonder how many 3" 20-bore 2-barrel set BHE's there are out there?
The same guy also had a 16-bore EE LeFever his grandfather had purchased new, with a later set of 20-bore non-ejector barrels (with forearm) factory fitted and numbered to the gun (the only such LeFever two guage set I've seen). The owner also had the original wooden break-down box (with original brown paper wrappings still inside) in which the gun was shipped from the factory and delivered by rail; but the really interesting thing about that gun concerned the later fitted barrels. For some reason his grandfather had sent the gun to Parker with a request that they fit a set of new barrels to the gun. The owner produced an old Parker letter showing that Parker had returned the gun thanking his grandfather for the request, explaining that they could certainly do the work; but, since they did not have tooling on hand to fabricate a set of Lefever barrels, thought the cost of adding such tooling might make the cost of his request prohibitive. Parker then suggested that he send the gun with his request to LeFever, and gave him the address; which he did and ultimately recieved the second set of barrels. I can't say for sure, but suspect the gun was set to Ithaca on that second trip; where a set of barrels was fitted from what remained from their Lefever inventroy, although no documentation remains for an accurate determination. At any rate, a most unusual, neat, and desireable LeFever small bore.

Eightbore is right a lot of Parker 3 inch 20 ga's went to the west coast. in 1915 170xxx went to a prominate shooter in Oregon. Acording to PGCA letter the DHE grade gun had two sets of barrels 32 Inch F&F, 28 Inch F&M both sets of barrels having 2 and 7/8 inch chamber's. Gun was built on O frame and weighed 6 Lbs.

I have a 1917 DHE 20 with 32" barrels that letters for 2 3/4" chambers that came from CA. My "letter" says it was ordered by the Cline and Cline Company. Anyone know anything about Cline and Cline?????
Bob Jurewicz

I'm mighty proud of that 3 inch 16 gauge shell I can assure you. I never thought I'd have one, it's one of the jewels in my paper shell collection.

I've got all the gauges that I know of in American made paper (all factory loaded) except 11 ga. Never even heard of one being in a collection but they supposedly made them.

I lack some oddball lengths, I need 2 inch and 2 1/2 inch 12 gauge, and 2 1/2 inch 28 gauge for sure. Probably some others, but those I know for certain.


Destry

Well we have wandered a long ways from the original question about the Widgeon Duck Club magazine article. I googled and the best I found was a picture that said it was the Widgeon Duck Club near Delano on a California Waterfowlers web site.

If my 1903 UMC ammo catalogue is to be believed you could get your paper cased 16-gauge shells loaded up in the regular 2 9/16 inch case, a 2 3/4 inch case, a 2 7/8 inch case or a 3-inch case. Their 16-gauge brass shells were only offered 2 1/2 inches in length. I've only found one early 3-inch 20-gauge shell and it is a red Remington-UMC Arrow case stamped HAND LOADED on the side with a orange and black VL&D NEW YORK over shot wad. Shell seenh here with my 2-frame GH-grade 12- and 20-gauge gun --

That's a dandy shell!

I've got a couple long 3 inch 20 gauge myself.

The best is the one I mentioned to you in PM, black paper US cartridge case with a Selby overshot card that's longer than any of the Super X 3 inch 20 gauges I've ever seen.

Destry

I have one of the Widgeon 20 ga 32" guns (Serial # 159078) and I also belong to the Widgeon Duck Club in Delano, CA. Feel free to contact me if you need any additional information on the club or gun. Thanks, Rich Neff rich@rhneffproperties.com (559) 733-8900

Welcome to the site. I'm sure you're going to get lots of questions.

Wow! Dredging up a nearly five year old thread. Welcome to the site, Richard. I'm sure many folks here and at the Parker Gun Collectors Association, http://parkerguns.org/ would love to here more about your Parker and see some pictures.

Well, I've added a lot of long 20-gauge shells to my collection since this thread started --







So far Peters is the only company I've found to offer thier progressive burning powder loads in longer cases --



From the 1927 Peters Cartridge Co. catalogue --



The table of Widgeon Duck Club Parker Bros. 20-gauge guns on page 677 of The Parker Story doesn't include serial number 159078? Those listed are 159075, 159076, 159077, 159090, 159092 and 159093 all ordered on April 22, 1912; and 163961 and 163962 ordered May 22, 1913. Well worn number 159093 is pictured on page 680.