doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - 1910 Flues Grade 2 Waterfowl 2 7/8 (3 inch)

This thread will be multi-faceted, so bear with me on these subjects.

Ithaca shotgun subject gun is a Grade 2 1910 Flues with 2 7/8 inch chambers -excellent condition -90% case color remaining..

In the mid-1920s, AH Fox and LC Smith (Hunter Arms) responded to
John Olin's development of Super X 2 3/4 and 3 inch shells by offering the HE Super Fox and Smith Long Range waterfowl 3 inch guns. Later the Fox Sterlingworth Waterfowl with HE grade barrels.
Parker Bros. also offered early their 2 7/8 inch chambering in all their grades. (Parker's research for their shotguns recommended 2 7/8 in chambers to best handle progressive powder in 3 in shells.)
A recent thread in the Ithaca Owners site was very conservative in recommended loadings for the fluid steel Krupp barrels in another 1910 2 7/8 in chambered Flues shotgun.
I do not fully accept this. Only 14 years between this Ithaca gun and the emergence of the Smith and Fox heavy 3 in waterfowl guns. Since both Parker and Ithaca made the guns for (2 7/8 in) 3inch shells, one would think they could handle at least lead shot in the 3 in shells of the the 1920s. Maybe even the Winchester lead shot high brass 3 in shells of the 70s-80s-and 90s. NOT a steady diet of them, but occasional turkey or goose hunts.

Sherman Bell-Double Gun Journal- did amazing experiments with damascus twist steel barrels and progressive smokeless-so why not Krupp steel barrels in an Ithaca?
Open for reasoned logical comment.

Just a reminder,

Pressure is not the issue with Flues model, fluid steel, Ithaca’s.

It is recoil.

Stay away from heavy loads.

Stan:

Remember the sleeved DH 10 GA that John Allen had for sale a bit ago in the PGCA site?
I almost bought it...

Remember the turkey hunting ex-GBI agent & the Boss shells...? Ridge


If all else fails-
move to Alaska....

Agreed on the weight.
Rather than this Ithaca, I had previously chosen the
Parker"Super 12"-rare as they were by Parker Bros.
This Parker graces the cover of the Winter 2021 issue of P Pages.

I have original 1939 Dealer/Jobber catalogs from Remington-Parker.
In their catalogs, R-Parker state that they will chamber to any
12 gauge chambering , including 3 inch, for Grades GH and above, at no additional charge.
I also think they offered that for VH grade guns, though not stated, also at no extra charge-which translates to all graded Parkers.
It seems that graded 3 in-2 7/8 in Remington-Parkers are just about as rare as the guns built by Parker Bros. A puzzlement
answered by the Depression, new Federal waterfowl game laws, and the droughts in Canada during the 1930s.

I find a lot questionable in RIA's description of that Magnum-12 NID. Doing local control off the barrels, assuming they are 30-inch as stated, it looks to me like a full 14-inch length-of-pull. Likewise, I doubt a magnum-frame NID could be as light as 7 pounds 14 ounces. From the Magnum-12s I've handled I would think that 7 should be an 8. Here are the double gun specs from 1940s era Ithaca Gun Co. catalogs --