I'll confine my inquiry to a Parker 12 gauge Grade PH size 1&1/2 frame 28 inch Parker Steel Barrels-- the barrel pre-struck weight is marked 4 (upper case number followed by a 5--could this mean that the 2 tubes, and the top and bottom ribs and the wedges and solder/flux should weight 4 lbs. and 5 oz. on a USPS digital scale. Next week I may just go visit my buddy Jeff at our Post Office and as him to weigh them for me--Naturally, I will just take the barrels in a case- NOT the assembled gun-- thanks RWTF

You really are bored, aren't you? What does "WR" stand for anyway?

Why don't you just buy a scale? They're cheap and you'll find you use it more than you might have thought.
https://www.oldwillknottscales.com/my-weigh-ultraship35.html

JR

Bored? Strange reply. Who pissed in your Post Toasties this mornin' anyway. My late Granddad taught me to try to learn a new thing each day of my life- So I wondered how something so marked could actually weigh somewhat less in hand, that's all. Read the stamping without my reading glasses, I guess. WK-- Walter King. RWTF

I believe that is the weight of the unstruck barrels.

Agreed. That is certainly the case with other makes, such as Fox. I am more familiar with the process used at Fox, than Parker, but would expect it to be similar. Oftentimes a set of Fox barrels will have very faint numbers. This is an indication that the tubes were struck off in varying degrees/amounts, sometimes in order to make the final weight of the gun equal to what was requested on the order card, or the range that a stock order gun was expected to fill. Sometimes the numbers are completely struck off and cannot be seen at all.

Rough tubes were evidently weighed, then marked in categories of weight. Ideally, when a barrel maker chose a set of tubes to build a gun to fill an order he would view the marks then choose the appropriate barrel that could be finished enough to yield a fine looking finish, with sufficient strength, but not have to spend days striking off excess steel to get to what he wanted.