March
S M T W T F S
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online Now
8 members (Jimmy W, ksauers1, mel5141, fallschirmjaeger, 2 invisible), 809 guests, and 5 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums10
Topics38,376
Posts544,025
Members14,391
Most Online1,258
Mar 29th, 2024
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
Sidelock
OP Offline
Sidelock

Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
I know we obsess on here and other vintage sites about being extra careful with these old guns as well we should. In particular with regards to using 2-1/2” RST shells in the vintage Parker’s, Foxes and such. What did people do with these guns the 60-70 years before RST existed? I’m guessing they were hunted with regular 2-3/4” off the shelf shells with no issue.

My father in law did that all through the 50s- 70s hunting and shooting a lot of pheasants with his grandfather’s 1889 Parker GH 12 gauge. Even with Damascus barrels he never gave it a second thought and never had a problem.

Now with the low availability of shotgun shells, components and RST shells, I’m tempted to use 2-3/4” shells, and have to confess that I have this season, used them in my 1924 Parker VH. It has the original 2-5/8” chambers but with lengthened forcing cones. It has shot well with low recoil and probably killed 60-70 ducks and 20 pheasants.

Right now I’m looking at a 1928 16 gauge Sterlingworth with original chambers, but I’m worried about the availability of 2-1/2” 16 gauge shells. I have tons of 2-3/4” on hand.

Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 369
Likes: 2
Sidelock
*
Offline
Sidelock
*

Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 369
Likes: 2
For what it's worth, I've fired about 1000 reloads using 2.75" AA hulls (about 2.68" actual measurement) out of my 2.5" chambered 12 gauge. I load them light pressure anyways


NRA Patron Life Member
1 member likes this: Glacierjohn
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,711
Likes: 730
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,711
Likes: 730
If you load the 2 3/4” hulls to about the same pressure the gun was designed for, you’ll be fine. There is much hand wringing over the length of the cartridge, but, little focus on the pressure they make.

Best,
Ted

1 member likes this: Glacierjohn
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
Sidelock
OP Offline
Sidelock

Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
I usually shoot 1-1/8 or 1-1/4oz loads

Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
Sidelock
OP Offline
Sidelock

Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
Lead or bismuth

Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,711
Likes: 730
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,711
Likes: 730
Neither of the facts you posted relate anything about actual pressure. If you are using off the shelf ammunition, realize you are using stuff that is designed to help dirty autoloading guns run, and the stuff is by no means low pressure.


Best,
Ted

2 members like this: JNW, Glacierjohn
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
Sidelock
OP Offline
Sidelock

Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 104
Likes: 7
I figured, but not as much a the old magnum 2-2/4” loads I used in my wingmaster. My Parker is 6#-15oz, original hard buttplate and it barely kicks.

I just looked at the boxes, they don’t list pressure, but do velocity; 1165 and 1235 in the other box.

Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 137
Likes: 24
Sidelock
*
Offline
Sidelock
*

Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 137
Likes: 24
The consensus on the PGCA website seems to be that Parker cut its chambers 1/8 in shorter than the expected shell length, feeling that the overlap into the cone sealed the shot charge better. Thus, 2 5/8 in chambers were for 2 3/4 in shells. That said, I shoot 2 3/4 shells at 1165 in my 2 9/16 inch 16 gauges without incident. If the barrels are sound, and the chambers original, you should be OK.

1 member likes this: Glacierjohn
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,398
Likes: 307
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,398
Likes: 307
This might be helpful, and includes a summary of Bell's study
http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=34360&page=2

I would emphasize again that we have NO pressure data regarding 16g and 20g long shells in short chambers, and that, esp. 20g, run higher pressures than 12g. IMHO using longer than chamber shells in a lightweight 20g is not wise.
And BTW, in the past when lots of shells were available, it was not hard to find 16g loads that (of course after being fired) were shorter than the nominal 2 3/4"; esp. Fiocchi.

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,693
Likes: 450
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 7,693
Likes: 450
Most of the concern about low pressure is to protect the wood as much as the metal. Period shells were loaded to much lower pressure and lower velocity than current shells. These 1300-1500 fps shells put unwanted stress on both stock and action. If you load correct pressure and velocity shells the shell length is not super critical. You do get a slight increase shooting longer shells in shorter chambers but it has been estimated to be under a thousand psi which good condition guns can handle.

Page 1 of 3 1 2 3

Link Copied to Clipboard

doublegunshop.com home | Welcome | Sponsors & Advertisers | DoubleGun Rack | Doublegun Book Rack

Order or request info | Other Useful Information

Updated every minute of everyday!


Copyright (c) 1993 - 2024 doublegunshop.com. All rights reserved. doublegunshop.com - Bloomfield, NY 14469. USA These materials are provided by doublegunshop.com as a service to its customers and may be used for informational purposes only. doublegunshop.com assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in these materials. THESE MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-ABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. doublegunshop.com further does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these materials. doublegunshop.com shall not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result from the use of these materials. doublegunshop.com may make changes to these materials, or to the products described therein, at any time without notice. doublegunshop.com makes no commitment to update the information contained herein. This is a public un-moderated forum participate at your own risk.

Note: The posting of Copyrighted material on this forum is prohibited without prior written consent of the Copyright holder. For specifics on Copyright Law and restrictions refer to: http://www.copyright.gov/laws/ - doublegunshop.com will not monitor nor will they be held liable for copyright violations presented on the BBS which is an open and un-moderated public forum.

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.0.33-0+deb9u11+hw1 Page Time: 0.086s Queries: 40 (0.060s) Memory: 0.8496 MB (Peak: 1.8988 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2024-03-29 15:08:28 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS