Parker Hale Dragon prototype(?)

Topic starter 17/10/2023 16:00:50

The owner says:

Whereas the .22 Sporter model has the 650mm tubed action and the .177 Field Target version has the 700mm tubed action with the 50mm longer barrel to suit, this particular one has a 675mm tubed action with a shorter .22 length barrel in an unmarked breech block, all other breech blocks are stamped up "Parker Hale Dragon" along with "Made in England" on the earlier Dragons and have an additional "MKII" stamp on the later versions.

The barrel support has been modified to accommodate the barrel to suit and along with the action is not blued as per production models but painted black.

Now benefiting from a complete reseal and rebuild it is producing a healthy 12ftlb from its single stroke workings...

Strange that they had the shorter barrel in the unmarked breech and not one 25mm longer to suit this action length, possibly all part of the trials to arrive at what length tubes and barrels were to be finally required be put into production and to keep within the power output legislation as a 25mm longer barrel on this one would put it over. Maybe a longer barrel was trialed at some stage and then a decision made to use a shorter barrel and tube to keep within legislation, who knows.

The Cocking Mechanism oal on this is same length as the .22 Sporter at 540mm and finishes 25mm short of being flush with the rear action whereas the mechanisms finish flush with rear of actions on both the Sporter and the FT.

Having a 25mm longer compression stroke than the sporter it produces 12ftlb in .22 where the Sporter generally runs around 11ftlb and the .177 FT runs at around 10.5ftlb.