So two examples (RE67023 and RE79933) that are Ideal ejector, 3", 32" bbl, reinforced lug, and not stamped Long Range, but are LR in the ledger. And my gun in between that is identical, but not LR in the ledger, yet in the serial number range that Dr. Jim indicated contained a large portion of the LR's. My barrels are with Dan Rossiter right now having a dent removed and being refreshed or I would weigh them and compare them to Patriot's. I did, however, measure the widest part of the breech balls on all of my Regular frame 12's and they were between 2.364 and 2.388". Are anyone's LR barrels significantly wider at the breech indicating heavier chamber walls? Ironically, my 3" gun was the most narrow and a Specialty in Trap configuration, REBV, 30" BBL was the widest - go figure. So it would not seem, in my examples, that the chamber walls on any of my guns are materially different.
Even though I've gone through lots of old threads on this issue where many comparisons were done that have yielded nothing, I have to believe that there is some difference considering that the guns are intermixed. After reaming the chambers and applying the 3" stamp to the barrel flats, wouldn't the next logical task be to apply the LR/WF stamp, as well? It sure seems like they would have had to intentionally decide NOT to do that in some cases. In other words, 3" + reinforcement was not the definition of LR/WF. So what else was it?
Or are we just putting too much thought into it? Maybe they were just more casual about this option? Was it possible that more than one person kept the ledger? One knew that 3" chambers plus reinforced barrel = LR and one didn't - whether it got the LR stamp, or not? (even though we know some later LR/WF guns were 2 3/4") There are lots of details about each gun that, I assume, would have been on an order card that isn't in the ledger (e.g. special stock dimensions, pistol grip/straight grip, chokes, sights, recoil pads). Could it be that the chambering and reinforcement sometimes resulted in the LR stamp and ledger entry and sometimes it didn't? Assuming the gun was not stamped LR, for whatever reason (maybe it was Friday afternoon and the tooling for the LR stamp was broken a lot), all of the other options were obvious to an inspector or bookkeeper by simply looking at the gun on a rack... Regular frame? Check. One trigger? Check. Ejectors? I see the pin in the forend iron. Check. No LR stamp on the lug? REO goes in the ledger even though it's a 3" gun. Even if he broke the action open, he couldn't tell without removing the barrels. Then again, we already have two guns here that disprove that theory (no stamps, but LR in the ledger)
It stinks that the ledgerkeeper(s) aren't around anymore. If we asked him, the answer might be, "Yeah, sometimes I just forgot about recording that one if I didn't see the stamp." Problem solved.
Apologies for the lengthy entry - I'm rambling and still at a loss. Time for bed.