Early Single Barrel Trap

[Jack Purkis]

Yesterday I bought what is advertised to be, a very early Single Barrel Trap gun # 176245. It is also a 30 in barrel, which I believe makes it even more rare.
Assumed to be an SC model, records show S grade. Bought it from the OCA auction listed by Icollector.com.
I will post pictures as soon as I receive it.
:)

[Dave Suponski]

Congratulations Jack. We are awaiting your pictures. The ID and Serialization Book lists your gun as a C grade 12 gauge with 30" barrel and straight hand stock. Very nice.

[Jack Purkis]

Yea, I verifiedvthat before I bid, but I did not realize it was such an early one! Have not seen any earlier listed!

[Mike Franzen]

Congrats on a great find. I also have a 1st yr SBT about 200 serial numbers after yours

[Bill Murphy]

The Serialization Book lists three guns of lower serial numbers than yours. There could be more in missing records, but maybe not. What is OCA? Are you referring to OGCA?

[Jack Purkis]

OCA was my made up abreviation for Carol Watson's Orange Coast Auctions, sorry for the confusion.

[Mills Morrison]

Sounds like a great find for sure

[Mike Franzen]

Jack I believe (according to my math) you may have the earliest known SBT to exist. The Parker Pages lists 176798 as the current earliest known SBT. Send for a letter and ask if this can be verified. Could make the gun more valuable.

[Jack Purkis]

I finally have the gun! (vacation got in the way) and here are the Pics, (did the best I could, ask if I missed something)!:)

[Jack Purkis]

This is the first time I have tried to upload pictures and obviously I am not being successful! Help!!

[Jack Purkis]

2 @ at a time due to file size.

[Jack Purkis]

MORE BELOW

[Jack Purkis]

We are getting there!

[Jack Purkis]

:bigbye:

[Jack Purkis]

:shock:

[charlie cleveland]

mighty nice gun..i sure like the look of these guns...charlie

[Jack Purkis]

Thanks for hanging in there!

Feed back is appreciated!:)

[Jack Purkis]

Enjoy! :)

[Mike Franzen]

Is this the earliest known SBT?

[Mills Morrison]

Very nice one!

[Dean Romig]

Why aren't the barrels marked Acme Steel?....Dave?

I suspect it is because it is such an early SC.... possibly the first.

[Bill Murphy]

There are three singles earlier than yours in the Serialization Book, but there are many missing numbers in the 176,000 and 175,000 range that may include more single barrels. Your gun does not say Acme Steel because early singles did not have steel markings like the later ones. Your gun should have a T on the barrel flat, signifying that your barrel is made of Titanic Steel.

[Jack Purkis]

Meant to upload these also. Although a little out of focus you can clearly see the "T":)

[Mike Franzen]

I would send the info on this gun to Josh Loewensteiner. The "Parkers Found" listing in the Parker Pages lists the earliest known SC Parker as serial number 176798. Your gun precedes this by 553 serial numbers.

[Jack Purkis]

I will send it in, thanks for the reminder!

[George Davis]

I have a SBT papered by PGCA which was completed according to Stock Book No. 63 on May 17, 1917. The serial number is 177962 it is a SC 12 gauge with 32 inch barrels. So I'm wondering if Parker made a group of SBT and then waited for an order and pulled the gun with the dimensions requested by the customer. The serial number would make my gun 109 numbers after the above mentioned SBT yet completed earlier. This kind of stuff helps build the mystery of Parkers!

[Chuck Bishop]

Jack, very nice gun but I'm wondering why no checkered cheek panel? More pictures of the checkering to include the border may help determine if the stocks are original.

Scott, I looked up the Research Letter on your gun. The Stock Book does show 8 SC's made in a row starting with 177960 and ending with 177968 so they did make a run of SC's in May of 1917. It is also listed as a straight grip stock! The Order Book shows that the order for 177962 was placed on September 26, 1918 and shipped on October 26, 1918 to DuPont. The stock was a pistol grip Monte Carlo. My guess is that the gun was either sitting in the warehouse until it was ordered and at that time, they converted it to a pistol grip, or it was a demonstration gun that was returned at some time and Parker reconditioned it and put on the pistol grip stock, then sold it when an order for a SC with 32 inch barrels was placed.

[Bill Murphy]

The buttstock could be a replacement. The plain, uncheckered cheeks are a clue.

[Brian Dudley]

I was wondering about the stock myself. The checkering and the shape in some spots is suspect. But the butt seems to match the forend perfectly. Looks like the same piece of wood.

The sides of the barrels would not be roll stamped with the makers mark on these early guns. Instead, the vent rib was hand engraved with the makers mark like the vent rib doubles. I see the barrel flat has a "T" on it, but not in a circle. Maybe supposed to be Titanic??? Interesting that the engraved makers mark has no steel type listed.

Your gun has some of the interesting early features such as the firing pin access screw in the right side and the more sparse (nicer in my opinion) engraving. The later ones were covered with stippling in between the scroll and it really hides the case color.

If you stock is original, it has clearly been cut short, which is very common on these guns.

And the 30" length is pretty rare.

Nice find!

[Bill Murphy]

Yup, the early single traps had Titanic barrels.

[Errol Severe]

I have sbt # 177352. It has a 34" bbl. and it does have a T on the bbl. It also has the screw in the end of the forearm and a screw on the top right of the action just behind the bbl. I think this one was built in 1915.
bigedac

[Dean Romig]

Nope, it was built in 1917, according to the serial number.

[Bill Murphy]

Mike Franzen referred us to this old thread about early singles. My latest find is a high condition SC #176,128. The earliest in the Serialization Book is #176,127. I haven't checked to see what order books or stock books are missing around that period that could contain lower numbers. Strange that our members haven't reported more than a couple early numbers. #176,128 looks like it was rarely fired, is in very high condition. Bob Beach tells me it was sold on consignment in 1937 at Abercrombie and Fitch to a known shooter named Keithley. I have not found him in ATA average books, so he was probably not a competitive shooter. PGCA letter says it was originally shipped to Abercrombie and Fitch April 24, 1917. It was on an order of 25 single traps, all but one cancelled. #176,127, the earliest single known, was ordered by Orren R. Dickey on January 30, 1917. Orren Dickey and Abercrombie and Fitch were the highest volume dealers in graded Parker guns at the time. These two guns were in two different order books, #95 and #97. The serialization book does not include serial numbers from order books, so a close look at these two order books may uncover many more single barrels. Order books were used "two at a time", so #95 and #97 were probably in use during the 1917 period. Research continues.

[Mills Morrison]

The SBT auctioned by Rock Island yesterday has Griffin and Howe records available. Hopefully the new owner will check it out and report back to us

[Travis Newman]

I just looked at mine and is part of your group. Serial 177967

[Dave Noreen]

FWIW Parker Bros. SBT 185608 pictured in The Parker Story, pages 403 and 405 has the T on the barrel flats.

Do any of these early SBTs have the finger grooves on the sides of the forearms as shown in the early SBT ads?

[Bill Murphy]

Dave, I was going to mention that as part of my threads on early singles. I have never seen the finger groove forend and I've been looking for 50 years, since I bought my first single.

[John Davis]

"Do any of these early SBTs have the finger grooves on the sides of the forearms as shown in the early SBT ads?"

That's a great question. I've been looking at the Parker SBT's for about 48 years less than Bill, but I haven't run across one yet either.

[Dave Noreen]

From The American Shooter, April 7, 1917 --

89054

Maybe the mythical A.W. DuBray gun had the finger grooves.

[Bill Murphy]

That single with the finger grooves must be out there somewhere.

[Drew Hause]

Still using an ad illustration with the FE finger grooves in 1919
https://books.google.com/books?id=l3s7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA383&lpg

and without the grooves
https://books.google.com/books?id=F99JAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA568&lpg

[PAUL PLUNKETT III]

Dave I have been looking at Parker single barrel traps since the 1973 and have never come across one with the finger groove forend. I would be willing to bet there is one out there somewhere. The hunt continues. :)

[Bill Murphy]

Is there a single barrel in the DuBray list? I'm sure he got one of the first singles.

[Mills Morrison]

Where is the DuBray list?

[Bill Murphy]

The list has been posted on this forum several times. The list mentions the AA grade hammer pigeon gun. I just brought the inventory thread to the top, but I don't know what subforum it is in. OK, it is in the General Parker Discussions subforum.