Harry Stone
02-01-2010, 03:10 PM
I have inherited this poor old Parker. You can see some pictures here:
http://www.harrystone.net/parker/
I'm not much of a shotgun guy but this is really a shame how this gun wasn't taken care of. It's a 12 gauge and very plain, no engraving except the usual Parker marks. It has plain damascus barrels and is marked "plain twist" and the barrels are 30" long.
Both the stock and forend are split, probably just from drying out with age. The buttstock is so dry that it has shrunk a bit around the action. It's also broken at the wrist as you can see in the pictures. The finish is almost completely gone at the buttplate.
It locks up pretty loose, with a little side-to-side wobble when closed. I can slip a thin piece of paper between the barrels and the face of the action when it's closed. With a little wiggle I can hold the paper in place. I don't have any feeler gauges or I'd give a measurement of the gap. One firing pin seems to have a broken return spring although the firing pin isn't seized up. The extractor doesn't work but I haven't tried to pull it out to see if its seized up.
I assume it has no collector value because of the condition, but I wouldn't want to sell it anyway. The bore is pitted up pretty bad, is there any way it could still be shot, with blackpowder shells? I'm not interested in sleeving it because of the cost. The serial number is 113XX. I'd appreciate any estimates on the age of the gun.
I'd consider replacement barrels if it wasn't ungodly expensive, but I assume it is. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks for the help!
http://www.harrystone.net/parker/
I'm not much of a shotgun guy but this is really a shame how this gun wasn't taken care of. It's a 12 gauge and very plain, no engraving except the usual Parker marks. It has plain damascus barrels and is marked "plain twist" and the barrels are 30" long.
Both the stock and forend are split, probably just from drying out with age. The buttstock is so dry that it has shrunk a bit around the action. It's also broken at the wrist as you can see in the pictures. The finish is almost completely gone at the buttplate.
It locks up pretty loose, with a little side-to-side wobble when closed. I can slip a thin piece of paper between the barrels and the face of the action when it's closed. With a little wiggle I can hold the paper in place. I don't have any feeler gauges or I'd give a measurement of the gap. One firing pin seems to have a broken return spring although the firing pin isn't seized up. The extractor doesn't work but I haven't tried to pull it out to see if its seized up.
I assume it has no collector value because of the condition, but I wouldn't want to sell it anyway. The bore is pitted up pretty bad, is there any way it could still be shot, with blackpowder shells? I'm not interested in sleeving it because of the cost. The serial number is 113XX. I'd appreciate any estimates on the age of the gun.
I'd consider replacement barrels if it wasn't ungodly expensive, but I assume it is. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks for the help!