first post

[john c wolf]

my only aunt contacted me a couple of weeks ago, she's 85, to tell me she had my great grandfather's gun, would i be interested? letters and phone calls and emails later, it arrived at our home yesterday.

i am not a collector, i hunted a lot-western pa bunny rabbits, squirrels and grouse, till my early 20's, my son's and grandaughters and i have worked our way through countless bricks of .22's, boxes of clay birds and .410 shells, but my gun knowledge is limited to cleaning and oiling.

but i am a history nut, western pa, allegheny city and pittsburgh, civil war through 1910- i love the science and technology of the period. anyhow, my wife has a sinus infection and woke up around 3 in the morning, to find me sitting at the desk looking at this gun through a magnifying glass...it is unbelievable, according to the website, serial #7913 is 134 years old. it does not have a millimeter of wiggle anywhere, and it is my only link to the era i have loved and studied for 40 years

kind of gushy for this site, but i'm knocked out by the thing. one of the faq's said i can dry fire it..can I ? (I did that with my dad's model 94 once and got a broken firing pin and a boot in the ass for my efforts)

if the stock is shellac, then every last bit has flaked off, does it look like an oil finish? can i wax it?

the barrels have a light brown patina, damscus swirls are visible up close, there was another faq that mentioned formby's tung oil varnish, is that correct? over the brown?

the stock is cracked all the way through, but the crack doesn't widen no matter how the gun is held...can i leave that alone?

what about the trigger gaurd, the plates on the side. the metal pieces fitted so tightly to the stock, can i do anything other than give them a thin oiling to make them pop out

can't load these pics on the site, so here they are on photo bucket http://s1119.photobucket.com/albums/k629/docw11/First%20Post%20October%202/, if you'd like more info, tell me what and how

thanks

john

[Chuck Bishop]

John,

Welcome to the Parker Forum and congratulations, you've inherited a beautiful old Parker Grade 2, 12ga, with 30" damascus barrels.

I would not touch the receiver other than rub it down with oil. The screws look pristine although I can't see the screw on the underside of the receiver.

Here is what I'd do if it were mine. Get the stock repaired by a good stockmaker and have it refinished in shellac and oil.

I'd also get the barrels checked out and refinished. This assumes that the barrels are in good physical condition other than the dent I see in the picture and that the wall thickness is good. If you do these things, you'd have one beautiful Parker.

I would not dry fire this hammergun, but you can fire it with snap caps.

[Robin Lewis]

Hi John,

Great lifter you have there!!!!

I wouldn't do much to the gun, its a nice one. The stock can be repaired and if done correctly you will need to know where to look to find the fix. I have used a great gunsmith for this kind of work and its magic to see results like that. Unfortunitly, he isn't doing much work now but I have seen, on this site, that others have had good results from http://www.stockfixrs.com and I hope one of them comments here for you.

One picture of the barrels seems to show a dent at the muzzle end, is it or is it the picture? In any case, if there is a dent it can be fixed too. The usual cost to fix the stock and the barrels isn't cheap BUT its not real expensive either. Well worth the money especially is the barrels aren't pitted and can be shot. Lifter action Parkers are a joy to use, I like Lifters better than top action and wonder why they changed. Its very natural to use.

Great Parker, but I warn you that others that have made posts similar to yours have been infected with Parker mania and it may happen to you too ....... but it is fun.

I agree, don't dry fire it. The hammerless Parkers were the ones advertised that could be dry fired.

[john c wolf]

that is a dent, and it can be seen by looking through the barrel as well. just monkeying around on the photo bucket site, and you can zoom in beyond 100%, if you do, you can see that there is some dark pitting near the breech end, but under a glass it doesn't look bad

this thing closes so tightly and surely! i looked at the faqs, found something about removing the stock and i don't want to try it. any recommendations on who could do the stock work, barrels and give me an idea as to shoot/don't shoot?

never had a drug addiction, but i'm already scheming ways to pay for refinishing these barrels... any help as to a range i might pay?

john

[Robin Lewis]

John,

For the stock work, follow the link I posted above. They don't list prices but explain how you can get one. Give them a call and I also hope someone on this forum, with experience using them, can speak up and give you their experience. I would be interested in hearing it too.

I have seen work done by several barrel men, namely Brad Batcheler, Dale Edmounds and Kirk Merrindton. They all seem to be well regarded and I'm sure any one of them can do the work you require.

[Chuck Bishop]

I didn't have much luck with stockfixer's when they repaired my Parker stock. Some of it may have been my fault because I didn't send them the receiver, just the wood. When I got it back, there was alot of final fitting required to get a decent fit. Perhaps if I sent the receiver, the fit would have been better. Plus I had to wait about 1 year, they were backlogged.

I think I would recommend Brad Bachelder in Michigan. Click on the link. I've never had him do any work for me but if you search this forum, you can see examples of his work which looks excellent. I'd have him restore the barrels and repair and refinish the stock. Please don't attempt to take the stock off, let someone professional do the job for you.

http://www.bacheldermastergunmakers.com/Bachelder_Master_Gunmakers/Welcome.html

[Jay Gardner]

Beautiful piece of wood on the back of that lifter. Congrads!

JDG

[Mark Landskov]

Welcome aboard, John. That is a nice looking gun you have. Has the barrel lug been re-brazed? I just had Brad Bachelder restore a set of Plain Twist barrels for me and they turned out great! He does excellent work. Cheers!

[Harry Collins]

John,

I like Brad Bachelder's work. He just fitted a set of Parker Damascus barrels to a receiver I had as well as refinish the Damascus. His work was excelent and the turn around was several months. It is my understanding that his stock work is wonderful too. Here is a picture. I should not post it as the light is bad.

Kindest, Harry

[calvin humburg]

Harry,
Doing anything to the frame? ch

[Harry Collins]

Calvin,

The receiver was from the Parker VH that I gave to Sherman Bell to use in one of his "Finding Out for Myself" articals in Double Gun Journal. He blew the barrels up to see if they were as strong as Damascus. The Vulcan and Damascus barrels blew at about 31,400 psi so I think everyone called it a draw. When what was left of the gun was returned the stock was broken and Sherman sent a note "you have to break eggs if you want an omulet". The gun is off to the stockers and I am having it done as a straight stock with checkered butt. The receiver was worn white and I had put a light coat of blue on it years ago. I am not sure what I may do to it. I have too much money in the gun as it is so I think I will take it back to bare metal. The damascus barrels came from my late Uncle Bill and I had the receiver so I just did it.

Harry