1887 Parker 12 ga

[Dillon Harris]

I recently found a parker 12 gauge double hammer gun at my grandmothers house. Im not new in the gun world but with antique shotguns i am. The serial number is 51574 but when trying to follow directions on the Parker site in identifying the grade the gun has no marking above the serial number. The barrel weight marking is a 3 with 15 raised above it. I also cannot find the right barrel type, it says Stubb Twist on the gun but not on the parker website? Can anyone give me anymore information about the gun? or where i could go to find out? i will try to post pics later. Thanks for any information given.

[Kurt Densmore]

The serialization look-up is a little tricky if your computer doesn't allow pop ups...........I checked it for you and there is information for a letter. The Serial number is not in the Serialization book. Stub Twist is the type of damascus steel the bbls are made out of. Stub twist is usually made with scrap horse shoe nails called stub and were made in England, not Belgium like many of the other composite bbls. It was most commonly used on early guns of the lifter type. You should be able to see the spiral stripes in the metal. Stub twist bbls were first used in 1874 and the last known gun was 1907. Quantity of stub twist guns made is not known.

Kurt

[Dean Romig]

Stub Twist barrels were ususlly on Grade 0 and possibly Grade 1 as well, but not likely. Grade 2 guns of your serial number range used Damascus Steel barrels exclusively. All of these barrels which were made by twisting alternating bands or iron and steel or different grades of steel are referred to as 'composite barrels'. The broad term 'damascus barrels' is a misnomer as Damascus Steel is of a specific design and method of manufacture.