Lifter 20 ga.
 

Hello Everyone, I Just wanted to share a few pictures of my recent acquisition. Gun letters, with one exception, barrels are now 26". I'm very excited to own this little grouse gun. After receiving some great advice from fellow members, I have decided to make this gun the centerpiece of my small collection. I Will have the Plain Twist barrels refinished and the wood repaired and refinished, then its off to northern Wisconsin for some Ruffed Grouse hunmting. Please feel free to ask questions and of course add any input. Special thanks to Bruce, Jeff, Garth, Charlie, Mike, Randy, Gary, Jim, and Doc. You all provided great knowledge and insight. Thank you of course to my brother Matt... the driving force of my passion.

I'm sure that gun will be a pleasure to carry and shoot. I envy you, and wish you good shooting!

Very nice! That is a centerpiece for sure

I hunt grouse and woodcock with a 16 just like that but with 24” barrels cut back from 28”.

It is delightfully deadly.





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Dean, Congrats on your new acquisition, what does the little gun weigh? cannot see it on the letter, Gary

Gary, originally it weighed 6lbs 13oz. I don't have a scale but with 4" missing off the barrels , I would guess 6 1/2 now. Per request "muzzles" extra heavy... and they are indeed stout. Dean

Congrats Deano on a nice Parker:bowdown: I hope to see it in Medford.

Cut barrels aren't so bad, if you want a Parker to hunt upland game.

I'd be on the look our for another set of barrels.

Rich, unless I get a call from Bachelder's to pick up some guns, it will be in Medford. The cut barrels are minor to me, considering it's one of about 15 lifter 20's ever made. I believe it will be a great grouse gun.

I'm 90 min from Batchelders so if you go let me know. Are they doing some work to it?

I am having the barrels refinished and stock and forend repaired and refinished.

Dean, I know you will be pleasantly surprised when you see the result. Your chances of finding any other Parker hammer 20ga were slim. I look forward to seeing the gun again.

Way to go Dean. A great gun and an awesome letter. According to TPS there was only 1 Grade 0 20ga lifter made with 30" Plain Twist barrels and you own it. Your gun is going to really shine after you get it back from Bachelder. Congratulations!

Dean, That little gun is sure a keeper, and it will do well for what you intend, maybe some day I will see it, can't wait! please post photos of Batchelders repairs, I am sure you will be satisfied. Gary

Dean glad to see you got it figured out. I too look forward to seeing it when finished.

Dean, great gun and the W. S. Perry provenance is a plus. Bill Murphy must have some how missed this thread.

Dean, How is your little 20 coming along at Bachelders? Can't wait to see finished photos, gary

As John Davis suggested, I did miss the W.S. Perry connection. My W.S. Perry C Grade ten gauge pigeon gun was built in 1885 or 1887, as I recall. In 1885, Perry was a Parker Brothers company shooter who apparently paid little for his Parkers. By 1890, Parker Brothers wanted their shooters to use hammerless guns, and my C grade hammer gun was retired in near new condition. I have no idea where it lived until I bought it.

Hello Gary, unfortunately I have been unable to take the gun to Bachelders yet. Waiting on some work to be finished on guns I have there currently and would like to pick up and drop off at the same time. I will say, some PGCA members and a few other folks have handled the gun. There input and comments keep increasing my pride as the caretaker of this 20. Looking forward to the day you are able to see it, hopefully in person.

We need to make that happen, 20 gauge hammer guns are really rare, you are fortunate to own one! Gary

While it wasnt a Parkers , I went into a class 3 dealers shop about a week ago .
He had a Bakers 20 gauge hammer gun with 30" barrels . I know next to nothing about Bakers or 20 gauges but he was asking 999$ . The gun locked up tight like a vault . He also had a Thomas Baker I think it was that was a 20 ga hammer gun with 30" barrels for the same price but was off the face . Both had damascus barrels . First time ive ever held a small gauge hammer gun felt really good in the hands though .

I assume the Baker was not an American gun.

From what I read they were made in NY .
I know some of the guys on another site like the Baker black beauty which was a 16 ga sxs they made . Wasnt Baker owned by LC Smith or was that a different Baker ? It was a neat 20 gauge felt very long on such a small frame with those 30" barrels . Not sure if it was worth 999$ im not a 20 gauge shooter . Ive only shot 3 different 20 gauges a Remington spartan 20 , a Benelli nova 20 and a Purdey 20 ga . If I wasnt saving for a Parker id might buy it .
All the 20 gauge hammer sxs ive seen for sale are alot more than that Baker .
At first I thought it was a 28 gauge but I dont think the 28 gauge was around that far back ? probably 1880s-1890s.

Baker was an American company. A friend of mine has several hammerless guns of varying quality in grades. They were well made but not on the same level as Parker or Fox.
20ga hammer guns are indeed special. I have a Boss thumb break with 30 inch barrels thats fun to shoot. It's tightly choked and I'd like to find another one thats more open.

My statement was based on the fact that a 30" 20 gauge hammer gun is more likely to be an English Baker than an American one. We would like to see pictures of this smallbore.

I could might get some this weekend , its in a gunshop about 50 miles from here . They mostly sell modern guns but they have a little rack with pre 1899 guns and some ww1 surplus rifles . I never looked into 20 ga hammer guns before I just assumed that they were common .

Theyll probably sit in that store forever , most people around here prefer o/u's and if they did buy a sxs theyd probably get a Stoeger . We have alot of quail hunting down here but not by locals . Seems most people who live down here use their shotguns for waterfowling and the most popular gun for that at least in my area is the Benellis .


They had two of them 20 gauge hammer guns 30" barrels , but one was off the face but the Baker seemed rock solid . What chamber length was 20 gauge guns back then ?

These little 20 ga hammer guns were almost as long as the Italian Vetterli rifle they were sitting beside . The damascus pattern was still pretty visible on the barrels as well .

Baker Gun and Forging Co. never offered a 20ga. gun. H.D. Folsom who bought out Baker in 1919 offered a 20ga. hammerless gun of inferior quality. I'm sure your Baker hammer gun is English. Geoffrey Boothroyd's book Shotguns and Gunsmiths may provide additional info.

There are at least 2 Baker gun makers in the UK -- F. P. Baker, and F. T. Baker. I have a nice F. P. Baker gun. I'm sure there are more since there is a Baker patent not associated with these two makers as I recall...but, hey, I'm old and don't always recall correctly.

In any event, a nice, well made English 20 hammer gun should take a bird or two.

I had planned to go last weekend to take some pictures of it but I had forgotten we was having a baby shower for my little nephew whos due any day now .

Perhaps soon I can go and get some pictures . One of the Baker guns had a dolls head and the other was a bar style . Very different looking guns , the one of interest had what I think is called stars and stripes damascus ? Though American and English doubles both used that pattern .

Yeah, you get in trouble for missing that stuff

Especially when its the first grand child out of the 3 of us brothers lol .


I might be able to get up there this weekend to get some pictures of it .
If I had known 20 ga hammer guns weren't that common I would have taken some at the time .