New Parker
 

Thanjs for accepting my invitation to the group. I'm an avid hunter and somewhat of a collector by default. I am the sole hunter/gun lover in the family who has benefited from 4 sets of Grandfather's who also hunted. Side note- I have all sorts of interstimg firearms as a result.

My most recent acquisition, and very luckily I might add, is a Parker shotgun. My Father in law passed earlier this year and my mother in law sold the home. We got a call 2 days ago from the new resident of the home that they had found a "secret" closet in the home and there were some guns in it. They thought we should have them. Thank goodness for honest people.

They had been sitting in old gun cases, probably for the last 50 years, so the condition isn't great. I've cleaned them up and begun my research on the Parker specifically. It has initials in the trigger guard followed by a #1. I knew his family owned one however we thought they were lost. They were the original and only owner.

So my next question... Is is worth it to have the gun refurbished. My guess is it needs a great cleaning and the rust taken off the barrel? Basically there is rust everywhere however that looks like the only problem. The end of the barrel is a mess as you'll see however the bore looks nice

Thanks for your time and opinions in advance. Kyle

Specifics:
Made in 1922
Grade GH
Special steel
And I believe it is a GHE
12 gauge

Amy advice on the gun and input is greatly appreciated.

And sorry for the typos. I did this on an iPhone.

I would have the gun cleaned up inside and out and the barrels re blued. Needs to be done by one of the smiths on this forum. And yes it will be worth the cost. Nice gun.

You're very lucky that honest people bought the house.

The gun looks to have most of its original case color, though somewhat darkened.
The rust should be removed only by use of Frontier Pads and Hoppe's. Don't use any other abrasives or polish as they will remove the case color. It can be easily saved and if you're at all handy you can probably do it yourself. Just go slow and ask questions here whenever you feel you don't have the answers.

Welcome!




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Sweet GHE.

I would leave this gun just the way it is.

I echo what Dean said. Be patient and take your time applying Hoppes only on the metal and a Frontier pad to remove the grime and light rust. Do not get the oil on the wood.

See what happens with the Hoppes and Frontier does with the barrels near the muzzle. If the top of the barrels look fine as well as the rest of the barrels, I wouldn't reblue.

The toe of the buttplate looks like it is chipped. There are gunsmiths who can repair that so you can keep your original plate.

Have the barrels been cut? No sign of a hole for the front sight. If you provide us the serial number of the gun, folks here may be able to look up the gun's original configuration.

Enjoy your new gun

I think that is the bottom rib John unless you see a different picture

Oops. My bad

Kyle can we have a pic of the top muzzle end of the barrels?

Thanks
 

Thank you all for your input. Very helpful.

I'm going to go over the barrels with the Hoppes and frontier pads and see what happens. I'll repost some pics to show how clean I was able to get them. I've done this a few times on badly rusted guns however they didn't hold the value this one does which makes a little more pucker factor.

Good eye on the but plate. It is slightly chipped as well as the wood. I'll add a closer pic of this and I will inquire with one of the Smiths on this site.

That is the bottom of the rib. Top pic added. I don't think he barrel was cut.

I intend on ordering the letter.

Next question, and hopefully not a dumb question, do you guys hunt with your Parkers? I fully intend too because in my opinion that's why they were made. My upland gun is a Belgium made over/under Browning. Am I making a mistake with this thought process- shooting the gun?

Thanks again