Hello, I'm a new member from central Pennsylvania...
 

Hello my name is Thomas. And I have 4 Parker Bros 12GA SxS that I inherited from my father... While I'm pretty knowledgable about centerfire stuff and Smith and Wesson and Colt wheel guns in particular. I know almost nothing about shotguns... My Father was an avid Clay shooter and bird hunter in the late 1960's and on through the 1970's and early 80's... I know he loved these Parkers and I hope to learn about these guns.

Welcome aboard! Show us some Pictures and serial numbers, and we may be able to tell you a bit more about your family's treasures

Yes I intend to do exactly that. Probably in a day or two when I have a chance.

Thomas, Welcome to the Parker world! The forum is only part of our organization. We hope you will become a member for the price of $40 which gives you our quarterly Parker Pages magazine as well as entry into the members only section of the forum. Enjoy your Parker’s!

Welcome Tom, where in PA are you located? I'm in the NE corner.
Bob

Huntingdon PA. Just south of State College.

Hi Thomas ever have any relation in Ohio ?

Not that I know of. But I've always been told that all Meloy's are related... Name gets traced back to five brothers that emigrated to Philadelphia from northern Ireland about the year 1700 or so... LOL, you asked....

My Dad ran with and rode horses with a Tom Meloy his dad was Sid ( I think) just checking Looking forward to seeing your guns .

Yes and we are all named Thomas. Generation after generation of Meloy men all named Thomas! Its actually ridiculous... Oh and a large percentage of them are Doctors... Except for me...

Here is a teaser pic...

Here's the first gun. I call this on the "Blonde" gun for its color. Its lighter in color than the others. Serial # 109566.

It's not letting me upload the photos easily... And I slathered the gun in Ballistol. Maybe I shouldn't be doing that??? But it literally hasn't seen oil in 25 years..

Give me some comments guys. I need all the info I can get!

Gun number 2 is Serial # 73695. This Gun seems to have been reworked. It has a vent rib barrel on it. On the vent rib it has Simmons Gun Specialties Inc, Olathe Kansas..?? Gun seems to be a 12 GA converted to 28 GA. In fact the next two guns after this are Simmons guns also...

More pics of gun # 2..

Gun #1 is a VH grade gun that has been restocked, and the receiver has been blued, replacing the original case coloring.

Gun #2 is a puzzle to me. It looks like the original barrels were cut off and the barrels sleeved on (Note the line on the barrels in front of the chambers.) What is the inside diameter of the barrels? A picture of the muzzle end would be helpful

Gun # 2 muzzle...Looks 12 ga to me. This is some sort of 12 to 28 ga conversion. I don't know how well 28 ga shot would pattern coming out of 12 ga barrels though?! I don't know much about shotguns and even less about Parkers thought....

Gun # 3...This is Serial# 101548 (just says 101 on the trigger guard). It is the longer gun on the left in the original photo and has 30" barrels where the other 3 guns are 26" barrels. It is another Simmons gun and has the same sort of lines around the barrels up by the chambers. So another rebuilt gun obviously. This one is still all 12 ga though...

Gun #3 Pics.

Gun #3

Gun # 3.. The writing on the vented rib reads. Simmons Gun Specialties Inc. Olathe Kansas.

That gun appears to be sleeved also

Yeah so... Are they just rebuilt junk or what? Please explain.. what are they worth?? Can they be fired? Or is that not a good idea...???

Thomas,
welcome to the group, an interesting set of Parkers, obviously your Dad had a flare and knew what he liked. All of the guns have been altered, but that doesn't make them junk. I would suggest an in-hand inspection by a competent gun smith is in order, but Simmons was a well regarded gunsmith concern and I would expect the work to be sound. I am a bit east in Pa., in Hellertown.

Knowing my old man he found two old clunkers and sent them to Mr. Simmons to be saved. Judging by the fit and finish of the guns Mr. Simmons was a pretty awesome gun smith. The writing on the vented rib is literally tiny! Its actually impressive how small it is!

I think I saved the best for last on gun # 4. It is Serial # 111695. And Appears to be a single trigger, Damascus, skeet gun??

Gun # 4..

Gun #4..

Come on guys offer me some opinions... I really know nothing much about these. I haven't seen them in almost 20 years. Heres a little of the back story... My Father passed on May 3rd 2002. And I as a young man I had some run ins with the law and was on probation when he passed and for several years there after. So they ended up in my sisters possession. Which I am no longer having those sorts of problems obviously and I still legally am aloud to own fire arms, FYI. Anyway my sister called me up about a week ago and said her and her Husband are getting a divorce and I needed to get Dads guns out of their house as my BIL "highly Covets" them as she put it. And so here we are... Also I should add That I have no desire to sell these and I'm going to keep on loving them as he did...

#4 was built as a grade PT, meaning grade P (referring to the level of engraving) with Twist steel barrels, 30" long from the factory according to the serialization book. So if they are shorter, they have been cut, as is likely the case with the Skeet/Skeet designation. OR, if that is a Remington repair code, they could be factory added. It has been restocked and re case hardened with the barrels blued (browned originally) and the SST added, aftermarket. All would appear to be well done. As a frame of reference, an unaltered similiar gun in good condition would likely fall in the $700 to $1000 range. (a 30" PT grade gun)

An actual original Skeet Parker is a much rarer item, and would command significantly more.

The damascus/twist guns can be shot, recommended using low pressure loads (such as RST). Again an in-hand inspection by a competent gunsmith would be a good idea to check things like barrel wall thickness, chamber length. A good looking gun certainly worth having it checked out and with the finishes, and upgrades it really creates it's own draw as a unique shooter. There are surviving factory records for your gun, so it would be worth requesting a letter per the link on the home page.

Ok, well if they are "ruined" value wise because they have been reworked or "altered" to much for original then Just say that, I can handle it.... I do realize that when old guns are substantially altered from what they would have been originally it can substantially lower there "collector" value. I don't really care what there value is. I just want the honest skinny about them and what they are...

My very last post there I typed and posted before I read your post Kevin, FYI. Just sayin so we are on the same page. I am going a pay the 40 dollars here and become a full fledged member of the forums. I guess I'm going to have to do some studying about these old shotguns and get "schooled up" on them..

There is another old Damascus barreled External hammer shotgun down stairs too. When I said Damascus when referring to the last "skeet gun" and I was speaking of the fancy coloring af the receiver and so forth. Obviously Damascus is something else.. Dad also had Japanese made Charles Daly's and Winchester 101's that I have and old winchesters rifles of my grandfathers and Just all kinds of stuff. LOL I got my work cut out for me!

I guess the last thing is can anyone recommend a person or gun shop around central Pennsylvania to take these to the have them looked over? Maybe some one who specializes in these. I don't want to take them just anywhere. And I would really like to shot maybe one or all of them, at least a little, just to say I did it. But I want to know that they are good to go. I would hate to destroy one of them. Potentially those sleeved ones could maybe be iffy?!

Thomas:

The sleeved ones may be the soundest, but find out from a qualified professional. And, after having them examined and shooting them, as you say, “at least a little, just to say I did it”, you may find that breaking clay targets and seeking wild birds while carrying a gun is more fun than rifle and revolver shooting.

The $40 fee is for Membership in the Parker Gun Collectors Association, which organization is about appreciation of the guns, the people who made them; researching them and preserving pertinent records. The Forum is one component of the package, and there surely are very knowledgeable people in the Association frequenting it who are fully-qualified to provide insights.

A few years back, like you, I knew very little about the four Parker guns that were my father’s. I revered the guns, as they were daily material reminders as to the kind of person my father was, but at that time I exclusively shot Remington 1100s. Those semi-autos I had bought to “learn” on, intending some day to “graduate” to the Parkers. (Today I usually shoot the vintage guns, but remain an undergraduate.)

In fact, when I joined by sending in my $40, I had no expectation of participating in much of anything. I had contacted a couple of people who happened to be members so as to learn some basics of manipulating the old guns. And, without the gratuitous advice from such members as Dean Romig and John Dunkel, I probably would have done some damage to those Parkers just trying to figure them out on my own. So, my principle reason for sending in the $40 was to support in some small way the Association because of the help I had received. Since then the benefits to me have exceeded anything I could have anticipated.

And, do tell us about your dog. He looks eager.

Thomas - Should you decide to get research letters on your guns, the head historian who writes those letters lives in Central PA. You may be neighbors

The Dag is Emma. 85 lb. 2 year old German Sheppard. Well she may be 90 lbs. now. She's Big, Muscular & FAST. I never expected her to get quite as big as she has. I know she has startled a few of the neighbors from time to time. Barks at anything and everything that comes near the property. Patrols the perimeter of the property every few hours. Likes play frizbee and beat up on Franklin the fat little chocolate lab from down the street... Bull in a china closet probably describes her best.

Thank you for sharing photos of your Parkers.

Each and every one of the guns have been heavily altered from their original conditions. All of the beavertail forends are non-original. The guns would have originally been splinter guns. One looks like it could have the original buttstock. The others are aftermarket replacements and are not Parker correct.
3 of the guns have had all their metalwork incorrectly blued and the other has had cyanide case coloring done which is one step closer, but still not correct.
The vent ribs on the couple guns are aftermarket and one of the barrel sets is sleeved, and not done all that cleanly.

Essentially the guns have more value as family heirlooms for you, but unfortunately carry very little value on the open market to anyone else.

Got my parkers back from the gun smith. He gave all a clean bill of health. He Spoke with a Parker collector about the guns and thinks the guns that where re-barreled where done at the Parker factory.

Rebarreled maybe but the ones that were sleeved were not done by Parker or Remington. Sleeving was an aftermarket proposition.

Regarding shootability.... your Dad shot them all and probably didn’t pay a lot of attention to the loads he was shooting and if he loaded his own, just loaded to the standard trap and skeet loads of the day. I’m sure they haven’t sustained any ‘damage’ from sitting unused all these years since your Dad stopped shooting them.

What a nice legacy he left you.





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