Fishtail toplevers on Hammerless Parkers
 

Let's try something fun. Like a lot of us, I am a fan of fishtail toplevers and really like them on hammerless Parkers.

Let's do a survey of fishtails on HAMMERLESS Parkers. They appeared on Parker hammerguns a lot longer, but there appears to be a period in the early 1890's where they appeared on hammerless guns.

I have sn 65759 which is a GH hammerless and does NOT have a fishtail

Sn 66,223 does have a fishtail toplever

I have several serial numbers up to 71811 which DOES have a fishtail. All hammerless Parkers I own within this range have fishtails.

Sn 74014 does NOT have a fishtail.


I would like to know if those of you who have hammerless fishtail Parkers have ones that are before 66223 or after 71811. I think I have seen some in the 72,000 range, but do not remember exactly

Further, does anyone have any regular toplevers that fall within this serial number range.

Privacy will be respected. Feel free to pm me. I am hoping to learn more and share the findings in a Parker Pages article soon.

Thanks!

I think that based on previous discussions here, the latest reported fishtail lever was around 1905 or so.

Ive got an 1892 GH 12 with a fishtail but I also have several 10's from 1889 that DO NOT have a fishtail . Matter of fact I've got several pre 1885 hammer guns that do not have fish tail levers also .

I have 67337 with a fishtail lever manuf. 1891
Love them by the way.

I remember that one, but besides it, every Parker I see in the sn range above has a fishtail toplever and every one I see outside of that sn range has the regular straight toplever.

Yes, none of the really early hammerless Parkers I have seen have the fishtail and the earlier toplever hammer guns do not either.

The fishtails seem to appear on hammerless Parkers around 66,000

And as discussed on previous occasions, it is believed that the fishtail or “serpentine” top lever were used on hammerless guns simply to use up old stock. They were designed for hammer guns in order to provide enough clearance to allow opening the gun with the right hammer fully cocked. This again begs the question, “why would the superior design of the Underlifter action be discarded and the Top Action design be adopted in its place?”

Further, after the introduction of the fishtail lever, not all Parker hammer guns were fitted with it.... and after it started being fitted to hammerless guns, a comparative few had it.



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Trying to get some better data.

Both my Parker hammerless FT's fall within your slot.

Thanks for the responses. I am trying to gather some hard empirical data to back up (or disprove) what has been speculation and loose data up until now.