Bill, that's a 1915 or 1916 gun. "All" Parkers produced after 1910 had the modified bolt and bolt plate. Even guns sent back to Parker for repairs and service had it replaced as a N/C upgrade but I would suspect yours had the modified bolt and plate from the start.





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So, is it fair to say 1917 would be the last of the Parkers and 1932 the last of Stevens and LC Smiths?

According to the information/records we have on Parkers I would say yes regarding the latest Parker hammer guns.





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Jeffrey, go to page 2 in hammer guns and you will see photos and the letter on the gun, Gary

The top lever and spring setup of the hammer gun would remain unchanged.

I found this link a closed listing of a late LC Smith:
https://www.gunsinternational.com/gu...n_id=101066716
I think it's actually 1929 based on the serial number and barrel stampings.

LC Smith did build hammer guns pretty late. And So did Ithaca. They offered hammer guns well into the Flues era.

Recently I did some work on a friends Ithaca Flues hammer gun in 10g. that was made in 1914.

It was kind of a surprise to me hammer guns were made so late, I always pictured them being done by 1900 or so. For one reason or another, I like guns made late in production and have few last year hammerless guns on hand. I think late Parker, LC Smith or Ithaca hammer guns will be harder to find.

Yes Jeffrey, they will be much harder to find. Since the hammerless guns were first produced they were coming more and more into demand. There were the old hold-outs who “would never own one of them things” for various reasons but we all know how sportsmen just have to have the newest and latest, e.g. plastic stocked camo from one end to the other capable of digesting 3 1/2” magnum loads with screw-in choke tubes. So the hammer guns were doomed to extinction from about 1890 and as the years went on fewer and fewer hammer guns were produced. A fluid steel barreled Parker hammer gun is a rarity for certain. You can look in the Grades charts in “The Parker Story” for totals but there weren’t many.

Beginning on page 20 of the current issue of “Parker Pages” we read about Wayne Owens’ remarkeble Grade 4 twenty-gauge hammer gun. Talk about a rarity... :eek:





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I think one candidate for the last Parker hammer gun might be 208332.
It is a 12ga., Grade 3, fluid steel barreled hammer gun, probably made in 1924.