Does Anyone Know Why Parker 39135 Is Special?
 

Here are some pictures of this special Grade-1 T/A hammer gun with Laminated Steel barrels.

It is the only Parker ever made (that we know of) with this unique feature.

The answer will come later this evening.


.

Is there a clue in the pictures?

I hope not.... I didn't mean to give it away so soon.


Just double checked - there's nothing in the pictures that would reveal it.





.

Only thing I can figure is that they are Bernard bbls.

Nope Jim, they really are Laminated Steel.




.

Something to do with barrel length or gauge is my hunch

I see a couple of unusual things. The barrel material not stamped on the top rib? The grade numeral 1 stamped above the serial number on the watertable?

We’re the tubes supplied by the owner to Parker for use on the ordered gun? It looks like in the next to last picture that the bottom rib is short of the end and the extractor rod area is is milled out

Nope - none of the above.





.

Both of the items Dave brings up are definitely odd but not the reason for it being 1 of 1.





.

That was Legh Higgins' gun - A PH 16 with owner supplied Laminated Steel barrels.





.

Parker made barrels?

No Brian, those barrels are later than the Parker made barrels.





.

:corn:

Wait for it... at 7:00 PM I'll reveal it.

Nobody could have known without being familiar with the gun.





.

Key latch forearm?

7 PM CT?

Oops... sorry I'm late, I was cooking.

So, Parker 39135 is unique because it is the only known Parker Bros. shotgun to have an experimental butt safety installed.

When mounted the safety button in the butt is depressed and a spring-loaded steel rod running forward through the stock and grip to actuate a detent that interrupts the sears. It is really quite simple and seems to work perfectly every time.
This gun had been placed at the Meriden Historical Society on display with several other Parker guns about 14 or 15 years ago but were pulled out when the decision was made by the BOD to liquidate some of the items in the PGCA Collection... which was getting a bit too dispersed and out of control.

In any case, along with several other PGCA guns, and those that were donated by Austin Hogan to the PGCA, they came to me to be returned to a more central PGCA location. They left my possession years ago but not before I disassembled this gun to see how it worked and photograph it.

Here are the pictures I took.


.

That is very cool. And I would never have guessed that.

No John, Deeley style.


.

That must be where John Browning got the idea for the grip safety on the 1911
;-)

You learn something new every day. Thanks Dean

I have handled and shouldered the gun. It is interesting for sure. The safety works perfectly.

Are there any records to support that it is factory installed?

I don't know Brian... perhaps where it is a PGCA gun Chuck can look into that.





.

Thanks Dean. What Brian asked.

Nothing in the records to indicate that the work was done by Parker.

The only other guys I can think of who were involved in putting some of the PGCA guns on display in the Meriden Historical Society's headquarters are Dave Suponski and Larry Frey but I know Dave took a very keen interest in that one so he may be able to shine a light on it being factory work or not.

I just reached out to Dave but it's late and he works in the morning.





.

I communicated with Dave this morning. He believes it was an aftermarket endeavor and he thinks he might have patent information on it. He told me he would check his files but it will take some time.





.

xxx

very unique I would never guess this item I believe its the first one I ever saw....charlie

Its the extra reinforcement on the receiver ahead of the balls,

Yes Ed, the very first picture shows the redesigned radiused angle plus the beads.





.

So if you set that gun on the ground you were taking it out of safe mode? I would doubt Parker made it that way. More likely a trap shooter’s modification.

Not if the hammers were not cocked

Theoretically Mike, I sort of agree with the first part of your statement but if you leaned it against something like a tree or something vertical the heel of the butt would be on the ground but the gun would be inclined away from the thickest part of the safety button which would necessarily be fully depressed in order to push the detent away from the sears.

Your second sentence I think was made in jest. :corn:





.

Great post Dean! That would make a nice little article for The Parker Pages! :)
That would surely negate having to carry that gun cocked and open while hunting or closed with hammers down.

Dave Suponski got back to me last evening after he had gone through all his files to find the patent information he thought he might have.
While he found information on other types of butt safties he found nothing on thus particular type.





.

Factory or not, it looks like whoever did it had serious expertise

In W.W. Greener's book "The Gun" he describes the butt safety bolt as having been used with muzzle-loaders, hammer guns, and hammerless guns. There is a diagram of one on page 207. He said it was of little use as a safety on muzzle-loaders since they were loaded while the butt was on the ground. He wrote that in 1879 he introduced a modification to adapt it to hammerless guns. With Greener if it possible to patent it he probably would have. He also mentions that there have been several patents for similar safety bolts, both in England and abroad.
The only patent mention I've know of that might apply is the 2 October 1883 George Henry Needham registered patent No. 4693 for a revolving chamber for drop-down guns and a butt plate safety mechanism. I don't know if it is for this type of butt safety, but it seems the basic design was known and used before 1883.

Just read that book over the winter. I have to pull it out and go to that page and reread it. I don't remember that safety being in his book. THX!