Parker Gun Collectors Association Forums - Restoration of a BHE Trap

Here are some photos of a 12g. BHE trap that I just finished up a long restoration on.

The gun is a 32" BHE made in 1930. It features a Beavertail forend, Vent Rib and was fitted with a Parker Single Trigger which was later replaced with a Miller.

The owner of the gun purchased it in complete and operating condition. However, the barrels had been refinished at one time, the frame had been polished/buffed incorrectly which softened a lot of the engraving and the metal was cyanide colored. The forend wood was original, but had some damage to it at the bottom of the latch and the buttstock was a later replacement by either Meriden or maybe Remington. And then the butt had been refinished at an even later time with something that did nothing for the color or figure of the wood.

The original plan was just to restore the engraving and case colors and bring the wood back to proper and correct condition. However, the owner did not care for the lack of figure in the butt of the gun. I knew that I could bring out the existing figure a lot by using the right finishing techniques, but something exceptional is what was desired for the gun. So, as with most things, the work scope grew into a complete restoration of metal (except barrels) and totally new wood.

The new wood was made to match the original wood that was on the gun. The only exception being the addition of some cast-off at the owners request.

An interesting note is that the checkering on the gun is far above the typical B grade pattern. It is more typical of a AA and features some carving work on the forend in the corners of the pattern as well as on the top side of the wrist. The forend was in fact original to 1930, and I have seen at least one other B grade BTFE with that same pattern on it. The buttstock being a later restock left me scratching my head as to if the pattern was original and correct for the gun. I decided to stick with the same pattern for three reasons. One: there was a photo of One other gun in Ed Muderlak's Old Reliable that was a B grade with a similar checkering pattern. Two: I just assumed that when the stock was replaced, that the original checkering pattern was replicated on the replacement. And Three: it was just plain nice.

Due to stock replacement and refinishing in the past, the original 10k gold oval in the stock was way too thin to move over to the new wood, so a new one was made from fresh 10k gold and inletted into the new stock in the process.

The metal work was straightened out as best as possible given the previous poor prep work. The old Single trigger markings on the trigger plate were welded up. The Miller stampings in the tang for the trigger selector was crude, as usual, so they were welded up and engraved letters (R,S,L) were cut in at time of recut. All metal repair and prep was done by myself. The engraving restoration was done by Geoffroy Gournet and is discussed in more detail in this thread. http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=24429

All screws were replaced with new ones by myself.

The frame and related parts were case colored by Turnbull. The guard and small parts were nitro blued by myself. The trigger was nickel plated by Reliable.

Enjoy some photos. There are a few that show the new wood next to what was on the gun.

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