Scratching the "itis" again
 

TARNATION !!!!!!!

Google can find some interesting stuff. I enter Parker and various descriptorrs and usually end up at the well known on-line sites. I enountered this on a site I had never seen before - a small seller of various guns/knives/parts/accessories etc This was listed as "good for parts". After a brief email exchange I decided to bring it home and see what I had found. The price suggested the seller was giving an accurate assessment but the pictures looked nice. :) 1886 by the SN

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/cpg1...34_%281%29.JPG
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/cpg1...34_%282%29.JPG
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/cpg1...34_%283%29.JPG
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/cpg1...34_%285%29.JPG

Yup Jack, might be a good parts gun.

Jack,How is your VH rescue project coming?

Could that be an 8 gauge? Barrels look BIG! Now wouldn't that be a great find?

Harry

Missed mail delivery today and have a notice to pick it up tomorrow. Will verify gauge (represented as 12) Maybe someone can quickly determine from SN 48957. The "second chance" gun is still in parts. I expect to get the re-blued barrels from the gun smith this week. My time of late has been given to my wife and that trans-atlantic cruise and now to wild pheasants. VH 104355 has rendered a good account of itself in the field (i.e. when I actually place the pattern in the general vicinity of the bird, then Charlie gets to retrieve). It also harvested (on second shot) my personal best rooster in 41 years of the hunt [36 bars/22" tail with 5/8" razor sharp spurs). My shell/bird ratio is still not great on my return to the sxs view. I do better with the old 870 and the SKB auto but I will keep working on it. I used to have a good ratio with the family VH but it had longer barrels. Mind you, I'm now sporting tri-focals so not really sure what the problem is but I will persevere:)
Cheers,
Jack

48957 in the book as Grade 0, Plain Twist, Top Lever, No Extras, Capped PG, 10 ga, 30".

Thanks Carl: The pictures appear to agree with the book. Interesting that it may be a 10ga. If it becomes shootable, I may have to chase honkers again. Any 10ga enthusiasts ever use them for pheasant??
Cheers,
Jack

Jack,

Your "new" 10 gauge looks a little off the face. If that is the case you may be able to tighten it uo with some brass sheeting (it comes in a package of several thicknesses at the hardware store for about $5.00). Cut a piece off the width of your hinge pin and curl it around a pencil. Clip it on the hing pin and yourParker is back on face. Most of my "ten footers" (the Parker looks good from ten feet) sport the shim to help put them back int shooting order..

Harry

Jack. I have used my 1886 toplever for pheasants using Shermans load #79 with 1oz - 1-1/4oz of lead shot. Just put in extra undershot cards for the lighter loads. It's a bitch to carry for a day but you sure don't stop your swing with it and it powdered some pheasants that day. I got to watch Trigg shoot a 10ga for the first time that day and he dusted one also. I think that if I ever found a nice light 10 I'd use it for all my pheasant hunting. Unfortunately, it's hard to beat Murphy to any light 10 that comes up for sale. There's one in Alaska now but the bbls are wayyyy too thin and corroded and the way too high price is inflexible or I'd own it. The one I saw at the Novi Mich show this past weekend would do quite nicely were it in better condition.

Harrys shim idea works well. I have a bunch of .0025" shim material that's very springy and tough that I use or you can buy a cheap set of feeler guages and cut up the blade of the proper thickness.

Thanks Richard. Well, this one won't be chasing much for some time to come, if ever. I don't know enough about the twist barrels but here is what I found on opening the package. (The seller was up front on the whole thing, so no surprises and for 95$ I wasn't expecting a whole lot) The barrels have been cut to 28". Lots of rust pitting on the outside but not that bad in the bores. The rib has been re-soldered in a a very sloppy fashion. The left barrel has a ring of weld. Don't know if that even makes it a candidate for the guys who know how to repair/restore such barrels.

It is 10ga. It has a DHBP with spur but it is broken across the base and the bottom of it has been drilled and screwed to hold in place.

The action is very loose in all directions.

The forend wobbles quite noticeably

The head of the buttstock is broken in a few places but worse, somewhere along the line I think someone may have used a draw knife to remove wood for whatever reason to the point the spur of the buttplate rides more than 1/4" above the wood.

Now all that said, it is an intact gun (except the last two inches of barrel length).

If the barrels can be made serviceable, it may be fun to play with the rest. If not, well it was sold as "good for parts" an idea that I don't lean toward, given that it is "all there". That may be heart over mind.

What are the thoughts of those who have re-furbished one of these?

Cheers,
Jack