My embarising pre clean photos
 

Going to need some help on this one.. Newbie here, but a avid collector of WWI and WWII guns.
I got this gun at auction
Serial Number 3357x
The lookup says that it is 1883
There is a 3 on the barrels which Im told indicates its a 10 ga
Im not sure of the grade
The "water plate" (?) has a T in a circle and then a large number 5 with 14 that is underlined
Its in really rough shape.

Can anyone assist me by suggesting the best ways to get this gun restored.
Is it worth...
I will be reading

Thanks

A few more photos of "ole dirty"
 

A couple more photos of this gun

Last of the photos
 

Thank you for you help everyone

If this gun was in my hands, I would put it in a box and ship it to Brad Bachelder for up close analysis. Others can recommend others.

It could be a real beauty with the right few things done.

Thanks I will look for him
I am in Florida
I took this gun to my local gun store, and even though they have a great amount of experience, this gun is more than they know how to handle.
They called a local person that I suppose is probably on this forum, but I dont know yet. So far He has not called me
I want this gun restored, but in my area its hard to find a contact.
I have looked at this gun, and even with the amount of experience I have with the WW! and ii stuff, this is far beyond me

You have a 10 gauge, grade 0 top action with plain twist 32 inch barres. It is built on a #3 size frame.

I agree with George, a gunsmith could turn this into a nice gun if the barrels are not heavily pitted.

You can do some work yourself but be gentle, no sandpaper or steel wool. Get the light rust off and the old dried oil crud and it will look much better fast.

See the FAQ's link and the Parker Identification links off our parkerguns.org main page (left side). The forum thread http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8033 would be of interest too.

BUT, DO NOT OVER DO IT. Just clean it without taking away patina or send it off to someone like Brad.

Enjoy!

David:
What you must first understand is that you will spend much more money/time/effort on this gun than it will ever be worth. In plain language, you will take a bath.

That said, any attempts at cleaning or "restoration" should be preceded by a complete disassembly and inspection by a competent double gun gunsmith. Chances are the stock of this gun is in very bad shape and may not be salvageable. But be prepared to pay for such an inspection. Then be prepared for financial heartbreak.

However... there is a certain sense of salvation in bringing a beater back to life. So go what your heart - and wallet - take you.

Sorry to be so deflating, but it's better that you understand the truth now... rather than later.

Best, Kensal

That is great advise.
At this time I only have about 300 into the gun so I am doing what I can.
I remember my first enfield 303. Didnt know a thing, but now its old hat and simple work
Ive already challanged barrels.
Bottles of hoppes, rem oil and p scotch brite scrub pads for the bore and I must admit its looking very good.
Ive done everything I can to protect the patina, and avoid any scratches.
Its obvious the gun was an everyday shooter to someone, and 130 years of grime is hard to remove.
Ill post photos of the barrels in the AM they look so much better

Im going to next tackle the disasembly of the stock.
Any diagrams that anyone knows of would be helpful.
Ive seen a few, but looking for the best I can find.

I think most of what needs to be done I can do myself, but I wont know until I get into the trigger and hammers.

Thanks everyone Its nice to see some support here

d

David,

You look like you have a nice start for a restoration. Sure they can always be better, but they can certainly be worse. I have seen $300 buy a lot less than what you have there.

The first couple of things to assess on any of these guns is as follows...

Is the lockup tight and on face?
How are the bores?
Are the ribs solid?
Is evertyhing functional (locks holding and triggers working)?

Answers to these questions will help you in determining work that might need to be done and also if it is maybe too far gone to realistically put back together.

Your forend looks whipped for sure.

If you look in my albums you will find dissassembly instructions with photos for a Parker Hammer gun. They are for a lifter, but the general process remains the same. That is IF you want t try your hand at it yourself.

Will make a nice wall hanger
 

Ive been pretty deep into the gun now. Im adding alot of photos for the next person to see.
It will never be a true beauty thats for sure, but it will look good hanging over the fireplace here.
As a relic it has some value I would think.

Getting into the stock of the gun I was amazed how the trigger was actually burried deep into the wood.
Even though this is a low grade gun for a parker, the workmanship was good, and it is apparant that this gun was hand made by someone. You can even see some of the chisel marks in the stock where the hardware was fitted.

Ive got this as good as I can get it here with just the simple things.
Ive saved the patina, cleanned off all the years of gunk and amazing enough everything is in good working order.

The hammers lock, the triggers are tight, the firing pins move freely. One of the hammers has a very small bit of wobble from side to side, but it does not affect its action and the strike is dead on.

Both bores have wear, but the pitting is minimal, What I have though is some hanging material that is stuck inside of the bores. When I oil the bores they lay flat, but as it dries they return. I dont want to use any heavy abraisive things on them, I did the chore boy, but only lightly.
Any ideas on what these could be and how to remove them would help

After getting off the dirt I found I had the wrong serial number it is actually 39756 which makes it one year later (1884)

Sometime ago someone carved their initials into the stock "JFH" as you can see in the photos, just makes me wonder who was the previous owner.
I was told that this gun came from Iowa but I cannot verify that. I got it at an auction.

Ive been shooting for some time. ive fired some real unique items, I would have some reservations, but I think that this gun could now be fired. Using a low grain shell of course and only in a very controlled enviornment in case it fails. I just may try that in the near future, at this point why not.

Im not sure what I am going to do with this gun now, I may post it up for sale as a relic on the gunlist, but I want to spend a bit more quality time getting familiar with it...

Anyway here are some more photos....