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Unread 03-16-2020, 04:21 PM   #4
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Bill Murphy
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Brian, it is great to hear you ask a question. You are so full of knowledge and usually have the "answer". OK, here goes. The 20 gauge Parker single, five of them, are all made on 12 gauge frames with massive chamber walls. I have actually found a 12 gauge barrel for my favorite 20 gauge single. The serial number is very close and it needs just a bit of fitting and a thicker bolt plate. The situation that exists is that the period where singles were made, there are a bunch of missing stock books, and a few order books. Order books were discontinued shortly after the single trap was introduced. There may be more than five of them out there, but I don't know who could have them. I know of three, one owned by a collector friend, and the other two are missing, I think. The missing may be more than two. One of the twenties has an extra 12 gauge barrel fitted to it, factory original. Some twenties could have scrapped barrels and been fitted with twelve gauge barrels years ago. Colonel Cutts seems to have had a twenty gauge single made to test his compensator, which wouldn't make most Parker collectors happy. Thanks for being interested in these great rare guns. By the way, I have been chasing my 34" 20 for decades, made a great friend who outbid me the first time the gun "came out". I had provided him with the provenance information, and he bid accordingly. Dick Baldwin gave me a letter from an early owner of the gun that provided that provenance. We shared many stories and dinners at the Southern, until he became ill and let the gun go to auction, again, where I was able to maintain my composure and outbid the competition. A couple of decades chasing this gun would provide a story similar to the story of the CH "Charleston Gun", a story I told on this forum.
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