A little bit of an update to the topic of high quality reproductions of Parker grip caps.
As most may know, Parker made 3 different variations of grip caps over the years. 1: The "early style" which has a checkered center that was used on all hammer guns and on hammerless guns up until about 1905 (give or take). 2: The "late style" which is shown in this thread with the Parker Bros. name on it. These were used on all guns after 1905 or so (with the exception of later small bore guns that used style 3). And 3: The small sized late style cap which is of the same design as the Parker Bros. marked cap, but much smaller in size. I do not have a definitive date for when these were started to be used, but I believe it was around when the 00 frame 28g. guns were introduced. These caps were used on those guns as well as later production 20g. guns. Basically if it had an 0 sized buttplate on it, it also had the small grip cap.
I was certainly fortunate to be able to locate a new old stock cap of the large late style and have it reproduced. It left me wishing that a solution just as nice for the early style cap could present itself. Yes, the current reproductions are decent, but not nearly as nice as that NOS cap was with the wide square flange and the crisp details. All of the correct reproductions of the early cap still exhibit some wear to the edges and some flattening of the checkering. Again, since they are molded from used originals.
I started comparing the old and new style caps to each other and I found that the new style cap was a little bit taller than the old style, AND that the inner oval on the new style cap was the same size as the checkered portion of the old style cap.
So... I decided to take the time and rework one of the reproduced new style caps and make it into a master to pull a mod from for the old style cap.
I very carefully worked down the lettering and the area around the oval until it was at a comparable height with an original cap. This surface was then smoothed out using varying grits of paper up to 1200g and then finishing with 0000 steel wool. What was left of the oval was then knocked down flat in preparation for checkering. I measured an original cap at around 30 lines per inch. So, I figured that using a 32 line per inch cutter was acceptable. The center oval was checkered and fully pointed up which leaves a detail that nearly no no original cap will still retain. (checkering is not just for wood)
If I had found that the cap was not taller (allowing me to just remove material), I would have had to fill the center with epoxy in order to give me material to work with. I am glad I didn't have to go that route.
Now, I have a master to have a mold made from that is comparable to New Old Stock condition. So, these high quality old style caps will soon be available.
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