Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Murphy
Ron, have we seen pictures of your H&R A Grade? They are wonderful guns and we don't see enough of them.
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Bill -- this thread (
http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthr...ton+Richardson) is about the gun that belonged to my great great grandfather. I also wrote an article about that gun for DGJ which I believe Daniel and Joanna will be publishing in the next issue (Vol 31, Issue 4).
In addition to that one I bought 2 more. A 12 and a 10 gauge. Since these guns are not marked (non were) as to the grade you have to go by the amount of engraving and checkering & quality of the walnut. My great grandfather's is without doubt an A grade. I think the 10 gauge is too but it lacks some of the artistry, especially on the fences. It does however have very similar checkering. The 12 doesn't have either but it does have the fancy Damascus which only the A and B grades had. So I'm thinking the 10 gauge is an A grade, the 12 gauge a B grade, and my great grand father's an extra fancy A grade. The DGJ article has a ton of information about that gun and my theory about where it came from.
These are a few snap shots of the 10 & 12 (the 10 gauge has the straight grip) -- these two guns are consecutively serial numbered. Compare them to the gun pictured in the thread and you will see the difference in the grades.
The other interesting thing about two 12 gauge guns is that they both have the more open choke in the left barrel and the right one is tight. The 10 gauge is choked the "normal" way -- right barrel open , left barrel tight. There is a lot more we don't know about these guns than do know.