Help/Advice

Greg Sharp · 11-29-2009, 10:27 AM

Hello all. I'm new here and I can use some advice on what I can/should do with my Parker gun. It's a VH, 12ga, 2 frame with 30" barrels. According to the serial #149982, it was mfg'd in 1909. My ex bought it for me some years ago as a "project gun". Broken stock, Some rust, case colors worn and minor pitting in barrels close to the reciever. It is mechanically sound. I wish I had the ability to post pictures but I dont; I know that might help. I had a friend who "knew a guy" who did very good restoration work. He restocked it with xxx fancy walnut and hand checkered it, I definatly wasn't expecting that! I hadn't asked for it but he charged me the same as he quoted for the field grade wood. I know that that grade of wood is inapropriate for that grade of gun; does that hurt it's value? He re-did the case colors beautifully and parkerized the barrels. Here's the problem: after taking it hunting a few times with modestly high pressure handloads I noticed a slight bulging in the right barrel. I took it into see a very respected gunsmith, he told me that the barrels were "riddled", had thin spots, and couldn't be shot safely. Of course I went through the roof that "this guy" either couldn't or didn't tell me about this problem before I sunk the money into it.If I had known before hand I obviously would have had the choice of weather or not I wanted to incur the cost of re-barrling or send the "project" off to someone who was so inclined. I'm not really sure what I should do with it at this point. I'd like to hunt with it but I'm not inclined to absorb the cost of re-barreling it. Originally my plan was to have it as a shooter and when my son became old enough to pass it on to him. Unfortunatly I lost my son a couple of years ago and I'm sure that my daughters would have no interest in it. Are there people out there who would be interested in such a piece? It's way too pretty to just hang-up over the fireplace....it was made to be in the field. Any advice you could give me would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Greg