bottom feeding

[Brent Francis]

I thought Id try to post a few pictures of the GH damascus I got off of gunbroker last week. Some of you may have seen the no reserve listing. The seller was a pawn shop in Colorodo and they had listed it as a Parker SS. no grade. They had four pictures one that showed the whole gun at a distance, couldnt see much but the checkering patern. One that showed that the wrist was cracked and one out of focus shot of the muzzel (couldnt see anything) and one was a close up of the barrels that showed the parker brothers label on the barrels. Anyway I took a chance and got it with a bid under 500. I figured I could use it for Parts. Anyway It came Monday. I was suprised, The barrels are nice with over 50% of the damascus finish. 30 inch full modified clearly never cut and the bores are very clean absolutely no pits inside or out and the ring well. the screws are buggered but I shuffled them around and got them indexed and I will peen them to see if I can get them looking better. There is some color on the reciever. All the parts are original I know because When I fixed the wrist I had everything apart. I did a french rub finish recut the checkering on the forend. the pictures dont do the tiger striped wood justice.

[Dean Romig]

Very nice Brent. Bottom Feeding has it's rewards.

[Brent Francis]

thanks dean, It was my first time taking the stock off a parker. The instruction in the Parker faqs saved my bacon. I have to admit to saying bad words before I finally got that pin to go back through the sears. It impressed me that there is a reason that gunsmiths charge so much.

[Dean Romig]

There's a certain 'learning curve' to disassembling a Parker shotgun but the real test is to get it back together properly and without a trace that you've ever been in there at all. It's best to start on a clunker.... not a nice one like that - but we take what we can get.

[AmarilloMike]

Nice find!

I love Parkers that I can take out and shoot without worrying about losing case color or putting a little ding in the wood.


Best,

Mike

[Brent Francis]

Dean, I had taken apart foxes and ithacas before so the parker wasnt that big a difference. And Ive got good screwdrivers. besides the screws were already buggered It just seemed that the parker was more difficult to get back togather. a third or forth hand would have been useful.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Brent Francis

A third or forth hand would have been useful.

Been there...

[Brent Francis]

Mike, I cant wait to try this one out but Ive got to wait for some 2 1/2 inch vintager ammo. dont want to test my repair with conventional 12 ga right away.

[Brent Francis]

what causes a wrist break? is it recoil or someone sitting on a soft gun case. Ive been shooting 50 years and never broke one (knock on wood)

[Richard Flanders]

Heavy loads will break some Parker wrists. I fell on an Ithaca 37 once and broke the wrist...about 1967 that was.... we finally fixed it a couple of years ago. To get that pin back in the Parker I first push a pointed aluminum welding rod of the same diameter through.. you can force it without hurting anything. Once it's in, I push it back out by carefully tapping in the real pin, which works very well with no harm to the gun.