Ignorant and Confused

[Stacey Tillman]

My Aunt has decided to sell my Uncle's guns and asked me to help her. I know absolutely nothing about guns. Most seemed run of the mill, but his two favorites turned out to be Parkers. Your identification page has been so helpful, but I'm really stuck on a couple of things. The first is sn 49694, frame size-1, barrel weight- 3/7, laminated steel, grade-1, and I believe a top lever?(lock plate screw is behind hammer) How do you determine if it is I,K,L etc? How do you determine gauge?
The second gun is sn 4029, Damascas, and I believe a lifter. I can't figure out how to remove the barrel to check the barrel lug and flats for markings. I don't know what I'm doing and I don't want to damage it. I can see the watertable enough to see the 4029, but there is an additional stamp of F9R. What would the F 9 R be? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[edgarspencer]

Your lifter is a 12 bore with 30" barrels. It will have a side-nail fore end. Close the gun and push the side nail out which will release the fore end. Then you can removed the barrels.

[Stacey Tillman]

I think I know what that is. I've tried pushing and pulling, but it doesn't budge. I didn't want to use a tool to pry it and end up breaking something. Is there an oil or something that may loosen it without damaging it?

[edgarspencer]

The small end of the side nail should have a small groove in it. Carefully put the tip of a screwdriver into the groove and lightly tap the end of the screwdriver. Some may shudder at this advice, but I have a screwdriver whose tip is rounded, so it won't leave a mark.

[Stacey Tillman]

Thank you! Just enough to get it started and then a lot of pulling. The numbers match up with a 4/2 barrel, but the barrel lug has a "S" stamp rather than a number for the frame size. Do you know what that would stand for?

[Richard Flanders]

Stacey: You certainly don't sound ignorant and confused to me. You're doing everything right so far. Get advice here before you do anything and don't do anything to hurt the gun. You're right on track so far so keep it up. You'll get all the help you need here.

[Bill Murphy]

Measure the exact distance between the firing pin hole centers on the gun without frame size markings. We will tell you what the frame size is.

[Stacey Tillman]

If those are the pins that the hammers strike, then center to center is just a hair under 32mm. Thank you for your help. I am enjoying learning about these guns.

[Bill Murphy]

That would be 1 1/4 inches. In an early gun, that would be a #2 frame. It should be the same pin spacing as your other gun.

[Stacey Tillman]

Thank you so much! I took a lot of detail pictures yesterday and realized I never got any pictures of the whole gun. Tried this morning, but the sun was a little too bright to get really good ones. Oh well. Here's a couple pictures of my girls.