1881, damascus steel, 10 gauge with pictures

[John F. Collins]

Greetings All,

I am a new member to this forum. I am not a collector per se, but more of a shooter with modern rifles and pistols. I recently came to possess a Parker Brothers shotgun.
The story goes like this. It was 1972 and my family had moved into the same house my Dad grew up in. Our neighbors, 4 doors down, were 2 sisters in their 90’s. They called my father and stated that they had found a gun and they wanted him to “get it out of the house!!” When my Dad came back to our house I could see that he had a shotgun that was a mess. It looked like lots of rust and dirt. The lifter mechanism was working and after ensuring that it was unloaded I was allowed to hold it. My dad said that it was in the rafters of the basement. This house was built in 1858 so it could have been there a long time.
The shotgun was given to a friend of my Dad’s who restored it. The result was quite amazing. My Dad had it till he died in 1994 and then my brother got it. My brother had some low power black powder rounds made for it and fired a few founds without any ill effects. Earlier this year my brother passed it on to me as it has just been sitting in a closet.
My research shows that it was made in 1881 as a grade 2, 10 gauge with Damascus steel barrels. There is a fair amount of pitted steel on the barrels and the insides while shiny appear to have minor pitting the length of the barrels. The stock appears in excellent condition with a couple of dings. The barrels look like they were blued and a screw head near the barrel lugs has been buggered up.

I took several photos and would appreciate any observations or insight. This doesn't look like anything rare and valuable, except to me.


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[Bill Murphy]

A nice old #4 frame ten with 7 pound barrels. Most #4 frame tens weigh about 11 pounds. Many were made for competition shooters, so a PGCA letter may unearth a famous owner. Let us know what you find out. The breech looks a little loose, but you would know that better than we would. The wood to metal fit is exceptionally good. The barrels can be restored. There is a bunch of metal there. Notice that the serial number and the order number are made up of only the numbers 1 and 2 and the order number is the serial number backwards and vice versa. I would buy this gun to restore.

[John F. Collins]

I have sent in my request for research letter. I never would have thought this would be a competition gun at 11 pounds!!?? That would wear me out!!

[Ed Blake]

Send those barrels out and have them refinished properly. Great gun.

[John F. Collins]

I inadvertently posted this here in the general discussion area. I meant the Hammered Gun area. Mr Moderator please delete this post as I have now put it where I meant it to be. The new guy will ban himself for 24 hours as punishment.

[B. Dudley]

That is a diecent hammer gun with a great family story to go with it.
I looks to be a grade 2 gun, and the engraving is very nice for a grade 2. Not all guns of that grade had that much engraving.
There are a couple of things about the restoration work that is not 100% correct, the most glaring is the blued barrels. But, that can be corrected and the gun presents well as an overall package. Great screws too!

In the time this gun was new, the 10g would have still been more popular in competition bird (trap) shooting.

[Bill Murphy]

Until 1889, most shooters who were provided guns by Parker Brothers for match shooting shot #4 frame hammer ten gauges, including Fred Kimble, William Perry, and others. In 1889, Parker switched those shooters over to ten gauge hammerless guns.