Strange VH

Gary Laudermilch · 04-04-2013, 09:28 AM

I am a repro fan but recently have been thinking about acquiring an original shooter. I am definitely not a collector. So, when the local gun shop owner called and said there was a guy in the store that wanted to sell a Parker I jumped at the chance. It was a VH 12 on a 2 frame with 28 inch barrels. I cannot remember the action serial number but it was in the mid 200k range.

What I found was a bit of a confusing mess. Oh, the gun looked pretty good on the surface as it had been redone more than 50 years ago and has existed in the current owners gun cabinet since then. The case colors, while nice ,were not Parker style. The barrels were reblued that appeared to be a quality job. The wood was a bit better than you would expect on a V. This is where my interest stopped cold.

The serial number on the trigger bow did not match the action. In fact, they were about 100,000 apart. The forend iron matched the action but the interesting part is that the barrels had no serial number at all. The rib appeared to be original Parker but with no clear space at the muzzle and was inscribed with the Parker Bros Meriden Conn Vulcan Steel with arrows. The barrels were separated by at least a quarter inch at the muzzle so I surmized that they had been cut, probably from 30 as there appeared to still be some choke in them.

The barrel flat is what has me confused and am curious as to what I was looking at. They were marked with a V, 3-15 for weight, and 2-0 on the barrel lump and no serial number. Almost nothing else. I say almost because on the very edge of the flat was a very, very small stamping. Nobody could read it with the naked eye it was so small. With a very poor magnifying glass we were able to determine that it was cursive script. The first 3 letters looked like Roy followed by 3 or 4 more letters that we could not read.

I told the fellow I was not interested and explained why, whereupon he became very agitated. I think he thought he had a very desirable and valuable piece. Still, my curiosity is up, so I thought I'd ask what you guys thought. My novice expertise suggests that these may be 3rd party barrels to which an original Parker rib was applied. Enlighted me!

Brush Buster · 04-04-2013, 10:17 AM

Gary ,if you got the Gentleman's Phone Number ,possibly you could contact Him and take another look and get some pictures of all of the prominent markings ,then I believe this gun could easily be sorted out ! Best ; Russ

Jawjadawg · 04-04-2013, 03:37 PM

Sorry if I am misunderstanding your post. It sounds like you were expecting to see a serial number on the barrel flats. The serial number on a Parker Bros. is found on the side of the barrel lug, not on the table.

Gary Laudermilch · 04-04-2013, 05:02 PM

There was no serial number anywhere on the barrels. The only reason I can come up with is that they were not Parker barrels but, then, why the other markings which were all very legible. Just curious. The gun was not something I was interested in so no great loss if I made a mistake. I am especially curious about the small stamping I described. Could it be from the barrel maker or person completing the restoration? Why go the bother to make it so small nobody can read it.

paul stafford jr · 04-04-2013, 08:41 PM

heres my guess, i have barrels that have been cut from 30in down to 28in and the space is only about 1/16in between the barrels so i would guess those started out at 32in or longer. no numbers on the side of the lug could happen when the barrels were fit to a different frame. i sure would hate to think some one would cut a rare set of long barrels down just to try and make a little money but it happens.

B. Dudley · 04-05-2013, 10:23 AM

I would doubt that the barrels were sleeved since the or final barrels were not Damascus on that VH grade gun. A 1/4" gap seems a bit excessive for a gun that only had a bit taken off the end of the barrels. If in fact they were.
An odd one for sure for there to be no serial number. Unless the barrels are aftermarket with an original rib used. But usually an original barrel lug and forend loop will be reused as well.
The guard having a different serial number would be be too odd of an occurance if the guard was replaced when it was restored. But, any quality restoration would have the correct serial number engraved on it.