New User in Eastern PA, so the journey begins...

[Jim Kremmel]

Hello Parker shotgun forum, I’m joining from Eastern Pennsylvania in my 61st year. After owning several LC Smiths over the years, I was given a Parker and a project she is. I followed the instructions under technical data here, and it appears I own a PH model hammerless shotgun made in 1907 with 30” barrels. The frame size is 1-1/2, and it has Twist steel barrels. Barrel weight is marked as 314 with the 14 raised, I’m assuming this is 3 pounds 14 oz. The barrels are a smooth plum brown with lovely Damascus figure, except under the forearm which is the splinter type. All serial numbers are matching on all the components. The gun is very tight, with no movement at all in the breech. Engraving is very nice though more geometric rather than artistic which sounds right for this model. Even the screw heads are engraved. Both barrels ring like a literal bell, much brighter than the Smiths I’ve owned. I have not cast the chambers, but I’m guessing 2-1/2” or 2-5/8”. She has warts, a couple of which may be fatal to me being able to do some rabbit and grouse hunting with blackpowder shells which is my goal. The right barrel is blown out at the last 1” of muzzle, and has what I’d call worse than average pitting in a few places. The left barrel is quite bright with what may be a couple pits, though I need to clean it more. I don’t own a bore gauge but since most firing seems to be on the right it’s probably pretty tight this not fired much. The wrist was repaired long ago and has some ugly epoxy like red stuff on the surface of the wood that is starting to flake off. The stock is rock solid but I will need to investigate that. The repair included an extra screw or maybe nail in the tail of the trigger guard. It’s a mess, and will have to be dealt with before the gun can be disassembled. So, I plan to take a month and learn all I can about this model before starting to conserve it. Since in my opinion it has no collectors value in this condition, i’ll have to decide what to do about the barrels, and stock. The resources here seem endless. I’m not sure a factory letter will add much other than historical perspective since it’s not collectible. Look forward to chatting and learning. Jim

[Jim Kremmel]

Oh, I’m sorry the serial number is 144,983. It appears there is factory information on this gun, so I’m going to become a member and order a letter.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Looks like a dent near the muzzle. That can possibly be raised. Biggest issue will be raising the dent if it's located in the tapered choke. Best wishes on your project. Most of us have a project gun or two or three.

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

To my eye it looks like the muzzle is swelled. If it is...your problem may be greater than raising a dent.

[James L. Martin]

I also believe the muzzle is swelled , mud or snow maybe. That may be a big problem, I would get it too a good gunsmith before doing any other work.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Somewhere on this site someone posted about a machine shop that used pressure and heat to remove the bulge from their double gun. Where that is I don't recall but I remember reading it in the past week.

[Harold Pickens]

There used to be a guy in Florida that could fix that bulge, I saw the before and after on a friends gun that looked just like that. That was 25 yrs ago, and the gent was old then--so I was told. I am sure there must be someone out there with that ability.

[Bill Murphy]

Shipping to someone to fix a bulge will exceed the value of the gun. If it were my gun and I wanted to shoot it, I would ignore the bulge and shoot it.

[Harold Pickens]

Yeah, true that Bill

[Jim Kremmel]

I’m a bit confused from what I’m reading here (amazing resource!). Is my P marked gun considered to be a grade 0 or grade 1?