Please help identify this for us

[Allen Reed]

I would appreciate as much information as I can get on this shotgun please. It’s been in the family for a few generations now. I’m sure you get posts like this often so I apologize about my lack of knowledge. Thought you all would have the knowledge and expertise. It’s a 12 gauge with a 30 inch barrel. Frame size says 02. Says Parker Bros Makers Meriden Conn Twist on the rib. Serial number is 35801. I removed the barrels and stamped on the receiver is the letter T with a circle around it. Then to the top right of it is a letter J. Any information for my family would be awesome! Any thoughts on what these sold for back in the day? Thank you for your time!! I’m an avid hunter but I know little about older guns like this.
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[Joe D.]

Allen,
Welcome to the PGCA website. Your gun is not listed in the Identification and Serialization book, however, according to the PGCA serial number database there are surviving Parker Factory records available for a research letter. Please see the home page for instructions.
The best deal going is to join the PGCA as an annual member and receive all member benefits (Parker Pages quarterly journal, access to members only section of the forums to include classified ads for guns and accessories, and more) as well as discounted price for a research letter. All this at a cost of less than a research letter for non-PGCA members!
Good luck on your quest for insight into this fine family heirloom.

[Pa SxS]

Allen, your gun was made in 1884 and is a Quality T, Top Action Hammer gun, 12ga. with 30" Plain Twist barrels. The Quality T was the lowest grade hammer gun Parker made. It sold for $55.00.

[Allen Reed]

Originally Posted by Chuck Bishop

Allen, your gun was made in 1884 and is a Quality T, Top Action Hammer gun, 12ga. with 30" Plain Twist barrels. The Quality T was the lowest grade hammer gun Parker made. It sold for $55.00.

Thank you for the information! I’m going to try and find some low powered black powder loads online for it.

[Bill Murphy]

You can go to rstshells.com and select the lightest loads in smokeless powder and they would be as unlikely to blow your gun up as black powder loads. Prior to using either, you should measure the barrel wall thickness and make sure it doesn't deviate much from factory original. Most sellers of black powder loads don't test them for pressure or at least they don't say so. RST does test for pressure and it is very low in their lightest loads. They will tell you what the pressure is on specific loads if you call them.

[Allen Reed]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

You can go to rstshells.com and select the lightest loads in smokeless powder and they would be as unlikely to blow your gun up as black powder loads. Prior to using either, you should measure the barrel wall thickness and make sure it doesn't deviate much from factory original. Most sellers of black powder loads don't test them for pressure or at least they don't say so. RST does test for pressure and it is very low in their lightest loads. They will tell you what the pressure is on specific loads if you call them.

Thank you Bill! About have my work done for the day so I can sit down and take a look at their website here in a bit. Now that i have the SxS bug I may or may not be checking out what’s available for sale online. Lol!

[todd allen]

Originally Posted by Chuck Bishop

Allen, your gun was made in 1884 and is a Quality T, Top Action Hammer gun, 12ga. with 30" Plain Twist barrels. The Quality T was the lowest grade hammer gun Parker made. It sold for $55.00.

Just to put that in perspective, here are the average wages in America back then;
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/...?start_page=10

[Allen Reed]

Originally Posted by todd allen

Just to put that in perspective, here are the average wages in America back then;
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/...?start_page=10

Thanks for that! So it basically comes out to more than a full month’s pay. As far as I know they were farmers. Man, not a small amount of money by any means back then. Wow

[Barry owens]

I have 35790. Identical except it’s a straight grip. My Parker letter traced it back to at least 1899 when a family member sent it back to the factory for some touch ups. Originally shipped to a hardware store in St. Louis, not too far from where they lived so, who knows?

[Allen Reed]

Originally Posted by Barry owens

I have 35790. Identical except it’s a straight grip. My Parker letter traced it back to at least 1899 when a family member sent it back to the factory for some touch ups. Originally shipped to a hardware store in St. Louis, not too far from where they lived so, who knows?

Very cool that you have that information! I ordered a couple of boxes of very light loads today from rstshells today. Figure might as well shoot it a few times and enjoy it.