Buying Question

[Mark Callanan]

Originally Posted by Bill Davis

Mark--The gun wouldn't happen to be a GHE SKEET gun--would it? If so--there is plenty of conversation about it on Trapshooters.com.

Yes thats the gun
This all started many days ago
And whats on there is all over the place as you know
Not helping the seller or a buyer
Thats why I post here to try and get real information

[Richard Abraham]

That's my gun. It sure has started a fire storm on the net! I will try to post some pix here to help. I was the one who called DelGrego. They said send some pix and they would give an opinion. They said they would talk to anyone interested if they were called.I his mind the gun is legit no matter what the books say. They said the receiver might have been recolored but they couldn't say who. They said the barrels looked good. keels in place bar at the end of the matting etc. I know its a 1923 gun and I know remingtons repair records are lacking. there is no remington date code on the gun or barrels. Only the skeet in and skeet out stamps. Choking is .005 and .007.They did say I had an early "BIG" beaver tail that was used on early target guns. Checkering pattern was legit also.
I will try to post some pix for you to ponder.

[Twoatlow8]

I am looking at the 1937 Parker Catalog You can clearly see the serial numbers on the guns. So I thought why not check it aganist the Serialization book. The A1 Special is serial number 171341 in the catalog it has a capped pistol grip. In the serialization book it is listed as a straight stock. Has this gun shown up anywhere? The AAHE #214709 is correct to the book. The AHE 197081 (16 Gauge) is correct to the book. BHE 191866 is not in the book. The CHE# 196318 in the catalog is listed as an AHE Grade 20 bore with 32 inch barrels!
No other serial numbers are shown.

[Bill Murphy]

Twoatlow8, you are wrong about the C Grade. It is listed in the book as a C Grade, clear as glass. As far as the straight grip listing for the A-1, any number of situations can exist that would cause the book to disagree with the catalog picture. It only costs $40.00 to get to first base. Of course, this has little to do with the fact that a 1923 GHE was not originally built as a skeet gun.

[nid-28]

Mark--I expressed my opinion as honestly and fairly as I could on TS. I sell a lot of items on that site. It's a very nice gun, handsome gun, great shooting gun, with original parts etc. but it NOT an original skeet gun. The gun, according to the serialization book started life in 1923 as a 28 inch GHE with DT and splinter FE. Skeet was not even a word before 1926! It's a nice #1 frame gun that has been converted sometime over the last 75 years to a skeet configuration. The beavertail looks good. The 26 inch barrels look good. I know the seller claims Del Grego denies working on the gun. Buy it as a shooter and enjoy it. Get a factory letter and convince yourself. Hey--maybe I'm wrong--it's happened before. Maybe Parker did the work or Remington! My money is on Del Grego. Good luck to you.

[Pa SxS]

I've been reading that thread and purposely did not reply. Only the Stock Book is available for this gun and it verifys 28" barrels. If the gun was returned to either Meriden or Illion, it's not in the order books. To me, the gun looks worked on and not just the barrels but without more detailed pictures of the forend including the reinforcing rod, water table, and sides of the receiver, it's not an absolute. To my eye, the butt stock looks original but the case colors on the bottom of the receiver look too splotchy. That's why I'd like to see the water table.

If that's all the pictures the seller sent to Del Grego, Del Grego didn't have much to base an opinion on. From what I'm told, they don't keep track of guns worked on by the serial number, they keep track of the name of the person who sent them the gun. If I'm wrong, someone can correct me on this.

Either way, from what I've seen, it's a nice gun but until I would get further proof to originality, I wouldn't pay as if original.

[Pa SxS]

I see that Mr. Abraham posted while I was typing. Mr. Abraham, can you post a picture of the water table and the end of the forend? The checkering pattern doesn't look like any I've seen. The only way to see if the forend wood is original is to take the metal off and look for the S/N stamped in the wood.

[C.O.B.]

My 2 cents worth (and you can get change from that). If the serialization books says it was made befor the game of skeet was even invented thats a big red flag to it being a true skeet gun. I once had a vent rib DHE 12 that was stamped skeet in/skeet out but it was not an original skeet gun The checkering isn't correct on the forarm. The only letter that matters would be from the PGCA. Skeet guns can bring a premium dollar and IMHO this isn't an original skeet gun. All the true skeet guns I have seen were mfg after the Parker Gun Co was sold to Remington. If the receiver says PArker Bros than (once again my opinion) it's not a true skeet gun.

At the end of the day remember this "it is much easier to buy a gun than to sell a gun".

[Opening Day]

Ok I was not going to reply but since I have a couple of Skeet guns there are a couple of points that makes me wonder, first Skeet in/Skeet out was used during the Remington era, the gun is double trigger and has a DHBP both not seen on Skeet guns and even if there is a serial number stamped in the wood of the forend that does not mean it's factory. Also a 12 ga Skeet gun on a 1 frame I haven't seen that either. To me too many questions, great gun to shoot yes but to pay a premium for, no. That's my two cents. Eric

[Richard Abraham]

Here's the best I can do. The splotchy bottom and sides looks like patina from hands from carrying and shooting. Any how I think I shot pix of everything you asked for.