Old Parker Found... Need Guidance

[Jeff K.]

David stopped by yesterday to show me his family parker. It is a good example of a very early lifter. David's pictures show most of the conditon of the gun. It does have some pitting in the bores, but I think they will clean up some with #9 and a brass brush. The wood is in surprisingly good shape. Most of the checkering is worn off. I would guess that the finish has been refreshed as it doesn't have any bare wood showing. The gun is slightly off face. Yesterday was the first time I had a chance to look at a set of barrel inserts with rifling. It was very interesting. The top rib has a rifle front and rear sight mounted on it for use with the rifle insert. It appears it me that the 31 1/2" barrels are correct. The barrels touch and it looks like there are keels in them. The top rib says Damascus steel, but the barrels are too dark to see any pattern at this time. #9 may help with that also.