1928 Trojan

[Harry Schlott]

Hello All,
I just picked up a Trojan 20 Ga. off of an online auction.
When I open it up I noticed two notches on the extractor. I did strip it down and cleaned it , But I did not remove the firing pins. Could it be that it's gummed up in there , causing the pins to stick?
Thanks,
Harry

[Bill Murphy]

You don't indicate there is a problem with your Parker. You can't remove the firing pins, because they are part of the hammer, not a separate part. The notches in the extractors are to assist in clearing the exposed firing pins when opening the gun after firing. It is very unusual for you to have any problem in the use of your Trojan. Put two shells in the gun, move the safety forward into the firing position, find your target, pull the trigger. You should hear a loud noise, and a broken target or a dead bird.

[Harry Schlott]

Thanks Bill,
I appreciate the info. I'm assuming Parker did this for the Trojan , because my VH doesn't have these notches, and I've never noticed them on any other Parker I've handled.
I did have a little trouble opening the action the first time I shot doubles with it thought. It only happened the once, that's why I asked the question.

It really is a sweet shooter. 28" barrels 0 frame 6lbs. 3oz. choked full and fuller
as far as I can tell.

[edgarspencer]

Handle enough Parkers and you will see those relief cuts on many of them, especially in the early, not-rebounding hammer guns. Offhand, I think at least two of my guns have them.
Having said that, I suspect the reliefs in your gun are not Parker work. They appear rough, as though done with a Dremmel or some such grinder.

[Harry Schlott]

Thanks Edgar

[Brian Dudley]

The earlier hammerless guns had the cuts in the extractors. But they stopped with that by the turn of the century. Your trojan should not have them given the time of manufacture. So they were likely added for some reason by someone.

The firing pins are attached to the hammers and cannot “stick”.

[Jerry Harlow]

I would suspect someone had trouble opening the gun after both barrels were fired, the hammers/firing pins sticking in inferior primers, and this is the remedy they thought of, which it was not. Could have been dirty chambers, swollen shells also, or non-resized reloads. Once the action starts opening, the hammers start retracting.

[Dean Romig]

Or the extractor was simply old stock when the gun was manufactured. Keeping in mind that the Trojan was designed and produced as a cost-saving utility gun.




.

[Harry Schlott]

This all makes sense. Thanks
Harry

[Jerry Harlow]

Looking at 124947 photo the top where the rib extension was on earlier models, there is a void in the solder. Two questions: Are the barrels Trojan Steel and do all the serial numbers match? If not to either question, was a rib extension cut off the barrels?

[Dean Romig]

Those relief cuts look recent.





.

[Harry Schlott]

yes, The barrels say trojan steel. when I stripped it down to clean, all the numbers match.
I was wondering though, did Parker stamp the serial number on the barrel flats for the trojan?

[Dean Romig]

Remington Arms did in Ilion when they were producing Parkers.





.

[edgarspencer]

This area just doesn't look 'right'.
Is the sn present on the side of the barrel lug? And, is it the same as the resst of the gun?

[Harry Schlott]

Hi Edgar,
The sn is on the flat of the barrels not the lug. There are a couple of things with this parker that I've been scratching my head over.
Thanks for your input.

[Harry Schlott]

With closer inspection, I've found that for some reason , someone decided to grind off the serial numbers off the side of the lug and restamp the barrel flats.
They also ground off the serial number off the water table and restamp the current number. so this Trojan is obviously a frankenparker.

Funny thing is , when I stripped it down to clean it, all the inside parts all have the current serial number as well the stock under the trigger guard.

[Dean Romig]

With serial numbers ground off or by any other method removed, it is an illegal firearm.





.

[edgarspencer]

I agree with Dean. I'd return it to the auction company.

[Harry Schlott]

There is a serial number on the shotgun, It's just it's not where it should be and where it should be, it is clearly ground down, Same is true with the barrel lug.
The number is on the barrel flat , not the lug. Where it should be on the lug, it's ground down.

[Jerry Harlow]

Does the forearm number match? If it does my guess is that a set of donor barrels were mated to a replacement receiver that used the stock and we don't know about the internal parts, but that would seem like a lot of trouble. If that forearm number was ground off also, then there is something rotten in Denmark.

It is not illegal to move a serial number from one place to another as long as one uses the same serial number. But replacing one shows something is up, as in being stolen previously. But they must have used the stock serial number as the basis for the new numbers. I thought something was fishy with the cut off barrel extension. Calling Sherlock Holmes.

[Harry Schlott]

The number on the forearm is the same. as is the number on the stock.
I've had it apart for cleaning and the parts inside are stamped with the last three digits.
A law enforcement friend had suggested , that it might have been stolen and then recovered, which makes sense.