Always Safety Check Your Parker Before Shooting

[Elvin Ehrhardt]

Guys I just received this old Parker Brothers Hammer Gun I got from an auction a while back. It's a beautiful piece, made in 1881 one of the earlier 12-gauge, Lifter Actions coded a D2 as a Grade 2 with Damascus barrels on a number 1 frame. It locks up very tight, no dents or cracks anywhere, and the barrel wall thickness was well within acceptable range. However, as you can see in the video clip the Damascus is de-laminating inside the right barrel about an inch forward of the front edge of the chamber. This is a very good example of why there is a need for everyone to safety check these old Twist, Laminate and Damascus barrels that were twist welded around a mandrel to form the barrels. This gun looks pristine everywhere until that borescope looks inside the barrels. The left barrel was a little pitted, but fine. The right barrel clearly shows de-lamination just forward of the chamber which is where the strongest pressures are developed during firing. I checked very carefully at the location for any signs on the outside of the barrel, but found nothing. Unfortunately, I won't be able to shoot even my Black Powder loads in it, but there is some saving grace, I have a set of full length 20-gauge sub-caliber tubes that will fit it, but its days as a 12 gauge are over unless I come across another set of barrels that might fit it. Be careful guys, never chance firing one of these old masterpieces before they have been thoroughly checked to be safe. Sorry guys the system won't take the movie clip so a posted a couple of screenshots of the bore scoping. If anyone wants to see the clip, send me an email or phone number and I'll send it to you.