Parker gunsmith

[Charles Dawley]

Looking for info on gunsmiths in MN familiar with parker repros. I live in Rochester, MN. My 28 ga locked up on me this weekend as I touched off two rounds at a rapidly flying grouse. It will not open...this happened once previously while shooting clays, but I was able to eventually open it. I assumed it was a poorly sized reload. These shells were new hulls and of a load I have used for years, so I am thinking it is mechanical. In addition to not opening, the safety will not move either. Frustrating as this was a never before used gun and I was heavy into a number of grouse. I am thinking one could remove the hinge pin and get it apart, but I would rather have someone who knows what they are doing look at it. Thanks

[Dean Romig]

Will the lever move all the way to the full open position?

[Bill Murphy]

The most important part of fixing a gun that won't open is trying to remember whether all the shells in it were expended. Second most important is to know that you can't remove the hinge pin without opening the gun. However, you can do thousands of dollars of damage by trying. You will get more advice here, and will probably succeed in opening the gun, and then you should send it to a good gun mechanic that some of our posters will recommend.

[Charles Dawley]

Will the lever move all the way to the full open position?
No, it appears to move very little to the right

[Charles Dawley]

all shells were expended.....definitely want to find a good smith and not do it myself

[Charles Dawley]

Thanks, I will try what you suggest when I get home. Perhaps that is what I did to open it the first time this happened. I just remember playing around with the lever at the time. This is a two barrel set. I don't remember having any trouble with the other barrel last year when I used it frequently during grouse season.

[Dean Romig]

OK, this is what I have read.....

With the gun across your knees and the floor plate solidly on one of your knees - push the lever with normal pressure as if you were opening the gun and thump hard, as if closing the gun, with a rubber mallet or your fist like you were pounding on a table. With luck it should pop right open.

[Paul Ehlers]

It sounds like the jambed safety could be the root cause of the problem.

When you push the safety forward to shoot, you are also pushing the automatic safety rod forward inside the stock head. The opening lever mechanism is what pushes on the rod to reset the safety. I had a Parker lock up in this fashion in the past. The only way I was able to get it open was to pull the floor plate, sears & stock off it. Once I got the stock off, the gun opened normally. I then removed the rod & the gun has worked great with a manual safety ever since.

Mine was a restocked gun and I feel my problem was caused by an improperly drilled hole in the stock head for the auto safety rod.

If you are uncomfortable doing this type of work to your gun. You might consider getting it to Brad Bachelder in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Good luck !!

[Bob Jurewicz]

OK. I don't have an engineering explanation but have resolved the problem in one of my repros.
In the area of the receiver where barrels and watertable meet place gun in a well padded vice with jaws on top of barrels and bottom of receiver. Tigten vice very slowly to further engate barrels to water table. I heard a click and lever moved to right to open gun after removal from vice.
My problem was insufficient rim clearance. I bought a rim reamer and increased depth of cut. Problem resolved!!
Bob Jurewicz

[Charles Dawley]

Good news! The suggestion made by Jent worked!! Pushed hard to the left, heard a click, pushed to the right and it opened right up! Empties. Were not tight in chambers. Now fir the why? That the safety wouldn't move does make me wonder. Bob, could you say more about rim clearance? Are you referring to how the brass bottom of the shell fits the chamber? The gun itself is very tight. Thanks for the suggestion Jent.

[Bob Jurewicz]

The rim cut in the chamber may not be deep enough. The brass of the shell then fits too tight against the standing breach when gun is closed.
Take barrels off. Put shells in each chamber with ejector rods recessed all the way.
Brass should not extend beyond breach end of barrels. I use a steel straight edge to check.
Bob Jurewicz

[Charles Dawley]

New shells fall cleanly into chambers. I do notice that the ejectors do not line up perfectly with the rim on the barrel, seemingly holding the brass up a bit higher on the face on the top and outer side. I will have to check other doubles to see if they are all built this way

[Dean Romig]

Yup Bob, that's the technical version of what I was trying to explain.

[Charles Dawley]

When I checked one of my Arrietta's this morning, the grooves in the ejectors line up perfectly with the grooves in the barrel, allowing the shell to sit flat....could it be that the ejectors on the parker need some adjustment to sit flatter and make the grooves consistent all the way around? I hope I am being clear...essentially it appears the ejectors sit a bit higher then the rest of the barrel, holding the brass head higher then it should.

[Bob Jurewicz]

Does the gun close hard with empty chambers?

[Charles Dawley]

No more then one would expect with a new gun. It is stiff opening and closing. I have only shot a couple of boxes through it since I bought it. As noted, the extractors seem to sit a bit high and this does result in the grooves designed to hold the brass not matching which causes the brass to sit higher then the edge of the barrels on the outside and top. Out of the 2-3 boxes I have shot through it, the lock up has occurred on only two occasions...both with reloads

[Greg Baehman]

What hull were you using for the reloads? I've experienced hard opening and closing of one of my 28-ga. Repros with Estate hulls. I attributed it to being too thick of a rim on the Estate hulls. Never have had a problem with Winchester AA or Remington STS hulls.

[Charles Dawley]

These were new Multihulls from Ballistic Products. They have generally worked well for me. I agree, the AA and STS hulls are great and I use a lot of them that I buy once fired. I believe the first time it locked up it was a reload with a hull out of Europe, though I can not recall the brand at this time.

[Bob Jurewicz]

Charles,
I just checked a Repro I have with me and the ejectors fit flush with barrels. They can't extend beyond the breach end of the barrels or they would obstruct closing.
The last little 1/16" of ejector retraction many times is very tight. Push hard.
Bob Jurewicz

[Charles Dawley]

Bob: I did as you suggested....took a bit of pressure, particularly on one set of barrels, but the ejectors now sit flush and so does the brass. I then went and sprayed gun stripper on the ejector rods, ran them back and forth and then oiled. They now move freely. Hopefully this fixes the situation....I will take them back up north with me this weekend and find out. From what I understand, the two barrel set (with two forends) was one of five bought by a service man stationed in japan as an investment and never fired. When I first received it from the seller (Roger Bains) the triggers were slow moving....I sent it back for a check up and his gunsmith cleaned out all the grease put in it at time of manufacture and they now work well....could be that was what was holding up the ejectors as well. Charlie

[John Dallas]

There are numerous stories of unfired repros (and othe Japanese guns of the same era) being gummed up with oyster oil, or whatever they used back then.

[Bob Jurewicz]

Charles,
I think go got it!!!
Bob Jurewicz

[Charles Dawley]

Bob, I will let you know. Thank you for your help