Hi y'all!

[Martha Glisson]

Guess I'm kind of a retread Parker owner - my dad had my grandfather's Parker, in fact that's what he shot the burglar with when I was 12 - but after he stopped bird hunting he must have sold it somewhere along the line - :crying:

Anyhow, I recently picked up a 1895 Parker and have been reading over the site -- it seems to be in pretty good shape, checkering's clear, has almost all its bluing and the engraving is sharp - SN 81452 - D on a No. 2 frame - there's a tiny check or crack at the base of the butt and the bottom screw on the buttplate appears to have been 'messed with' and either cross-threaded or undersunk - and the barrel says "Trojan steel" although all the serial numbers match.

Sure would like to learn from the experts here!

[John Dallas]

Martha - Welcome aboard! Best thing you could do would to be to post some clear, up close pictures of the gun, including the barrels, the barrel flats (the underside of the barrels that touch the flat part of the receiver) and the water table, which is the flat part of the receiver. Also a good closeup of the top of the muzzle end of the barrels and the stock will help the experts (and there are lots of them here) assess your gun

[Martha Glisson]

Thank you so much! I will figure out the photo process (I am not the most computer literate soul alive) and post some pics.
I am just so thrilled to (sort of) have my daddy and grand-daddy's gun back!

[Martha Glisson]

Hi again,
Looking at the closeups, I suspect this is a re-barreling job. The SN on the barrel looks like it was stamped with individual dies over a ground-down area, which would explain the Trojan barrel on the D frame, yes?
But that's just a guess from someone who knows nothing about this!

Album: http://parkerguns.org/forums/album.php?albumid=607

[George Lander]

Hi Martha and Welcome: There are surviving records on your Parker which you, as a member, can send for to Mark Conrad, our historian, and he will send back to you. The cost is $40.00. It does seem that your D Grade was given a set of Trojan barrels at some point. This could, possibly, have been done at the factory since the original set of barrels were most probably Damascus. The letter will tell the story.

Best Regards, George

[Dean Romig]

A correction to George's post - Mark Conrad was Research Chairman for about a decade and provided exemplary research letters but he stepped down about two years ago and Chuck Bishop is now our Research Chairman.

The Trojan was introduced in 1912 so it was certainly rebarreled sometime after that date.

[George Lander]

Dean's correct: I first put Chuck's name down and then experienced a lapse of memory and changed it to Mark.....My Bad.....George

[Mills Morrison]

Welcome Martha! Sounds like you have a good Parker to start your collection.

[Martha Glisson]

Thanks! Given the price-for-value ratio, we quietly returned the gun to the seller, and will wait around for something else (they said they didn't realize it had been rebarreled. Not Parker people - but then neither were we until we found this site!)
Meantime, we picked up a 1920 VH with (almost) all its original parts for a much more reasonable price - it is 'well used' but handsome, the only alteration is that somebody put a recoil pad on it somewhere along the line. I'll probably appreciate it while shooting it - although I always admired the dog-and-pheasant on the butt of Dad's Parker.

[Eric Estes]

Well there is no reason you have to stop at owning just one....:)
Congratulations and enjoy!

[Martha Glisson]

Thanks, Eric!
No intention of stopping at just one - or husband will steal it all the time :-)

Do you all have any recommendations re the proper ammunition to use?
A gunsmith has checked it out for safety, but I was thinking of starting with some of the Winchester "Featherlight" that I use for Cowboy Action shooting, just for my own peace of mind - but for sporting clays or skeet or acting as a Gunner in Upland tests for retrievers, what would be a good brand and load?

[Harry Collins]

I would shoot anything you want. RST makes the best shotgun shells you can buy. The most comfortable shells to shoot for clays would be 1oz at 1100 to 1200 fps. Have fun!

Harry

[Martha Glisson]

Appreciate it! I love the way the shotgun handles and balances to my shoulder - good natural pointer for me and whoever altered the butt made it just the right length.
Can't wait to shoot it!