storage ?

[todd phillips]

Is it better to store a Parker with the mainsprings cocked or uncocked? and if uncocked must you use snap caps or can Parkers be dry fired without concern?

Thank you

[Dean Romig]

It really doesn't matter but if you prefer to store it with relaxed mainsprings you may drop the hammers of a hammerless Parker on empty chambers without harm.






.

[Jack Cronkhite]

While it may be somewhat unconventional in appearance, it is useful if the gun is to be stored vertically to have your Parker muzzle down. That will not allow oil to find its way into the stock head. If it is hanging on a wall, just a slight tilt toward the muzzle will achieve the same thing.

[Rich Anderson]

If your gun has ejectors and the springs are relaxed make sure you recock them prior to taking the forearm off. I learned this the hard way when I broke a DHE 20 down to take to a shoot.

[John Campbell]

Mr. Romig has voiced the general consensus of decades of practical experience. A properly tempered compressed spring will not lose its power if left compressed. For years. Or decades.

And storage of a gun with the muzzle down to obviate oil seepage into the stock head is of doubtful value. And puts the muzzles at risk of damage.

From my personal standpoint, leave things cocked and don't fret. It will work next time. Oil has already soaked into most Parker stock heads. And unless you're hosing it with WD-40, not much further damage will be done.

All the above is my individual perspective. Others may have their own wisdom.

However, I've recently encountered this opinion from Maj. Gerald Burrard:

"It is no more necessary to release the main or tumbler springs or the ejector springs of a gun [in storage] than it is to release the springs of a watch."

[Chuck Bishop]

If you have that much oil in the receiver that it leaches down into the wood, your using the oil improperly.

[Paul Harm]

All my guns are stored muzzle down, without damage to them. I have a wood floor in my gun safe/room, and put them down gently. Perhaps someone could enlighten me so I don't damage them.

[Brett Souder]

I store mine with the muzzle down only if I have a pad so it will not distort the pad.

[Chuck Bishop]

So Paul, do you see a big pool of oil on the wood floor?

[Dave Noreen]

I mostly store them muzzle down. The instructor in my Washington State hunter safety course when I was 12 years old said that is the way it should be done.

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My counter tops are carpet in the back half where the muzzles rest. Even though both Fox and Parker said you could snap your guns empty they are all stored hammers down on snap caps.

[edgarspencer]

When I asked about this in a shop on Bruton St, they said guns 'look' better butt down, and don't over oil them and you won't have a problem. I figure if there is that much oil, it's as likely to drip down into the fore end, so I opt to spare the lube and look at them they way the look best.

[charlie cleveland]

i have some guns barrel down and some butt down...i still think a gun still looks better barrel up or hanging on the wall...nice gun room you have there...charlie

[Paul Harm]

Chuck, no there isn't a big pool of oil, but the wood floor has oil stains on it where the muzzles rest. I don't think I'm putting enough oil on the receiver that it would ever damage the wood, but it makes you wonder how so many guns did get oil soaked. With that thought in mind, I store them muzzle down.

[Chuck Bishop]

Paul, I was just playing with you a little. I'll bet in the old days most of those guys never took the guts of the guns apart. If the action got sluggish, inject some oil into the firing pin holes and into the well of the receiver and your good to go.

The question of storage is kind of like "What size shot should I use for 16 yard trap" or "What type of grease should I use on the hinge pin". You get many answers and they all say the correct answer is what they use.