Fab Parker upgrades

[David Dwyer]

I had the pleasure of seeing Garry C's "Mattie's Gun" at the Southern.
It is by far the most beautiful Parker upgrade I have ever seen, maybe the finest Parker I have ever seen. I also love C O B's "Gunners Gun" and Herzog's" Czar Nicholas 11" is fantastic. I would love to see more upgrades in this class if they are out there?
David

[Dean Romig]

Here's a Trojan upgrade. I have no idea who it belongs to or who did the work but in my opinion it is a work of art.


.

[Brian Dudley]

It should be important to differenciate between an Upgrade and a Custom built gun.

One is an accurate emulation of an actual Parker grade and the other is anything the builder wants it to be.

[John Truitt]

David,
I know one man who has a very nice lifter hammer gun with two sets of barrels and two sets of locks in a very nice walnut presentation case.

Just saying. It is very nice. Too bad its not 34" barrels.

[David Dwyer]

John
I do love that gun, but it can not hold a candle to "Mattie's Gun"
David

[Rich Anderson]

If I don't sell the grade 2 16ga hammer gun it will go in for a face lift to an A grade. David the person who did the engraving on your lifter is very,very talented.

[Bill Holcombe]

http://parkerguns.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=35600&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1408835798

Hopefully Mr. Day will forgive me for beating him to the punch on this upgraded Trojan that he posted a while back.

It is a beaut of a gun.

[Fred Verry]

David, are both sets of locks on the lifter engraved with the same pattern? Thanks.

[David Dwyer]

Fred
No they are not. The original engraving was done by Sam Welch and the second set was done by a retired H & H engraver then living in CA. Very different styles but both beautiful. The gun was originally given to me by Austin Hogan and had been through a house fire. The barrels had separated and curled in different directions. Brad Bachelder "put it back together" and stocked it.
David

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

A beautiful job indeed!, the engraving is over the top David, congrats, Gary

[greg conomos]

I gotta say I'm not a fan of 'upgrades' or customs but the occasional one comes along and is excellent, like Dave's Hammer or the C that Brian Dudley did. It's all an issue of the execution...and what you started with.

[David Dwyer]

Thanks Gary. Sam Welch was very proud of that work and included it in"American Engravers 111" He is a good friend of Tom Carter and a nice guy.
David

[Rich Anderson]

Here is an upgraded 28ga two bbl set. It was advertised as an AAHE. One set of barrels is 26 inches IC/M the other 28 inches M/F.

[Bill Murphy]

I would like to hear more about the gun that Rich Anderson pictured. An assumption could be made that it can kill a pheasant.

[Daryl Corona]

Assuming the gun is in Rich's hands it will kill a pheasant but most likely a grouse.

[David Dwyer]

as requested, the second set of locks shown in the case in the H & H style scroll

[Rick Losey]

as requested, the second set of locks shown in the case in the H & H style scroll

drool :rotf:

[Rich Anderson]

That little 28 has taken Pheasant, Grouse, Woodcock and Quail. Bill we have talked about this one before. I believe you thought you may know who did the upgrade. He was from the Eastern Shore. The second set of barrels are from James Purdy and Son.

[Bill Murphy]

I know who the gun was probably built for, but I don't know who his engraver and stockmaker was. The ex owner was a member of Daryl Corona's gun club, a friend of mine who offered me a job when I came home from the Army in 1969.

[Daryl Corona]

Interesting Bill. Would you mind posting his name here or in a PM to me?

BTW: I missed you at the Southern this year. Hope you are doing better.

[Bill Murphy]

I believe that gun was owned by Willie Eckmeyer. He was a friend of our late member Terry Boose and his Dad and known by several of our other old time members. In later years, he lived in an upscale subdivision off Route 108 and Route 29 in Maryland, west of Baltimore. I remember a group of Parker collectors getting together at a small gun show and being invited to Willie's home on a Saturday afternoon. We waved bad Parkers around for a couple of hours. This was well before the formation of PGCA, maybe 35 or 40 years ago. I don't believe I ever saw Willie again.

[Daryl Corona]

Ah yes, good old Bill Eckmeyer. He used to hang around Donahue's gun shop where I first met him and his little brittany. Quite a character.
I'm not sure about Rich's gun but he had an upgraded Parker 28 done in a very, in my opinion, gawdy manner. That gun I believe is still owned by one of our members, passed down to him by his father who acquired the gun from Eckmeyer. Maybe he'll chime in and possibly post a picture.

[KCordell]

Gawdy???....now Daryl...


http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn128/code337/45B5814E-59F0-4C17-B0F1-24CD2BDF761F-3991-000003267B249396_zpsb2ab2248.jpg (http://s303.photobucket.com/user/code337/media/45B5814E-59F0-4C17-B0F1-24CD2BDF761F-3991-000003267B249396_zpsb2ab2248.jpg.html)

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn128/code337/FA001120-8EA9-4564-AE78-95652A6A079D-1879-000001A070A8D88A_zps47572721.jpg (http://s303.photobucket.com/user/code337/media/FA001120-8EA9-4564-AE78-95652A6A079D-1879-000001A070A8D88A_zps47572721.jpg.html)

[Daryl Corona]

Gotcha Kev! Just ragging on ya.:)

[David Dwyer]

Kev
I really like that engraving style. I think leaving "dead space" between the scrolls really highlights their beauty
David

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Back to what Brian said early on in this thread, The Mattie gun is a custom build, not upgraded, I wanted a gun to my specs and found some gentlemen who were willing to spend a lot of time and effort to make it happen, The barrels are from a V grade hammerless 16g a with the rib matting taken off, check hook added as per the original twist barrels, stock just a little different than a normal Parker stock, engraving as I had requested, and gold inlays also to my liking, started to do franc Grey but was advised to go with case colors, and glad I did makes the inlays jump out at you. The gun was done in Canada, Hats off to Chris Dawe, who went out of his way to do a super job on the stock and for end, checkering, and barrel work, and put the completed gun together, Thanks to Brian Frank for the engraving and gold work, and Mr Oskar Kob for the case colors, it was worth the almost three year wait, thanks guys, Gary

[David Dwyer]

Pictures Gary, Pictures please

[Rich Anderson]

There were pictures of Mattie's and Gunner's guns together at the Southern. We are just waiting for them to be posted.

I think I'll bring the upgraded 28 with the Purdy set of barrels to Hausmann's. I believe Bill is correct in the name of the original owner. I met Terry Boose once at the Southern. He was sick at the time but a nice person with some great guns.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Mike Smith took pictures of Richs gun and my gun eat the Southern and hope he will post them for all to see, I have left messages, on his phone and PM,d him we will see, Gary

[Mike.Smith]

Gary, Rich, sorry for the delay on these. As iPhone pics they weren't the best or up to my usual standards, so I had to do some Photoshop work before posting them. Gentlemen (and Ladies) I present to you two of the finest Parker Custom Guns I have ever seen, and stunning tributes to two best friends to boot.

Mike

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7753/26850583462_d08e2952bf_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GUGg1b)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GUGg1b) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7412/26340390503_270560c4b1_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/G8BopR)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/G8BopR) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/26945051225_235a53098c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/H43qYH)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/H43qYH) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7388/26850585142_25208d7bfc_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GUGgv9)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GUGgv9) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7706/26945053185_534cd435a2_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/H43ryv)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/H43ryv) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7484/26850586532_42ca2e766e_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GUGgV7)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GUGgV7) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7374/26945055635_6256357b62_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/H43shK)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/H43shK) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7787/26876828951_eaba0173fa_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GX1LSB)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GX1LSB) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7733/26850588562_6fc1735c1e_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GUGhw7)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GUGhw7) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7369/26876830351_a715201cca_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GX1MhK)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GX1MhK) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7252/26850590602_528df3c2b5_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GUGi8h)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GUGi8h) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7638/26876831771_2454486d7f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GX1MHe)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GX1MHe) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7441/26850592372_905d3d9910_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GUGiDN)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GUGiDN) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7299/26876832921_fd9e91f6ab_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GX1N44)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GX1N44) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7329/26850593912_d3d22ac302_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GUGj7m)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GUGj7m) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/26876834101_eee397d2a0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GX1Npp)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GX1Npp) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7526/26671523980_f91be4ddca_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GCSwRJ)Parker Dogs (https://flic.kr/p/GCSwRJ) by Mike Smith (https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithshady/), on Flickr

[Dean Romig]

What fabulous guns those two are Gary and Rich!
Thanks for the great pictures Mike!

And beautiful stock work Chris!





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[chris dawe]

Gary I haven't heard from you since you took delivery ,I'm relieved your pleased with the gun ... and thanks to Mike for posting the pictures .

[todd allen]

I can't say anything about those guns without using the "F" word;
Fabulous!