Parker Rib

[Roy Marcin]

Has anyone seen any Parkers with no markings on the barrel rib?
Looking at buying a CHE, but there is nothing on the rib.. He claims some of the higher grades did not come with anything on the rib..
Any thoughts?

[Steve Huffman]

Doesnt sound right, is this gun in Ohio and a 16 ga.?

[Roy Marcin]

It's in Arizona and a 20ga..

[Steve Huffman]

We will need pictures of rib and barrel flats and serial number

[Roy Marcin]

I'm trying to figure out to post a pic.. Give me a few minutes..

[Roy Marcin]

49988

[Brian Dudley]

Remington guns (made in Ilion) did not have makers marks on the rib.
Anything ither those guns with no rib markings would be extremely against the norm.

It is hard to see your photo in detail clearly, but the rib matting looks like it might be correct, bjt it does appear funny looking.

[Roy Marcin]

49989

[Roy Marcin]

49990

[Steve Huffman]

Is your serial number 194964 ?

[Roy Marcin]

Yes

[Steve Huffman]

From the serialization book this gun started with damascus barrels as a 16 ga 26 " in length May need a letter to clear this up

[Steve Huffman]

May have gone back to Remington to have the barrels you have now fitted .

[Steve Huffman]

The engraving around the barrels at the breech looks different too

[Rick Losey]

Remington guns - or older guns rebarrelled later by Remington, check for a repair code

[Brian Dudley]

Yeah, there is something going on with that barrel set. The matting is not quite right. Breech engraving is not quite factory, kicker stop plate looks to be narrower than notmal and the dolls head engraving looks off.

I may suspect that these barrels may have been fitted to the gun later on in the gun's life. May e by an operation such as Lefever Arms.

[Craig Budgeon]

Roy, the seller of the CHE hasn't given you a credible explanation of why the top rib has no markings on it. From the pictures you provided I'm sure Remington didn't finish those barrels either. I have a Dh with Remington finished barrels and they have proof marks on both barrel flats , work code date, and serial number on one barrel flat. The gun your looking at doesn't appear to have those marks. However, those are probably Parker barrels fitted by LeFever Arms in Lee Center in the early 1970's since they had barrel sets purchased from Remington and they also owned the matting machine at that time.

[Roy Marcin]

Thank you for all the input.. Something just doesn't seem right about this shotgun..
I just check the Parker serial book and it shows this gun to be a CHE but with 16 ga barrels not 20 ga..I'm supposing it probably came with Damascus barrels and something happen to them and then had it change to 20 ga.. But that is just my opinion now..
I asked the owner about it, he has no knowledge of this beening done..

[wayne goerres]

There is a W stamped right next to the lug just left of the weight stamping. It's faint and I had to blow up the pic.

[Phillip Carr]

Roy do you live in AZ? I'm in Tucson if I can assist.

Phil

[Craig Budgeon]

Roy, my #1 frame DH was built as a 12ga. Damascus gun in 1892.In 1941 the current owner replaced those barrels with steel barrels built and fitted by Remington in 16ga. It wasn't unusual for Parker to build an extra set of barrels in the next smaller gage for a new owner of a used gun. If that CHE still has your interest call Lefever Arms and see if they have records of fitting the barrels. DelGrego worked with Lefever back then and it may have gone through his shop before completion.

[Brian Dudley]

Lefever likely did the work. They have been out of business since the '90s, so trying to contact them would not get you far. And Delgrego, maybe... True that back in the day, most of their hardcore smithing work was contracted out to Lefever, but supposably, Delgrego only keeps records based on customer name. Not serial numbers, so unless you know the name of who had the work done, you are again, up a creek.

Best to just take the gun for what it is. A re-barrel. My firm feeling on it being from Lefever is the rib matting since they had one of the machines and it was operational.

I recently was in communication with an old employee of Lefever who ran the matting machine there. He told me about how the machine worked and how they had to get it running again after aquiring it and it worked ok, but never as it did at the factory since parts had been taken from it before they got it. He said the taper was something they could never get the machine to do.

[Craig Budgeon]

Brian as you can see my memory is better than my ability to stay current. Back in the day when that CHE was rebarreled, 16 ga. guns could be purchased for 2/3's the price of an equivalent 12 ga. guns, damascus guns were pretty but unsafe to shoot and cheap, and steel barreled guns were much more plentiful and desirable. When I toured LeFever Arms in 1973 (?) all the barrel sets left were either 1 1/2 or 1 frame sets and mostly 16 ga. At that time I'd say they may of had 12-15 sets left. To you young guys out there reading this, a new family car could still be purchased for under $3000 and Herschel Chadick hadn't sold his first Parker yet.