New guy intro with an AHE!

[MattHansen]

Just wanted to intoduce myself to the forum. Glad you guys are here! Seems like their is a plethora of knowledge and information about these shotguns here. My Parker appears to be a AHE made in 1900 with damascus barrells. It has been in my family for a long time although we were not the first owners of the shotgun. I hope to get some good tips for preserving my Parker from the knowledge bank here. Glad to have found a site that honors such a unique American art form!!!

[Jay Gardner]

Pictures! We need pictures and details of the gun!

Welcome,

JDG

[MattHansen]

I promise I will get some pics in tommorrow night. I have some but after resizing they are not as detialed as I would like.

[Dave Suponski]

Can.t wait to see them Matt....:)

[MattHansen]

A few pics to test if they will upload alright.

[MattHansen]

Here are a few more.

[MattHansen]

And the last pics. I tried to experiment with lighting a little to get slightly better clarity...I am no photographer though so you will have to bare with me.

[E Robert Fabian]

Thanks for the pictures Matt, that's a great looking AH. You may find that if you swap your floor plate screws they may index properly.

[MattHansen]

Thank you for the tip. I will look into that. Not exactly sure what you are referring to but I am a newbie here. Any tips are greatly appreciated! Thank You.

[E Robert Fabian]

You can go to our home page and in the left column you will see grades and there is lots of photo's of different grade Parkers, you will notice that all the screws are index front to back. I wouldn't touch them without a proper set of hollow ground screw drivers. Your gun looks to be in very nice condition.

[Dean Romig]

But by all means use a proper hollow-ground screwdriver to avoid damaging those screws. DO NOT use just any screwdriver that you would use for everyday homeowner stuff.

[MattHansen]

Ok. I have a much better idea what you are referring to now! How about cleaning these. I have some ren wax and hornsbys tung oil for preservation but have not yet applied them. I wanted to get some good info on how to perform a proper cleaning without stripping any of the character out of the metal. Any special tricks for the damascus barrell? This shotgun will not be used for anything other than a showpiece...for now anyway. :-)

[MattHansen]

ha ha ha! More special tools to buy! My wife will love that!!!

[Dean Romig]

Matt, be very careful. Some cleaning products may dissolve the original shellac finish on the wood which would devalue the gun. Do you have an idea of its value? Yours is a very desirable and valuable Parker so take things very slowly.

[Dave Suponski]

Matt, Thank you for the photo's. What a great gun! Please do as others suggest. Go slowly and "Do no harm".....

[calvin humburg]

WOW thats what dreams a made of. I like wonderlube 2000 on wood and clp breakfree on the metal with an old t shirt and a toothbrush but b careful do a little hidden spot just in case. ch

[Richard Flanders]

What a beauty! We should all inherit family guns like that,eh? Gorgeous piece of buttstock wood. You're a lucky guy Matt. Do as the guys say and don't do anything hasty.That gun is worth a very healthy amount of money.