?what is with this barrel rib extension?

[keavin nelson]

A nice CHE on gunbroker, but??? what gives with the rib extension, why rebated like it is?

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/759409888

[Dean Romig]

It's anybody's guess.... and I couldn't begin to.






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[Bill Murphy]

Ohhh.

[Brian Dudley]

The barrels appear to be original. Who knows what happened there. Maybe someones “creative” way of dealing with some damage??

Either way, it is a form of butchery that has seriously compromised an otherwise decent gun.

[Ted Hicks]

Wow, that is a really really nice gun. Kudos to the seller for good photos that show the "flaw" at least. It looks like it was maybe machined flat as it should be curved and engraved. A shame, but still a beautiful gun. I imagine it could be restored?

[Russ Jackson]

That gun has gone around a couple of times on GB ,I'm sure the Rib Extension is the reason it hasn't sold ! You have to wonder what happened ????

[Todd Poer]

I don't think functional utility has been diminished because of that issue but it does appear to be a ding in the cosmetic features of an otherwise nice gun. I am not certain how much it would cost to fix that flaw the right way.

[Brian Dudley]

Anything is fixable at a cost. However, the right time to do that would have been before the barrels were finished. Repair now could drive up the repair cost a bit due to having to finish the barrels again. But I could think of a few methods that may avoid needing to refinish.

[Mark Ray]

I saw a nice Lefever at a gunshow that had a Lyman peep sight brazed to the Dolls Head. I suppose for deer or turkey hunting. It would have made a mess of the gun removing it. (Although the mess it created just by being there was bad enough!)

[Tom Flanigan]

That gun was formerly owned by me. I did the bernard barrels black and white. They were brown and white when I got the gun. I used to shoot the gun a lot at trap. Some of my shells did not size properly and I had to close the breech hard. Shouldnd't have done it but I did. The top part of the doll's head came off and was lost. I always thought the doll's head was one piece. It was a mystery to me.

The engraving on this gun was superb. It had the awful elk on the floor plate but it was beautifully done in detail and even had the elk's penis. I always regretted selling this gun. The only problem with the gun was that the guy who recheckered the skeleton butt screwed up the job and had a lot of crooked lines. I was going to take it down and do it right but I never got to it before I sold the gun.

[Tom Flanigan]

One more note on the gun. A couple of pictures of the gun show sections of the barrel as blotchy. It may be just the picture, but these barrels were perfect after I refinished them. No imperfections. If you look at my old damascus refinishing tutorial, these barrels are pictured.

The restoration job done prior to my purchase of the gun wasn't bad but the re-checkering in the skeletal butt plate was terrible. Also the barrels were redone in the incorrect brown and white.

I bought this gun from John (Bill will know who I am talking about) at a pigeon shoot. I quickly did the barrels correctly and I remember Bill Murphy asking me if I did the work.

[Brian Dudley]

The rib extension on Parkwr barrels typically is all one piece. This one may have had a repair done previously or maybe even at the factory requiring a section to have to be soldered onto the top of the extension. Just speculating.

[Dean Romig]

You're a couple days late for April foolin' Tom... :whistle:





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[Tom Flanigan]

It's a mystery to me. Before the problem, the doll's head was nicely engraved and fit perfectly. No sign of work having been performed. The gun also had a woodcock engraved on the trigger guard with some nice scroll.

No Dean.....this is not an April Fools joke though it seems so.

[keavin nelson]

Well, mystery solved. But why it wod be two piece dolls head is curious. Perhaps a repair due to a bad drop on the dolls head before tig welding was available. Thanks for sharing the story Tom.

[Dave Noreen]

" It is possible this firearms has undergone professional modifications in the past, however cannot be confirmed"

No kidding!!

[Brian Dudley]

Maybe it has something to do with the Elk’s thingy... :)

[Tom Flanigan]

You could be right. But that thingy always impressed me as great attention to detail on the part of the Parker engraver. I would like to have that gun back but I'm choking on paying $3900 more than I paid for the gun originally. I don't think its worth the asking price. Too bad, if the price was right I would buy it and send it to you to fix the doll's head.

[Tom Flanigan]

One more thing....Kevin McCormack looked at that gun and then turned away muttering something about elk on a bird gun. The detailed execution was lost on him. I thought that was hilarious.

[Kevin McCormack]

Luckily, the floorplate engraving of the elk on my 16 ga. 0 frame AH Damascus gun is so worn from 121 years of handling that the details of the genitalia are not discernible.

[John Dallas]

And to repeat that famous bar toast "Here's to your genitalia - May they never fail ya"

[Jay Oliver]

I actually bid on this a few months ago when it was listed as a "Grade 2 Damascus Parker" by the same seller. I called and talked to them about the gun. I nervously approached $4k as I would love to have a gun with Bernard Barrels. Here was the listing:

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/731989354

There were not any pictures of the dolls head extension so maybe the auction winner returned it. I would have been upset if I won when I saw the gun with that extension "repair", though I realize at $4k it would have been a good buy and I could have that issue fixed.

[Tom Flanigan]

Maybe its just the pictures but the black on those barrels was a lot more vivid when I did them. I wish that gun had a decent price on it. I would like to have it back just for the engraving. I sure was impressed with that thingy.

[Dean Romig]

Hmmm... $4005 and now the seller wants to start the bidding at $6995.... Nice work if you can get it.





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[Tom Flanigan]

I wish I had seen it at $4005. I would have bought it. That's only $1005 more than I paid for it about 10 years ago. Who knows, I may get it back some day if the price becomes reasonable.

[Jay Oliver]

Tom, It may be worth a phone call you never know. I must admit I did think I was about to get away with something(a grade 4 gun that was listed as a grade 2...), but I should have known better. If I recall the bidding was stuck around 2k and if nothing else I felt I helped the seller get a better price(though clearly something went wrong with the sale).

I would call them and get your gun back...I think(and hope) your story and the fact they have been sitting on this for a while would make them motivated.

Good luck!

Jay

[Tom Flanigan]

Thanks Jay....I will call.

[Tom Flanigan]

I have to come clean. I told a white lie when I said I sold the gun. I did not. I was embarrassed to tell the whole story. The gun was taken from my house by someone who knew my son. When I found out and confronted him he told me where he pawned the gun for a $150 loan. I got there too late and the pawn shop owner now owned the gun per the loan contract. I protested and he told me that he was not going honor my request for the gun. He said that unless I went to the police and had the perpetrator arrested, I was out of luck. I decided not to press charges. I probably should have.

The gun was only a shooter but it was important to me. I really did like that gun and used it a lot at trap and on woodducks. Maybe someday I'll get it back.

[Dean Romig]

Tom, we all took a vote and we're not gonna hold it against you. :bigbye:






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[Tom Flanigan]

Thanks Dean. That helps. I sure don't want to get kicked off the site when I just got back. I'm going to call the seller. Maybe we can work something out on the price.

[Jay Oliver]

Tom, I would still want the gun back, it is yours and I think everyone understands not wanting to get their son's friend in trouble. I would want back on principle. It's unlikely the gun would sell for the current asking price.

It's crazy to think they have $150 in it! If you would pay $4005 to have it back that's what I would walk in with in cash and mention the previous auction. Once you have it back you can worry about the possibility of getting some of the money back from your son's friend(which may or may not be important to you). I am sorry you are going through this...

On a side note, I forgot to mention earlier that I really like how the "1878" patent date was engraved on the forend. That was the first time I saw anything like that.

One would hope this has a happy ending even if it is a bit expensive.

[Tom Flanigan]

This seller is not the pawn shop that got the gun originally. It has probably passed hands a few times. I will offer $4k or so and see what happens. I really do want that gun back. It had a woodcock engraved on the trigger guard also which is really nice.

[Dean Romig]

I wonder if it really is the same gun Tom... There are two birds on the trigger guard bow now and they're not woodcock.





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[edgarspencer]

Tom, I applaud your decision not to have your son's friend arrested, despite his admission.
I had the same thing happen to me, though my son's friend never confessed. The gun was a 1911 that my dad had given me. I bought another but it wasn't the same. My only consolation is my son's friend is going to have to answer for his actions eventually.

[Bill Murphy]

Tom, ask our friend Kevin how he handled a similar situation. I won't elaborate.

[Brian Dudley]

That is a darn shame what happened. I personally would not be anywhere near as forgiving. The gun was stolen. Plain and simple. And every extent should be exercised to get it back, if it were me. But then again, a lot of people consider me to be an a**hole.

[Daryl Corona]

I know this is far off the OP's topic but when my DHE 32" 20 was stolen by a "family friend" I burned them and the gun store that bought it for $500. It sure helped the police that I had pictures of the gun and a PGCA letter. Perp did 2 yrs. and the gun store went out of business.

[Jerry VanHorn]

If nothing else, I would sue the pawn shop. Put a big ad in your local paper looking for the gun...WITH the explanation how it ended up in the pawn shop. I'll bet it would get their attention. What legitimate shop would pay $150 for a $4000 Parker in good conscience ? They had to know it was a fishy deal. They would have more than 4k worth of trouble if it were me. The saying.."If you dance, you pay the fiddler" comes to mind. The kid is a common thief..and as such..has proven that he lives by those rules...now come the consequences...

[Daryl Corona]

. What legitimate shop would pay $150 for a $4000 Parker in good conscience ? .

How about a gun store paying some loser $500 for a 15k gun? The moron/thief gun store owner never entered it into his books and that's how he got burned.

The moral of this story is don't ever try to screw over an Italian.:nono:

[Dean Romig]

These instances may be the first and only times these losers got 'found out' but it is pretty well guaranteed it wasn't the first (or last) time they have done such crimes.

It is our responsibility to bring them to justice whenever we know who they are.

A good friend and high-scoring registered Skeet shooter had a pretty little Model 23 Golden Quail .410 stolen about ten years ago. The gun's serial number, coincidentally enough, is 410 so if you ever see or hear of that gun somewhere - it is a stolen gun! and needs to be returned to Bob's widow... who is also a Skeet shooter.





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[Ken Descovich]

I would tell the sob that stole the gun that here is your opportunity to redeem yourself, you had better buy the gun at any expense or I am turning you in.

[Jim DiSpagno]

I would work this backwards. The shop selling it now would be informed it is stolen and find out who sold it to them and so on and so forth initial itgot back to the original pawn shop that bought it from the thief. Thenbring the thief in to confess or turn him over to police and BATF.

[Tom Flanigan]

I wonder if it really is the same gun Tom... There are two birds on the trigger guard bow now and they're not woodcock.





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The gun looks the same in the pictures only the barrels appear to be less vivid. I distinctly remember the woodcock on the trigger guard because is was a nice touch. A mystery.......

[Bill Murphy]

???

[Tom Flanigan]

???

It has to be the same gun. I remember the stock and I can't imagine another gun with the dolls head decapitated. I'm not sure how Dean saw two birds flying on the trigger guard but these might have been of a different gun.

I appreciate everyone's input. I don't think I'll press charges. It was eight or ten years ago. Too late for me to do anything now. I should have done something at the time, especially since the guy at the pawn shop was such and assh.........

I'll try to buy the gun back. We'll see how that goes.

[Dean Romig]

Picture #19 is of the underside of the gun. Expand it so that the trigger guard bow is magnified and rotate it 180 degrees and you will see the two birds I spoke of.

If anyone is having trouble doing this I can post a picture of it cropped, rotated and expanded.






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[Todd Poer]

This might have been mentioned earlier in a different post and is a Captain Obvious point, but does the serial number, I think 89166 match up with records. I guess that only matters if you still have that tucked somewhere to be sure. But like you the coincidence of a gun like that with that rare of a condition on dolls head, just seems to be more than coincidental.

Btw no attorney but wonder it statute of limitations has expired with no charges filed if it was that long ago. I think that sort of thing varies from state to state, but that does not seem to be the path your pursuing.

Turning the cheek is tough but definitely commend you Tom on being able to handle that. That young man I sure hope did something positive with his life or made a positive impact somewhere with that free pass you gave him.

Dean the pictures for me are hard to tell anything. It looks more like a Rorschach test. But then again I can't tell a German W from an M.

[Tom Flanigan]

Geez Dean, you are right. Those are flying birds on the trigger guard. I don’t know why I remembered them as a woodcock. It just shows that a memory can be faulty. But there is no doubt it is my gun even though I didn’t see a picture of the elk that Kevin liked so much.

The stock is just as I remembered it and especially the dents in the shield. I took a close look at the re-done checkering and saw the uneven depth on some of the diamonds. I remember exactly where they were and the pictures line up with my memory. They really annoyed me and I had planned to fix that along with the checkering on the butt. The restoration job was semi-professional at best.

If I manage to get the gun back, I’ll fix the checkering sloppiness and send the barrels to Brain. We’ll see.

Maybe Kevin would have liked the gun better if the elk was on the trigger and the birds were on the floor plate. We’ll never know.

[keavin nelson]

Tom,
good luck getting the gun back, I never thought my inquiry would lead down this path. Having dealt with my kids "friends" in the past and a few of their miss deeds I can understand your decision, but none of them every took a Parker, you have a big heart.

[Tom Flanigan]

I'm glad you posted that picture Keavin. I often wondered what happened to that gun. Despite being only a shooter, it was one of my favorites because of the engraving and because it was my go to gun for flooded timber duck shooting. I took a lot of woodducks with that gun. I tend to get emotionally attached to the guns I have taken a lot of game with. It wasn't a special gun but it was special to me. Thanks for your post Keavin.

[Chris Travinski]

It's unfortunate so much time has passed, but I would guess that if you mention the letters ATF to any self respecting gun/pawn shop that they would be very willing to cooperate. We're dealing with a felony here!!! I don't think it would be unreasonable to offer to buy the gun back at a reasonable price instead of getting the ATF involved, especially since you already own it.

[Bill Murphy]

I have seen a gun, stolen from me, on gun show tables twice in a couple of decades. I have not felt comfortable grabbing it and running the first time, or explaining my situation the second time and trying to work something out. The fellow who displayed the gun the second time is a friend, now deceased, but explaining the situation and expecting a good result would be asking too much. If I see the gun again, I may have a different attitude.