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[Chance Johnson]

Hey fella's as of about 2 days back I became the owner of a low grade Parker...... (But still a Parker, right) I was just curious how I could get yens pic's of it and let other gentleman with the knowledge to tell me if it's a shooter or condemned for eternity above the fire place? I sure do appreciate yens! Chance Johnson

[Dean Romig]

Hey Chance - what's the gun's serial number? ...That's always a good place to start to identify a Parker.





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[Chance Johnson]

Bless your heart Sir! I sure do thank you for answering my plea! It's a low grade gun. It's a trojan....the serial begins w/198 but I will hafta look n see the rest so I am pretty sure it was made in '22. I'm gonna say that it still retains 65-70% of original blue, but the receiver doesn't have any of the "swirl" from the heat left just bright shiny metal. The pigs tail had a little light surface from oily hands of recent times but I carefully used a little eraser and carefully removed it. The stocks are both uncut and matching, retaining @ 75-80% of their original finish. The bottom of the original butt-plate is chipped off about 1/2" from the end, quite noticeable. The bore on the 30" barrels had not been cleaned which kinda shocked me, because the gun came too me in a beautiful oak and brass case which kinda let on that it was very special to someone. Once I cleaned them I expected to see plenty of Pitts, but my Lordy them barrels look as if they had never had a shell fired through'm! As good looking as my ole Pappaw's prized 870! An it's NOS! All the screws are original and unturned and are in the correct positions. I tell ya that gun is the tightest I have ever broken down and just as tight relatching. Used two old spent cardboard shell casings to test if it would fire, two sharp snaps. I believe it'll shoot now but don't know what shells I should use. Frame size-2, barrel weight-4, grade- of, and serial# 198452. Thank you buddy

[Dean Romig]

Your Trojan sounds to be a very decent Parker. Congratulations!
We sure would like to see some pictures of it and we’d sure like to see that case it came in.

A Trojan is a very stout gun and you can shoot most any shell in it but we don’t recommend shooting steel shot until you can determine how it is choked. Steel shot is purported to be rather unkind to full chokes. 2 3/4” are fine in your Trojan - that’s what I used to shoot in the 12 gauge, 28” Trojan I used to shoot back in about ‘60 or so. Heavy or magnum loads are a bit stiff to be shooting in a gun that age, only because the stock head may chip or split, the wood being about 100 years old.
A lot of us shoot 2 1/2” shells in our old guns just to be easy on them.

Have fun shooting it!





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[Chance Johnson]

Well Sir I wanna say that one is full and the other is even more full! Haaah Haaah! A nickel will not fit down through the muzzle of either, an one is slightly smaller than the other. Mr. Romig I just gotta say how much it means to this ole "Ridge Runner" that you have took the time and are making the effort to help me, it means A lot Sir! You Sir are in fact a true gentleman! Oh yea, I just looked over my letter I wrote (typed) and on the guns grade I musta accidently punched in "of" , the correct grade of the gun is, grade="OV"

[Chance Johnson]

If you get a "chance" could you possibly teach me how to get pic's posted? Boy now that would really be a way for yens to check it out! If you ain't got the time I certainly appreciate your kindness and knowledge regardless! Thank ya again Sir!

[Garth Gustafson]

Welcome aboard Chance. Great to have you here. I’m not a teckie but here’s how I do it...

Scroll down to the bottom of the screen.
Under Quick Reply, click on “Go Advanced”
A new window opens up with a text box
Scroll to the bottom- under Additional Options
Click on “Manage Attachments”
When the new window opens click on “Choose File”
Select desired photos you have stored on your phone or computer
Click “Upload”
Then click “Close this Window” at the bottom of the screen
Fill in any text you want to include and click “Submit Reply”
You’re done. Looking forward to seeing your pictures of your Trojan.

[Chance Johnson]

My Lordy! Such fine folks yens are! Mr. Gustofsun I really appreciate your help! That is some pretty darn good directions joy just pointed me in! I am getting ready to follow'm rite now! It's truly a pleasure to be a little part of something so amazing and to shoot the bull with such fellers that are equally amazing! God Bless You ALL!

[Chance Johnson]

I am hoping that those pic's are visible to y'all but I really can't tell! Yens please let me know if'n they ain't an I'll try'n fix it. Special thanks to Mr. Romig & Mr. Gustafson. God Bess yens!

[Chance Johnson]

Haaah Haaah! There they are!

[Dean Romig]

That’s a fine looking case sir! And not a bad Trojan either.





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[Garth Gustafson]

Congratulations. Looks well-used and well cared for. It’s taken its share of game that’s for sure. Should be good for another 100 years.

[Chance Johnson]

I appreciate that Sir. Yesser the gun coulda been taken better care of, but I reckon at least it ain't been fooled with! Thank you for your help, an valued opinion!

[Garth Gustafson]

You’ve got a nice gun there. Enjoy shooting it. Dean offers good advice with low recoil target loads to protect the wood. Gun was designed to shoot 1-1/8 oz shot with 3 Dr Eq. powder. 12 ga target loads should be a little softer than that.

[Harry Collins]

Chance,

The old time full choke gauge was a dime for 12 gauge. I'll check the diameter of a nickel to see if it were the gauge for a 10 gauge.

Kindest,
Harry

[Chance Johnson]

Haaah Haaah! I'll be darn! I had a home defense 870 with cyl. Choke barrel and my cousin told me how you tell if a 12 g. is full is a nickel will NOT fit in the barrel! And he went on to show how that nickel WOULD however fall rite in on that cyl. choked barrel. I appreciate yens letting me know that! I'll hafta quit showing everyone those pics of me showing how a nickel won't go in! Haaah Haaah! I appreciate yens saving me from looking so foolish in the future! Haah Haaah! I been taking everyone that one barrel is FULL an the other is X-TRA FULL. I know that one side is definetely tighter than the other a bit! The barrels are still uncut and reach out to 30" from breech to muzzle , I just wonder how to tell what the ole gun is choked? Thank you three fellers so very much for taking the time to help a rookie! Your kindness won't be forgotten anytime soon!!! Chance

[Harry Collins]

Chance,

There are two ways to tell the choke of Parker shotguns. One is to measure the bore diameter and compare that with the muzzle diameter. In a 12 gauge full choke is about .030 and extra full is .040 constriction. One would think they could measure the diameter of the muzzle and deduct it from the standard American 12 gauge bore diameter of .729. Unfortunatly Parker 12 gauge bores often run .730-.735 and on occasion .729. The other way to tell the choke is to step off 20 yards from the side of a barn and shoot it. I have shot a lot of barns multiple times and haven't killed on yet. At that distance the pattern will indicate choke. 16" circle is Full, 20" is Modified, 26" is Improved Cylinder, and 32" Cylinder bore.

Kindest,
Harry