Missing grade?

[Joseph white]

Ok yall im a newbie here and to parkers. I bought a parker on a local online auction last week. I have looked into the information here and in other areas and have a decent understanding of what I have with the exception of the grade mark. I've taken and posted a bunch of photos here to see if anyone else can help me out with it. I will post any other pics needed if you ask. From what I know right now I have a 1883 twist barrel, size 3 frame with a barrel weight of 58. If any of that is wrong please let me know. Also if anyone would be willing to spit ball a value I would much appreciate that, and I know it would be a unofficial one, im just looking for a rough idea to see if I over paid lol. After I sort all this out ill be posting more threads on the restore or not to restore question. Thanks yall and I look forward to working with ya!

[edgarspencer]

Looks to be a 10ga. so it's a Grade 0, (R, a sub category of 0 grade, 10ga. guns). A 3 frame probably has a lot of meat in the barrel wall, so those bores 'might' clean up, but I doubt the stock will stand up to any shooting. I wouldn't speculate on the value. The 'personalizations' on the butt is interesting.

[Dave Noreen]

By the serial number chronology 35651 would be an 1883 vintage gun. This price list is from July 1882 --

90079

90078

It appears your gun is a Quality R.

We recently went through all of this for 37865 --

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31307&highlight=37865

[Joseph white]

Ok so where would I find the mark for the grade then? And what is the "J" mark in reference to?

[Dave Noreen]

There isn't one. Parker Bros. didn't normally stamp the grade number on the Grade 0 and 1 guns.

[Joseph white]

Ok so I think im getting this down a bit more now. I also read all the info on the other thread that was listed so thank you for that! Would it be worth it to talk about restoration? I dont know if these hold value even in bad shape or if its worth it to restore it back to the way it was. .I know mine will need some internal work and a new stock to be safe. Thanks again yall!

[Dean Romig]

You will never recoup your ecxpanses if you do a restoration such as you mention.





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[Joseph white]

So I'm into her for $550 as of now...id love to be able to atleast make it shoot-able again. Right now it has a good crack in the stock, and the firing pins and everything feels "sticky" so I know a cleaning is needed. Other than that I don't want to redo anything on it. Just a nice oil job and barrel cleaning. If I fix those issues to where I can enjoy it does it ruin the firearm? I hate to see people try to "clean up" old items especially guns and end up destroying them, and I for sure don't want to be that guy. If the best option is a little oil and wall hang then that's what I will do but if just the bare minimum to make it fore and safe won't hurt to bad id really love to make that happen.

[John Dallas]

If you let us know where you are, we may be able to point you towards someone who lives near you and may be able to give you a better assessment.

[Dean Romig]

Both hammers are cheap non-factory replacements.





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[David Noble]

Joseph, if you are just wanting to shoot a few times or occasionally and you are a bit handy with gun repair and woodworking, you could probably get the gun back to light shooting condition. The stock will need to be removed, cleaned up, glued or epoxied in the cracked areas. The locks are set back from the frame a bit so this will have to be addressed also. Some glass bedding might tighten the stock to the frame and close the gap for the locks.
Mechanical repair depends on the cause of the hammer problems, but can certainly be fixed with careful work or replacement parts.
The barrel pitting, if not too deep, will not affect the ability to shoot, but I would recommend having a qualified gunsmith inspect the barrels for wall thickness. The barrels should lock up tightly to the receiver but if they are just slightly loose you can cut a shim to place between the lug and the pivot pin to tighten that up. If they are excessively loose then the repair would be much more difficult and a tad expensive to have it done correctly.
All in all, you should be able to get the gun to a more shootable condition without too much expense if you can do all the work yourself. Shoot light loads of the correct length and don't use too much oil!

[Joseph white]

I'm in bremerton WA. I'm willing to travel some to a good recommendation or send the firearm to a trusted source.

[Joseph white]

Dean romig i do not doubt your knowledge in anyway however I would like to know how you can tell the hammers are repos.

[Dean Romig]

Over decades of looking and handling Parkers you just learn these things.






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[Bill Murphy]

Maybe better pictures of the cracks would bring more advice or assistance.

[Brian Dudley]

As dean states, the hammers are not original. And it is very easy to tell if you know proper parker hammers. The shape and finish is completely different from what you have on that gun.
You are into the gun for about what it is worth realistically in its current condition. But it wasn't a deal or anything. You are certainly justified in addressing glaring issues and making it serviceable. But not more than that.

[Dean Romig]

Dean romig i do not doubt your knowledge in anyway however I would like to know how you can tell the hammers are repos.


Incidentally, I didn’t say the hammers were “repos” - I said they were cheap replacements. They actually resemble Remington hammers.
You can have ‘reproduction’ hammers made by David Fjelline in California that are quite strong and servicable and look just like original Parker hammers.





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