Inherited Parker

[Joseph Castle]

Just inherited a Parker that belonged to my father in law, I collect firearms but not antique so I'm new to all this. Interested in potentially having it professionally restored but not for use, I'd like to hand it down to my step son at a later date since it belonged to his grandfather. It's rough, honestly not sure if restoration would damage it further,and by restoration I'm just referring to cleaning the barrels to show the damascus steel pattern and possibly the stock if I can find someone competent in my area. It's a Grade 2 (code G) damascus steel double barrel, serial 62930 which is returning a manufacture date of 1890. Hopefully the photos attach correctly. Anyway, just an intro, already found a ton of info here and am very appreciative of that. Hope everyone is having a great night!..........-Joe

[Steve Huffman]

I like to see worn butt plates like that but not the rust on the screws .

[Joseph Castle]

Yeah, I haven't done anything to this gun past breaking it down to get photos since I know nothing about it in general or Parkers specifically. No one even knew he had these, he passed away 3 years ago and my mother in law just got to the point where she was comfortable with going through/disposing of some of his belongings. Also had another old double barrel in there in worst shape than this one, stock almost identical but barrel is stamped Wilsons Welded Steel, found a serial but so far haven't been able to find any useful info online about it. Considering my lack of knowledge about these I won't attempting anything myself. If anyone knows of a gunsmith in KY (Louisville area) that has experience with these let me know. Thanks!

[edgarspencer]

From what I can see, there doesn't appear to be anything seriously wrong with the gun. It appears on face. but you can confirm that by holding it up to the light and see if you can see light through the joint of breech face and breech end of the barrels. If it has no wiggle when you shake it, closed, it almost surely could see the field again.
Unlike lots of lesser guns, Parkers are a strong gun. That notwithstanding, I'd suggest some light loads like RST 2 1/2" Lights. That would is older than Zip's ass, so you don't want to be pounding it.
I guess I'd put a replacement butt plate on it, and put that one away.

[Dean Romig]

I wonder about the barrels being original to the gun, or not. The doll's head, lacking engraving that certainly should be present, appears to have been smoothed or filed off in an attempt to lower it's height to better fit the frame.

Just a thought, not attempting to disparage the gun at all.





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[Joseph Castle]

No issues, before this afternoon I'd never heard of Parker before, my interests have always lain elsewhere. Any information I can get helps, feel like there's going to be a steep learning curve and deep rabbit hole to go down with this.

[Garth Gustafson]

Joe, since this is a family gun and you’re planning on passing it down, order a letter. Factory records might answer some questions.

[Joseph Castle]

Joe, since this is a family gun and you’re planning on passing it down, order a letter. Factory records might answer some questions.

Thanks Garth! I've ordered a research paper on it, plan on building a velvet lined walnut box for it at our shop and storing it with dessicant packs to try and protect it for my son. Been looking for a local gun smith but may end up having to ship it. Found a little more on the other DBBL, it's a colton's firearms, c.1900-1901. Sold by Sears Roebuck, manufactured in Toledo, OH. Doesn't seem to be a registry on these so that's likely as much as I'm going to find. As a side note on the Parker, I did find a serial on the side of the barrel lug that matches the serial on the water table, not sure if this is normal as the only place I've seen the serial being spoken of is on the water table but if this is standard it looks like the stock/barrel are original to each other.

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

There should also be one on the forend iron, under the trigger guard, and on the stock under the trigger guard. There could also be one under the forearm tip. If you want to unscrew all these pieces to check be sure to use a screwdriver that fits snuggly in the screws so you do not damage the screw heads.

[Garth Gustafson]

Joe, yours is an early hammerless Parker. 55,295 was the first, probably made late 1888. Like yours, that gun was a 12ga GH with Damascus barrels.