Parker hammer gun question

[Michael rivers]

Hi guys I’m looking at a gun and it has XU above the serial number on the table do you know what grade that is ?

[Dean Romig]

If it is a gun prodeced by Parker Bros. Meriden, CT I haven’t seen one with XU but have seen lote with just the U. Those are the Lifter action Parkers. Stamps also seen are such things as F.9.R.


Maybe others have seen the XU stamp.


What is the serial number please?





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[Michael rivers]

Thanks mate it’s 13464

[Michael rivers]

It’s a lifter with Damascus barrels

[Michael rivers]

What does the U mean?

[Randy G Roberts]

What does the U mean?

Under lifter would seem plausible.

[Dean Romig]

Okay, on page 576 of The Parker Story there is a picture of the water table of Parker No. 13900 with the UX stamp.
I have always thought the U represents Underlifter too and according to The Parker Story, pg. 590 states the meaning of the U stamped on the water table of guns approximately manufactured in the 1870’s is unknown.

For myself anyway, until something surfacees proving the U has a different meaning, I’ll continue to presume it represents “Underlifter.”






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[Bruce Day]

So what is the source of your belief that Parker ever called the action in issue an “underlifter” ?

[Dean Romig]

The Serialization book lists a Parker’s basic features in 6 distinct columns, the second of which, after the serial number is the A column which represents action type, the first column is GRA for Grade. From the very first serial number listed up to S/N 24821 they all show a U in column #2, the Action column. S/N 24822 begins the T designation in column #2 for Top Action.

I think we can conclude that the U is not the grade of the gun but rather the action type, “Underlifter.”





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[edgarspencer]

Does anyone have an actual letter for their gun, quoting from the order book, that Parker wrote in the term "Underlifter" ? The letters which I have state "Lifter Action". Seems to me the records would say 'Under Lifter Action' if the U was used by Parker brothers to signify the action type.

[Dean Romig]

Does anyone have an actual letter for their gun, quoting from the order book, that Parker wrote in the term "Underlifter" ? The letters which I have state "Lifter Action". Seems to me the records would say 'Under Lifter Action' if the U was used by Parker brothers to signify the action type.


Here you go Chuck - your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to search all of the production books up to serial number 24821 to discover if the term “underlifter” or “U” was ever used by the scribes who recorded all of the guns produced.






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[Dean Romig]

Edgar, being clearly in the “Action” column, what else could the “U” POSSIBLY represent?

I dearly wish Charlie Price was still with us, certainly for many, many reasons but he’s the man who could put an end to this.



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[edgarspencer]

I can't answer your question. The four authors of The Parker Story, tabulated the guns, in each grade section, as "Lifter-Action" (in one case, just 'Lifter') "Top-Action", and "Hammerless".
Price, The only one of the four original Authors, co-authored the serialization book with Fjestad, and only in that publication is the "U" used to describe the type of action.
So, Who made the decision to use the letter "U" ? Why not "L" ? Certainly not because 'L' could be confused with 'Laminated', because they aren't the same table column, just as "U" is in the Action column, but there IS a documented use of the letter in the grades of gun.

[Dean Romig]

Charlie Price and Bill Furnish used the term “Underlifter” frequently in their communications about hammer guns with this kind of action. I think Charlie was as well-versed in Parker hammer guns as probably anyone else in the country.





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[edgarspencer]

I think we've all used the expression, but it's just a colloquialism. If The records don't yield evidence that is what it means, and TPS certainly offers no support for the argument, then there ya go. Communications between two people, especially when one of them may have been the originator of the U, sounds more like, simply, his own interpretation.

[Dean Romig]

I'm not convinced that your opinion is correct Edgar. There HAS to be a reason that the "U" was put in the Action column. There IS an answer someplace and it will turn up, just as the meaning of the "OV" designation for the Trojan will someday turn up.





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[edgarspencer]

I'm not convinced that your opinion is correct Edgar. There HAS to be a reason that the "U" was put in the Action column. There IS an answer someplace and it will turn up, just as the meaning of the "OV" designation for the Trojan will someday turn up.

All that aside, The original question was referring to the stamping on the watertable. Since no other type of action existed at the time that gun was made, why the need to stamp the action type. What other gun ever had any stamping that identified the type of action?

Of course there HAS to be a reason the U appears in the 'Action column', but that doesn't mean that reason originated with Parker Brothers.