Parker Barrel Wedges

[Harry Gietler]

A While back I asked a question, does anyone know who makes or where to buy barrel wedges (0r plates) for Parker Guns. Some fellows tuned in where they bought wedges and time spent and the amount of work to install it.
Some ware I found out about Louis Rotelli (Classic Restorations) and ordered a few Wedges. The Wedges were precision machined. The time it took me from start to finish was 40 minutes! First time I ever did one. All it needed was a little fine filing and polishing. Thanks L0U.

Harry

PS--I mean the replaceable Wedge for the Locking Bolt !

[Dean Romig]

Harry, I'm kinda lost.... I've always understood the barrel "wedges" to be the engraved triangular areas on the breech end of the barrels as wedges.


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[Bob Jurewicz]

It is the replacable wedge for the locking bolt.
Bob Jurewicz

[Brett Hoop]

I think he means Hayes 1910
Wear Plate. It is somewhat wedge shaped.

Harry thanks for the information.

[Dean Romig]

Okay... I get it now. We should all try to stick with the correct nomenclature. :whistle:

Just sayin'





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[edgarspencer]

Okay... I get it now. We should all try to stick with the correct nomenclature. :whistle:Just sayin'

:rotf::rotf:

[Bruce Day]

Barrel wedges .

[Kevin McCormack]

What ever happened to the terms "bolt plate" and "muzzle keels"? Like "timing" screws, these bastardized definitions drive me crazy!

[Bruce Day]

What ever happened to the terms "bolt plate" and "muzzle keels"? Like "timing" screws, these bastardized definitions drive me crazy!

Well you are right. Don’t go crazy but there is benefit in being precise and in using correct terminology. Barrel keels and bolt plates are correct. A peeve for me is the Parker lifter action. Not underlifter , not T lifter .

[Kevin McCormack]

THANK YOU BRUCE!! I should have quantified my rag with the fact that we here in NOVA are in the middle of an ice storm and that there is talk of postponing (my second) COVID-19 vaccination until next week. Also due to the crappy weather we have not been able to shoot for the last 10 days. I just can't take much more of this!! Saw an ad for a Benelli Super Black Eagle all-camo 3 1/2" mag in one of the sporting gun magazines and found myself actually turning a few pages back to look at it - shudder to think what the Fausti girls would say!

[Dean Romig]

I think the incorrect “T Lifter” reference may have started in reference to the “T Latch” action of the pre-Parker Brothers era on the Meriden Manufacturing design.


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[Dean Romig]

I know I was called out in a previous thread where I made reference to “Underlifter” but only because I have seen it in print of the period, not because I invented the term. Granted, Parker Brothers did not use the term in their operation.

Incidentally, I made that reference to the question that had been asked regarding the U preceding the serial number stamped on the action flats “water table” of some early Lifters.
I don’t recall any other suggestions to answer the question of the significance of the U so I just threw out my suggestion of “Underlifter.” :whistle:



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[edgarspencer]

THANK YOU BRUCE!! I should have quantified my rag with the fact that we here in NOVA are in the middle of an ice storm and that there is talk of postponing (my second) COVID-19 vaccination until next week. Also due to the crappy weather we have not been able to shoot for the last 10 days. I just can't take much more of this!!

Kevin, Think Positively. You could be in Austin Texas

[Russell E. Cleary]

Gun guys should consider themselves lucky in holding the line on nomenclature, compared with what is going on in the marine/boating community. It has become a lost cause, I am afraid, with owners and their crews talking of “driving” their boats; of going “upstairs” or “downstairs”; the “bathroom” down below; the “front” or “back” of the boat; and “parking” them.

“Floors” are now stood on, not decks; or the cockpit or cabin sole.

It may be coming, but at least I haven’t yet heard a commercial or private plane pilot refer to “driving” his plane or an equipment operator speak of “driving” a back-hoe, at least when he is digging, as opposed to going down the highway.

O. K. I feel better now. Back to guns.

[Mike Poindexter]

The permutations of the English language are frustrating, especially in the specialty areas like guns and boats that have several hundred years of specialized use. People without an appreciation for the history of language grow more numerous every year. On the other hand, without permutations we would all still be saying "Wan that Abril with his shoures soute..." Oh well. Bolt plate and keels they are.

[Dean Romig]

I agree Mike but I don't think we should be inventing new words without their being included in a dictionary with their spelling and definition and with an "origin" or at least a reference to the root word before we begin putting them into use.





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[allen newell]

Still refer to the floors in my house....too long in the Navy I guess.

[Bob Jurewicz]

Can the 1910 style "wear plate" be used to replace the earlier 1905 style.
Bob Jurewicz

[Dean Romig]

Yes Bob. Parker Bros replaced earlier versions as a matter of course and a courtesy improvement when a gun went in for other kinds of service and repair and at no charge to the owner.
I have an 1893 GHE that went back to Meriden in 1913 to have ejectors installed and it now has the shouldered plate and bolt with no mention of this service in my letter.





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[Brian Dudley]

Can the 1910 style "wear plate" be used to replace the earlier 1905 style.
Bob Jurewicz

Not without also changing out the bolt to correspond with the plate. BUT... I do believe that the 1905 plates are thicker than the 1910 style, so I am not sure if the 1910 plate can be put into the 1905-1910 barrels without them being too low to mate up with the bolt. In this case, a fatter 1910 style plate would have to be used/made.

[Bob Jurewicz]

After the last two replies by Dean and Brian. I looked at a CHE 16 GA made in 1905 that I knew was returned to Parker in 1909 (PGCA Letter) because the owner complained of it shooting low. It has the 1910 plate and bolt. Further, I went to the Parker Story and found on page 132, second paragraph, a possible explanation addressing the owner's complaint that may have been rectified by the new Bolting System. "The flat surfaces of the bolt and bite were designed to 'prevent lift," according to Hayes's description. No information has been located to indicate whether this 'lift' had been a problem with Parker Brothers guns or whether this was a potential problem that Hayes envisioned."
Interesting!
Bob Jurewicz

[Brian Dudley]

I wrote a pretty extensive analysis on the different variations of Parker bolts and bites in Parker Pages maybe 5 years ago now.

Parker guns started out with a straight bite with the first hammer guns. This required a precision fit but allowed no way to compensate for wear over time. Then the tapered bite was used for many years on hammer guns and also hammerless guns. in 1905 the decision was made to use a hardened plate in the bite which would be replaceable. This design brought back the straight bite. The 1910 design combined both the straight and the tapered bites into one design. Straight on the sides and tapered in the middle. Both designs have their own advantages.

[Brett Hoop]

Brian

I well recall that article. And what I remember is that it was one of the most informative that I had read before or since. Made me an even bigger fan of Hayes.

[Dean Romig]

Hayes was an engineering genius.





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