Parker Trojan Questions

[Arthur Shaffer]

I bought a 20 ga Trojan last week. Typical gun with 28" barrels, everything stock and in decent shape except someone cleaned and blued the action. That will be quick to remove and I think it will look better, but it should be a fine upland and dove gun.

This is the first Trojan I have owned and only the second one I have ever handled. I want to take the lower trigger guard and plate to take a peek inside and do a little cleaning up and lube. It seems like Trojan info is really scarce. It doesn't look to be a lot different from the same graded models but before dropping the trigger/bottom plate off I wanted to be sure there was nothing different that was going to fly out. Is there anything different that I should watch for?

The reason I want to look inside is the odd thing. I have owned a lot of doubles from a lot of makers, but I have never seen one do this. It seems perfectly normal and in good functioning condition. Barrels are original bores and shiny. When I recieved it, I dry fired it to check the triggers and when I pulled the right barrel trigger, it rang with the purest bell/chime-like tone I have ever heard from a mechanical device. It lasted for almost 30 seconds and was loud enough to be heard in the next room. Nothing from the left side. No change with the barrels off. Not muted by holding the barrels or action. It is coming from inside the frame and appears to be some sort of tuning fork type of response. Has anyone ever encountered anything along those lines? This is really loud, not a faint noise.

I am going to try two more things. I am going to measure the pitch with an acoustic instrument tuner. I am also going to dig out a 20 gauge snap cap to see if that eliminates the sound. Any comments would be appreciated.

[Daniel Carter]

Have 2 VH, 12 Ga. that ring the bell both dry fired and when fired. Another VH does not. One does it on 1 barrel the other on both. Firing it i hear it through my cheek on the stock and even with hearing protection it comes through.

[Dean Weber]

Parker pinging is something I have in 2 guns, one more than the other. They ring when hammers are droped on MT chmabers, snap caps, and live rounds. Never tried it without barrels off. I have held the top lever to see if it is the source of vibration but it is not. Seems to be internal and neither has given me problems. Just curious….

[Arthur Shaffer]

This is odd. I currently own around 60 doubles of different types and have bought and sold many more over a lot of years. I have never seen or heard of this before. And this is not a ping or small noise. It sounds just exactly like an old time brass teacher's bell from a 1 room school. Clear, bright and long sustain.

I tried the snap caps and no help. When I install a battery I will try the tuner just to determine the frequency.

[edgarspencer]

While shooting a gun I have owned for a long time, and all of a sudden, when dropping the right hammer, it rang with a perfect tone. It continued to do this, now new sound. Nothing happened to the function of the gun.
On a visit by Brian Dudley, I demonstrated it to him, and his comment, as best that I recall, was that he had noticed this in other Parkers, but not to get overly concerned about it. That was good enough for me.

[David Holes]

we should all post serial numbers to see if there is a connection

[edgarspencer]

I'm guessing it's the actual coiled hammer spring. Any other theories?

[Bill Murphy]

I always thought it was the top lever, but an earlier poster says it is not the top lever.

[Scott Smith]

I had a Trojan 12 ga. that made a pinging sound upon firing. Ser. No range 213,xxx. A friend has an A grade Fox that makes the same sound.

[David Noble]

A friend has an A grade Fox that makes the same sound.

I too once had a FOX AE 20ga that rang. It also recoiled so bad it bruised the middle finger on my firing hand and the forend would jump out of my left hand.
I tried different loadings and had the same results. Never shot it more than six times an outing. That was all my middle finger could handle.
Needless to say I didn't keep it very long. I traded it and a LC Smith Specialty grade 20ga and some cash for my first BHE 12ga 32". Circa 1982

[Arthur Shaffer]

You would need to have a metal on metal strike to initiate it, and some relatively largerpiece that has a natural vibration frequency that continues the sound. I wish I could tape this for upload and play. This is Christmas bell choir caliber of sound. Very pure and musical and very loud and clear for a long time.

Mine is a 1924 gun: 209198.

[J. Scott Hanes]

I have experienced this "pinging" in some of my prior Parkers, too. Not recalling which ones at the moment. I believe the 12 gauge Skeet VHE was one of them.

[David Holes]

217395 is my only ringer

[Dean Romig]

This phenomenon has been discussed here on the PGCA forum in the past. Last discussion was 8-10 years ago as I remember.
My grandson's 20 gauge VH 228145 with 26" barrels does exactly as described with both barrels.


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[edgarspencer]

My bell ringer, sadly, had to go "down the road" to make room (read 'raise funds') to make another purchase possible. Based on Brian's assurance it wasn't an issue, and I never planned on 'fixing' it, but this thread has given me some thoughts what I might have done, if I actually was troubled by it.
I'm reasonably certain is was the hammer spring vibrating that caused it, and I think packing the spring, and cup with a synthetic grease, like the red, 'high tack' grease would have dampened it.