12 Gauge Lifter #1102

[Matt Buckley]

I recently stumbled into this 12 gauge lifter on a Twin Cites, Minnesota gun shop website. I liked the beautiful wood on this lifter and the light 7 pound weight for a 12 gauge so I purchased it and sent in for a letter. The barrels are 30" Laminated Steel and seem fairly thin at the breech compared to later guns. The firing pins are 1 1/16" apart which would corelate to a #1 frame. The MWT 7" from the muzzle are .010 and .016. The bores have some very light pitting about 1/2 of the barrel from the breech. I wonder if the other half were polished out at some point. The top rib is also letting go in a spot a couple inches from the muzzle. The gun locks up tight and is on face. The frame appears to maybe have been browned at some point. The trigger guard is early enough not to have the serial # on the outside but when I pulled it off the stock the serial # is stamped on the inside.

This gun was sent to W.A. Fulmer of Hamburg Iowa which is a town close to the Missouri River in SW Iowa, about 250 miles from where I live to the SW. A quick google search of W.A. Fulmer revealed that he was the editor of the Hamburg Democrat newspaper from 1870-1881.

A couple of interesting things about the letter were that the gun was shipped in 1877 even though I would have thought this gun to be a much earlier lifter. Lifter #1103 was shown in the Fall 23 Parker Pages (picture included) and was listed as a 1873. The second interesting thing is the letter lists this as having Damascus barrels but they are Laminated Steel. The top pin in the lifter mechanism is plugged as well on this gun.

[Garry L Gordon]

What a handsome gun.

[Jay Oliver]

Very nice Matt! It's great that the person who ordered it was listed in the research letter. That receiver or gun must have been in inventory for 4 years. It's great to have a Parker that you can find some history on, I think it's what makes this hobby(addiction) some much fun and rewarding.

I have a few early lifters with the thin chambers at the breach. I think it was Parker's version of a 1 frame before they designated frame sizes.

That is a nice early lifter...enjoy!

[Mike Poindexter]

Its hard to make out what is left of the composite pattern, but it may well be the Parker-made laminated steel in the herringbone or "Toncin" pattern. If so, there should be a capital P stamped on the right barrel flat. Either way, this is a lovely gun you did well to get.
Congratulations on a great find!

[Matt Buckley]

There is no P on the barrel flats so this was not a set of barrels made by Parker.

[Arthur Shaffer]

The caption on the picture differs by the year and also they quote it as a $145 (I assume a discount on a $150) grade gun. Interesting.

[Matt Buckley]

I wonder if my gun wasn't discounted as well. All the early price lists I have looked at go from $150 to $100 and then $80. The $80 guns are listed in the price lists as back action guns so I figured mine was at least a $100 grade. Your latest 1874 lifter thread kind of spurred me on to find a light weight lifter as well which I have found with this one.

[Matt Buckley]

After closer inspection of the barrels I noticed on each barrel under the forearm a small P.B. inside a shield. I'm guessing this is Parker Brothers mark indicating these barrels were made by them. I don't see any Birmingham Proof Marks on them. There are some also interesting marks on the barrels and lug. There is in the letters J J, what appears to be an omega proof mark, and 3 J.L. on the barrel lug.

The barrels weight 3lbs even with just a little bit of choke in each barrel. Very similar to your set of barrels Art on your 1874 Lifter.

[Arthur Shaffer]

That's a pretty early gun. Have you measured or tried the chambers? Mine originally had chambers for brass shells. I know this because the only factory record was when the owner sent it back to the factory to have the chambers rebored for paper shells. This was well into the 1900's and cost $1.25 including return.

[Jay Oliver]

Matt, I am not 100% certain when it stopped, but that shield with PB was stamped on all early barrels regardless of steel type. The Parker made barrels I believe are laminated only and have a "P" stamp and are a different pattern of laminated steel and used from 1877-1880 on lifters.

Those are nice barrels on that gun. That was a really good find.

[Matt Buckley]

That's a pretty early gun. Have you measured or tried the chambers? Mine originally had chambers for brass shells. I know this because the only factory record was when the owner sent it back to the factory to have the chambers rebored for paper shells. This was well into the 1900's and cost $1.25 including return.

The chambers measure 2 5/8"

[Arthur Shaffer]

Matt

I was wondering if that early gun was chambered for a thin wall brass shell. It may not chamber a modern cartridge without reaming the chamber.

[Matt Buckley]

A federal paper load chambers just fine.

[Dean Romig]

There is no P on the barrel flats so this was not a set of barrels made by Parker.

The P on the barrel flats is most definitely how we determine if the barrels are Parker made. Can you show a good picture of the flats showing a P on the more forward section of the right barrel flats where we normally see the identifying stamp for the type of barrel steel?





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[Matt Buckley]

Barrel Flats, no P.

[Dean Romig]

Thanks Matt.
The letter states Damascus but sometimes Parker used that term when they didn’t know what the barrel steel was. What does the rib legend say it is?





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[Matt Buckley]

The barrel rib say Laminated Steel.

[Arthur Shaffer]

I am having a hard time seeing a P in the picture. On the few I own with Parker laminate barrels, the mark is on the right barrel flat, up near the lug at the front of the barrel flat and oriented to be upright when viewed with the outside of the flat to the bottom. Hope that makes sense. All the twist barrels I own are marked in the same location with the same orientation. Don't know if this is luck or by design.

[Jay Oliver]

These barrels would predate the Parker produced barrels with the "P" stamp. The non-Parker made laminate barrels have a different pattern.

Here is an example of both with the top being the non-Parker tubes, which should be what Matt has and I have a few as well.

The Parker made tubes have more of a herringbone pattern...

[Dean Romig]

That it probably correct Jay as we don’t know the date in 1877 that Parker Bros. began supplying their own in-house made barrels and we don’t know the date in 1879 that they ceased production of them. (And there is a very obvious difference in the pattern of the laminates of the two example pictures.) However, they continued supplying their own barrels well after they stopped the production of the barrels… I have a D-grade 16 gauge lifter with 27” (original length per the research letter) Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels ordered in 1881.

My own research indicated the possibility of approx. 300 guns produced with Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels.




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[Arthur Shaffer]

I have an 1878 10 ga that is marked Damascus on the rib and books as a Damascus (supported by a letter) but is obviously a Parker made Laminate and is stamped with the P on the flats. I think Dean is correct that there were more than the roughly 180 tabulated in TPS for the simple reason that Parker was proud of the barrels and sometimes labeled them Damascus for the simple reason that they were installed on the intermediate grades of guns that were normally spec'd with Damascus barrels. It is further clouded as pointed out by the fact that they resemble the Toncin style of Damascus made in Europe. I think they are one of the most attractive forms of welded barrels. I have also always admired the laminate patterns similar to the top picture. I own quite a few high grade English guns from the mid 1870 era that have that style of laminate and they are incredibly beautiful.They also were considered very strong barrels at the time.

[Dean Romig]

I just bought a Grade 2 Lifter with what I consider to be about the prettiest, most perfectly made Parker-made Laminated Steel barrels I have ever seen. I haven’t received the gun yet but I think I’ll be VERY happy with it.

[Stan Hoover]

Nice find Dean,

They are beautiful!!

[Arthur Shaffer]

That is the most amazing banding pattern I have ever seen on those barrels. They look like a form of inlaid mosaic pattern.

[Dean Romig]

I thought so too Art.





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[Dean Romig]

Nice find Dean,

They are beautiful!!



Our mutual friend Keavin Nelson went to a gun show and notified me of the gun he saw there. I asked him to go back and buy it for me.





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[Matt Buckley]

Very nice barrels Dean, and it shows clearly the P mark to look for on Parker made barrels.

[Bill Murphy]

Congratulations, Dean. Tell us more when you get it.

[Dean Romig]

I will definitely share what I find.





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[Mike Poindexter]

I see the radiused breech face which would put it towards the end of the Parker laminated period. Serial number probably in the high teens, low twenties? Condition, condition condition!