Lost beavertail forend

[John Gerbino]

After a brief visit to a gunsmith, the beavertail forend of my Parker went missing. This visit occurred about 6 months ago. I did not discover it missing until a few days ago when I took the barrels out of my gun safe and removed the gunsocks. I am making every effort to track down and recover the forend and would appreciate any assistance from fellow Parker owners. The forend is in excellent condition, it is part of a .12 gauge barrel set, serial # 91320.

I am only interested in recovery, no questions asked. Any assistance or information will be greatly appreciated and held in strictest confidence.

I can be contacted at 954 303-0444 or at
jgerbino@gerbinoandassociates.com

Thanks for any suggestions or help with this.
John

[Dean Romig]

And your gunsmith knows nothing of its whereabouts?

I wish you luck. I must have floored you to make that discovery.

[Tom Carter]

John, Can you tell us who the gunsmith was who last had it? Cheers, Tom

[John Gerbino]

And your gunsmith knows nothing of its whereabouts?

I wish you luck. I must have floored you to make that discovery.


Dean, Thanks for your concern and reply. probably not a good idea to discuss the gunsmith at this time.

[John Gerbino]

John, Can you tell us who the gunsmith was who last had it? Cheers, Tom

Tom, at some point I'd like to go into more detail but right now I'm hoping my missing forend will miraculously appear on a backroom shelf in that gunsmith's shop.

Thanks for your interest and reply,
John.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

If he doesn't come up with it I'd make sure and post his name / location so he can be avoided by any of the members.

Destry

[Thomas L. Benson Sr.]

When you say brief visit what did you take it there for and if he repaired it you didn't look at the repair when you picked it up. I,m confused sorry. Thomas

[John Gerbino]

Thomas,

i know one of the gunsmiths at the shop, he and I are members of the same retriever club. I called and asked if I could bring my 1100 in for repair and could i bring my Parker barrel sets along so he could tell me the choke spec's. I brought the 1100 in and left it for repair.

I also brought in my Parker barrels one set with the straight stock attached and the other with the beavertail attached. Both were in individual gun socks which were handed across the counter to the another gunsmith (the owner of the shop). The barrels were never more than 10 feet from me in plain view while the gunsmith ran a device down each barrel and called out the spec's. The barrels were put back in the sleeves, the ends tied and handed back to me -- this took no more than 15 minutes. I never saw the forend removed. And never thought I had to to open the gunsocks and inspect the forends.

I left the shop, put the barrels in my car, went home and put them unopened into my gunsafe. 6 months passed before I went to assemble the Parker and discovered the loss.
The gunsmith doesn't recall the forend being on the barrel and otherwise has been cooperative. I am hoping it will turn up and would gladly pay for its return.

Thanks for your interest,
John.

[Mark Parela]

There was one on on gunbroker or gunsinternation a few months ago out of FL I asked for the serial and never heard from the guy. But what are the chances of that being yours??

[John Gerbino]

Certainly worth looking into. Any chance you can track the message through your computer? Thank you.

[John Gerbino]

Following up on my earlier post regarding my lost beavertail forend SN #91320. A fellow member contacted me and told of a beavertail forend being offered on one of the gun brokerage websites. it was listed for $200. on April 17, 2011, from Florida, where my forend went missing. The fellow asked to see a photograph of my forend, which I sent and he said it looked very similar to the one offered for sale. He asked the seller for the serial number and did not get a reply. Unfortunately he could not go back on his computer to track the seller's email information.

I have been asked the name of the gunsmith who last handled my 2 sets of barrels and placed them in their gun socks, secured them with string and handed them back to me.
Unfortunately i returned the unopened gun socks to my gun safe without looking inside.
The gunsmith is Nelson Wait, at the time he was a tenant at Gator Gun in West Palm Beach. He has since moved to Okeechobee Shooting Sports. The other gunsmith present was Glen Crawford who retained the West Palm Beach location. Both gunsmiths say that the forends were not with the barrels when I brought them in to have the barrel chokes measured. The police have contacted three online gun brokers with the information provided and no record of a Parker beavertail forend has been found. EBAY has been uncooperative and we are still pursuing their records.
I am hoping the Parker owner or the gunsmith who unknowingly purchased my forend will
respect the integrity of my 112 year-old shotgun and return the forend. i will gladly reimburse double whatever the buyers expenses were, with no questions asked.

Contact: jgerbino@gerbinoandassociates.com (954) 303-0444

[edgarspencer]

That just plain sucks. I know there are a lot of scumbags out there, but if you can't trust the gunsmiths, what's next ? Ebay is the absolute worst when it comes to helping anyone but themselves.
If it helps, I know a guy who has several BT fore end woods. Unfortuantely, the latches and irons are not with them, but it's a start if nothing else turns up on your originals.

[John Gerbino]

Edgar,

I appreciate your concern and reply. I would be very interested in speaking to the fellow who has the forend wood. I know another Parker collector who says he has the iron but not the wood. So it is worth trying to build a replacement for the one I lost.

Thank you,
John

[edgarspencer]

I just PMd you the contact info.

[Bill Murphy]

John, I would suggest that the place to look is the April 2011 listing on that "gun site". That sounds like it is probably your forend.

[John Gerbino]

Biil,

I appreciate your concern and reply. The Palm Beach Sheriff officially contacted three of the online gun brokerages, they researched their files with no success. EBAY would not cooperate. I've asked one more online resource to check their records, and we are waiting for a reply.

Happy Thanksgiving,

John Gerbino