Nice Butt

[Matt Michael]

:shock:

I was wondering how many different butt plates Parker made. On my 12 ga hammer made in 1877 the butt plate has a dog with bird in his mouth. Ive seen others with just a dog. Also i'm wondering what material mine is made of.

[Jack Cronkhite]

From what I know, there are at least 5 variations of the dog's head marked Parker Brothers and one marked Parker on Remington Parkers. These are made from hard rubber a.k.a. "gutta percha" Very early guns had a solid steel butt plate and then there is the skeleton steel butt plate used on some higher grades. If memory serves me, there is also a checkered version with no butt plate - just wood?? Stand to be enlightened if there are other variations or any erroneous info here.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

There are good examples in the Parker Story forget which volume

[Russ Jackson]

Some one else ask a similar question a few years back ,it has taken me a while to locate this but I knew I had it in the old hard drive ! Taken from the Parker Serialization Book ! Russ

[David Holes]

The early hammer guns had a plate that is brown instead of black. Like the first photo. Does this mean they are made from a different material?

[Dave Suponski]

Parker butt plates were all made from gutta percha except maybe some of the last Remington plates. some of these early plates have turned a brown hue with age. Some fellas on here have devised some ingeneous ways of restoring the original color.

[Russ Jackson]

Hi Dave ,I know some one will get a kick out of such a stupid question ,BUTTTTTT What exactly is " Gutta Percha " and does anyone know of any other applications for it ? Okay you can laugh now !!!:rotf:

[Jack Cronkhite]

More than you may want to know about gutta percha

LINK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutta-percha)
LINK (http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1456)

[Dave Suponski]

There ya go Russ....Thanks for the link Jack!

[Russ Jackson]

Hows that go ,We should learn something new every day , well , just hang around here a while ,YOU WILL !!

[Jack Cronkhite]

not to be confused with "gut a perch"


http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTrR3AJx32sFrAv0H54aOtyZKY3qnPUJ 3ii2vMykKpeJ9QxPk93
credit: google images

[Richard Flanders]

Same idea as the Chicle' trees in Central America that are tapped for the 'rubber' that is used in chewing gum; think Chiclets.... We used to find trees with the telltale V pattern cuts from the cutters in the jungle and recut one once and chewed the resultant sap - you couldn't wear it out. I'd post pics but they're Kodachrome slides. The guys who collected the gum were/are called Chicleros and are folk heroes. They go out alone into the jungle with a pack animal for weeks, collect the sap, dry it a bit and make a ball of it a few feet in diameter and bring it out of the jungle to sell for a lot of money.... all so folks can look cool chewing gum. Go figure.

[Patrick Lien]

Parker butt plates were all made from gutta percha except maybe some of the last Remington plates. some of these early plates have turned a brown hue with age. Some fellas on here have devised some ingeneous ways of restoring the original color.

This old thread had some pictures that I really enjoyed. It included a a picture of a grip cap and butt plate with some of that "brown patina". Perhaps Jack can shoot some close pics of the gutta percha on his Parker and post them.

Patrick

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2837

[Sam Ogle]

Tarnation; If that were a picture of a Parker/Not, you would be immediately burned by members.......so, as an old country boy.........errr, that's a bluegill, not a perch!
Forgive me.
Sam Ogle

[Jack Cronkhite]

You got me Sam. If anyone can find a pic of a perch, I'll edit the post. I found no end of perch pics but not under the knife. One thing for sure on this forum, one best have all the details in order.
Cheers,
Jack

[Frank Cronin]

Parker butt plates were all made from gutta percha except maybe some of the last Remington plates. some of these early plates have turned a brown hue with age. Some fellas on here have devised some ingeneous ways of restoring the original color.

I used tooth paste. I think it was Crest :D Found this idea from vintage car restorers who need to restore the delicate bakelite knobs on the dash. It is a very mild abrasive obviously to use in your mouth. Safe for your teeth, safe for your Parker butt plate.

I'm sure there are other ideas but this worked for me.

[Chuck Bishop]

Black liquid shoe polish works fine!

[David Holes]

I really like the brown look and in no way would try to change to black. Brown looks original to me on a lifter. Dave

[Bill Murphy]

John Havard asked me how to identify the frame size of a Parker stock by looking at the outside surface of the buttplate. He asked because I had identified the stock on Angel Cruz' #1 frame 16 as probably having a #0 size stock. John, the #0 size buttplate has the form of a setter puppy facing left. The #1 size buttplate generally has the form of a bird dog, probably a nineteenth century style pointer, with a woodcock in his mouth. The #2 size buttplate has a big dog's head or the front end of a similar dog, also facing left. I guess that dog is a pointer, but he could be a retriever. The #2 style buttplate is also used on the #3 and larger frame guns, all the way up to #6 and #7, as well as the #2 frame guns. The 0, 1, and 2 are stamped in the back of the original buttplates and some reproductions. #0 style buttplates are not rare on #1 frame guns, nor are #1 style buttplates rare on #0 frame guns. #0 style buttplates seem to be commonly used on #00 and #000 frame guns. Parker would do what they had to do to satisfy a customer or a weight request. I own a 12 gauge 1/2 frame Remington gun that has a skeleton buttplate that is of a smaller dimension than any 28 gauge or .410 bore gun I have owned or seen.

[Dave Suponski]

Thank You Mr. Murphy....Well done.....:)

[Greg Baehman]

For the benefit of us that are still learning, would it be too much to ask if someone would post pic examples of the 0, 1 & 2 buttplates? :duck:

[John Havard]

Thanks Bill!

[Robin Lewis]

You can see them all here....
http://www.gungrip.com/items_457.html

[Bill Murphy]

Another example of a #2, the retriever looking dog head with no body showing, can be seen in the fourth post of this thread. Greg, all other examples are also shown in that fourth post. Just to clarify, there are at least five dog head buttplate variations, but the markings on the back are always 0, 1, or 2. If anyone has seen another number stamped on the back, let us know.

[Greg Baehman]

You're right Bill, I should have gone back and reviewed previous posts in this thread before posting my query.

[Matt Michael]

Thanks Brush Buster for taking the time to find those photos.

[Bill Murphy]

The seldom seen, by me at least, buttplate identified as D-8 in The Parker Story pictures on page 1 of this thread, is seen on the hammer gun in the "Pheasants on Hammer Gun" thread on this forum. It is described as a gun made in 1878 in the TPS picture and the "pheasant gun" was a #3 frame hammer gun made in 1882. From this information, I assume this buttplate was used quite early and probably has a "2" stamped on the back. I don't own an example of that buttplate so I can't comment with confidence.

[Russ Jackson]

Thanks Brush Buster for taking the time to find those photos.

Matt ,You are quite welcome ! Had it in there for a long time and didn't have it tagged very well ! Russ

[Richard Dow]

Like the first "Link" mentions and contrary to the 2nd "Link" gutta percha is and has been used widely for well over a hundred years to fill your root canals. Most of us have some in our mouths. Best, DD