?'s on an 1890 PH with Vulcan barrels

[Bill Davis]

I've acquired a 12 ga. PH Grade gun serial number 59683 made in 1890. It is a # 1 frame gun that weighs 7lbs even with 30 inch Vulcan steel barrels that are numbered correctly to the gun. It also has ejectors which I believe were added when the barrels were fitted. The gun has the early non-slotted hinge pin. I'm ordering a letter and that may shed some light on the conversion, if I'm lucky. I'd love to hear comments from other Parker owners who have or have had re-barreled damascus guns. It's the trimmest 12 bore Parker I've ever owned and I plan on using it in the field. The chambers are 2 3/4". I appreciate all of your responses! BD

[Dave Noreen]

My 1889 vintage, heavy, Quality 2, 2-frame, hammerless, Damascus barrel 12-gauge gun, was fitted with a set of Vulcan Steel 32-inch 20-gauge barrels, sometime after they changed the rib address to CT, U.S.A. At that time the gun was fitted with the post-1910 bolt and bolt plates on both sets of barrels.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Parker/Big2001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Parker/Big20045x7.jpg

The gun is currently with Craig Libhart for new wood and a reblue on the 20-gauge barrels. My appologies to regulars getting tired of these pictures of my old two-barrel two-gauge set!!

[Bill Murphy]

Please post the letter when you get it. This should be very interesting to those of us who search for "extreme provenance".

[Bill Murphy]

So, Dave, what was wrong with the original wood? And where are you on Craig's schedule? Serious Parker rescuers want to know.

[Dave Noreen]

The original stock has extreme drop, and I've been shooting it with a slip-on monte carlo. Also, has a chip out of the toe including the toe of the butt plate. This gun was used a lot. The checkering is mostly worn off the grip and both forearms, and parts of the butt plate are smooth. It was not a gunroom queen.

I dropped the gun off with Craig at The Vintage Cup. We've emailed back and forth, and selected the blank to be used. Craig has done drawings and dimensions are settled on. The major thing I need to decide on is do we use a repro buttplate or a recoil pad?

[LarryAngus]

The original stock has extreme drop, and I've been shooting it with a slip-on monte carlo. Also, has a chip out of the toe including the toe of the butt plate. This gun was used a lot. The checkering is mostly worn off the grip and both forearms, and parts of the butt plate are smooth. It was not a gunroom queen.

I dropped the gun off with Craig at The Vintage Cup. We've emailed back and forth, and selected the blank to be used. Craig has done drawings and dimensions are settled on. The major thing I need to decide on is do we use a repro buttplate or a recoil pad?

What size butt plate does it use. I have an original butt plate. It has a large #1 on the back. It has mild wear but looks great. I also have the screws. I was going to use it on my Parker 16 Trojan, but I went with a butt pad instead since when I removed a messy pad the stock was sanded straight. I was told this is for a 20 or a 16, but I am not sure. I know this is not the "for sale" forum, but you have a nice gun and I want this to go to a good home....

[Daryl Corona]

Dave,
Neat gun. Show it all you like.

[Dave Noreen]

The gun is with Craig on the other side of the country from me. The original butt plate screws are in fine shape, but I don't know the size of the butt plate. This gun started life as a over nine pound, 2-frame, 12-gauge, so it had a fairly large butt, more like a 3-frame 10-gauge.

[Bill Murphy]

I would use nothing but an original #2 butt plate more than 5" in length. How about an original skeleton butt. It's only money. My latest project has a big skeleton and it looks great on a brown VH.

[LarryAngus]

The gun is with Craig on the other side of the country from me. The original butt plate screws are in fine shape, but I don't know the size of the butt plate. This gun started life as a over nine pound, 2-frame, 12-gauge, so it had a fairly large butt, more like a 3-frame 10-gauge.

I hear lots of discussion regarding frame sizes. Is there a chart in one of the Parker books or somewhere else that would provide general specifications on what frame sizes go with which guages and type of Parkers?

[Dean Romig]

Yes, in both The Parker Story and in the Serialization & Identification books.

[Dave Noreen]

Parker Bros. did so many weird and wonderful things to satisfy a customer's desires it boggles the mind. Some years ago, Jack Puglisi had this HEAVY 12-gauge built on a 6-frame, normal for an 8-gauge --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Parker/6frame12-ga6.jpg

Normally 10-gauge guns were on a 3-frame, but we know of at least one 10-gauge built on the 1-frame which was normally used for the light 12- and heavy 16-gauges. One year when Kevin and I were doing the PGCA booth at The Vintage Cup at Sandanona, we had 20-gauges on the 0-, 1-, and 2-frames on display.

[Bill Murphy]

Unfortunately, the frame size charts in those two publications do not include some of the more unusual gauge/frame size combinations. Examples of odd combinations are ..410 on the #00, 28 on the #000, 16 on the #3, 12 on the #6, 10 on the #6, 10 on the #1, 20 on the #2. There are obviously more oddballs out there, because I have seen all I mentioned, and I don't get out much.

[Robin Lewis]

Look over the "Technical Information" link on the parkerguns.org page.