DH 12 Skeet?

[Paul Plager]

Does anyone have any info on a DH 12 ser# 137021 ?
I'm considering purchasing. The gun does not have a safety, leading me to believe that it is a Skeet gun. There is no slot on rear tang for a safety to be installed. The gun is in beautiful condition.
Any help is deeply appreciated.

[Rick Losey]

the book says Titanic 30" barrels - maybe pigeon not skeet?

capped pistol grip no extras

[Paul Plager]

Thank you kind Sir.

[Bill Murphy]

A 137000 range Parker predates the game of skeet by many years. How long are the barrels now?

[Paul Plager]

They appear to be 30" I did not have a tape measure on
me when I had the gun in hand. The gun is for sale
at a gun shop in the Seattle area. I will be seeing it again
on Friday.

[Brian Dudley]

An safety delete gun would be considered a "live bird" or pigion gun. Or in other words an early trap gun. I do not think a safety delete was a popular skeet op option.

[Paul Plager]

So this gun talked me into bringing it home. It was so lonely just handing there
at the bottom of that wall, no other Parkers in sight anywhere. I didn't want it to rust away in all that Seattle rain.

[Russ Jackson]

Nice find Paul ,it's not often any more you walk into a local Gun Shop and there is a Parker hanging on the wall ! Congrats. on your new Shootin Piece ! Russ

[Paul Plager]

Thanks Russ.
When I knew that I was going up to Rainville I started checking on various gun sales sites. I found a couple of places around Seattle that had Parkers on them.
By the time I got up there, they were all gone. After some questions to locals, I found this place. The rest is history.:whistle:

[Brian Dudley]

Very nice find Paul!

Is the gun lacking it's drop points?

[Paul Plager]

Brian, forgive my ignorance but what are drop points?

[Rick Losey]

they are a little extention to the back of the side panel.

they show in the grade identification picture off the home page

or one the D grades here -http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8701

[Russ Jackson]

The Drop Points are the pointed extensions on the Side wood panels of the stock as in this photo ! D Grade and C Graded Guns have these .The Higher Grades are much more elaborate !

[Paul Plager]

I believe they are missing. I will have to wait until tomorow to know for sure, the gun will be delivered on monday. I did not want the hassle of carying it on an airplane and shipped it to myself.
Thank you for the education.

[Rick Losey]

and THEN order a letter :rotf:

I would hope this one would be interesting

[Paul Plager]

Yessir. I'm hoping there is something interesting in the books on this one.:corn:

[Thomas L. Benson Sr.]

Paul: It looks like you found another keeper. Thomas

[Paul Plager]

No Thomas, they keep finding me.:whistle:
I'm thinking on selling the VH12 to support all these upper grades.:crying: my wife can't support all the"D's" & "C's" that I'm finding, not to mention all those other manufactures toys out there.:banghead:

[Paul Plager]

Well the mailman just delivered my DH. As Brian thought the stock is missing the drop points. This leads me to believe it has been restocked. There is no SN under the trigger guard.
This is still a beautiful gun and I am eager to try it out.

[Kevin McCormack]

Great old gun Paul with some really nice engraving (for a change!). A lot of the "stylized" dogs of this SN era came out looking like Pluto and Skeezix; bizarre and frightening in a cartoon caricature sort of way. BTW - absence of a safety is not an automatic validation of a "pigeon gun." There are dozens of smallbore Parkers floating around that were ordered without safeties for a variety of reasons. Never automatically assume that a gun without one is a "pigeon gun." Hallmarks of true pigeon guns built for box bird or columbaire flyer shoots invariably were ordered with long barrels, tight chokes, very straight combs with little variance in drops at comb and/or heel, and in many but not all cases straight grips. (Some believed that the straight grip automatically helped to rotate the elbow upwards, bringing the face into closer and tighter contact with the stock).

[Paul Plager]

Thanks Kevin, the gun does have 30" barrels. I'm not sure of the chokes yet. As it has been restocked, no capped pistol grip or SN anywhere on the wood, and an old red recoil pad with what looks like a hard rubber but plate under it. I think the only way to know is by lettering this gun. I may just end up selling this one. The price I paid for it was an exceptional deal, for a 'D' grade. even with a restock. but I just can't resist the chase on Parkers. Every time I buy one I learn a bunch more.:shock:

[Brian Dudley]

Paul,
I was going to say that I also noticed a lack of the correct Mullard border on the wrist checkering. I had suspected it might have been restocked.

[Mills Morrison]

Let us know what the letter says, but, in the meantime, take her out and shoot her. That is a fine gun

[charlie cleveland]

i dont mind a good restock on a shooter gun in fact its newer wood... charlie

[Paul Plager]

I just recieved the letter on my DH 12ga.
It was ordered for a John Peterson of Randall Ia. On May 30, 1906 by the Peters Cartridge Co. and was shipped on July 26, 1906.
A google search of John Peterson found a 1917 winner of Trapshooting with a 99 of 100 score. This score was in both the NRA publication and Trapshooting newsletter from 1917. I can only presume that they are the same person.
The gun went back to the factory for repairs multiple times for repair. Leading me to believe that it is the same person. One of the repairs was for restocking, so the stock on it may be factory, even though not original.

[Mills Morrison]

Thanks for sharing the letter. I find research letters add a lot of enjoyment to the guns.

[Brian Dudley]

Very interesting information in that letter.

[Kevin McCormack]

Paul,
I was going to say that I also noticed a lack of the correct Mullard border on the wrist checkering. I had suspected it might have been restocked.

That would be "mullered" border; an angled border facing into the checkering line cuts outlining the checkering pattern(s).

[Brian Dudley]

I always have to think about that spelling when I have to type it. This time I got it wrong.

[Bill Murphy]

John Peterson was an active competition shooter. la84foundation.org search is full of mentions of Peterson. You have a real provenanced competition gun from the early 20th century. Congratulations.

[charlie cleveland]

sounds like your gun lead a very grand style of life in her early years...i love these storeys....... charlie

[Paul Plager]

The letter also says there is a rubber stamp on the entry of Order book 80 that says "COMB BOLT". Does anyone know what this might mean?

[Bill Murphy]

Whatever, the "comb bolt" is, it was probably in the original stock. The information in la84foundation documents would indicate that Peterson was a salesman rather than a high average competitior. He shot many shoots each year throughout the midwest, placing in the middle of the pack. The order for the gun through Peters Cartridge Company indicates that he probably represented their brand. He was still shooting 1500 or more targets per year through the end of WW1. I haven't investigated to find out when he dropped off the competition circuit.

[Paul Plager]

Thanks Bill. Most of the la84foundation info that I found I could not read due to poor scanning or very old paper stock it was printed on. Either way it's a cool gun. I havent fired it yet, hopefully I will soon. I've been reading Charlie's posts on the continuing saga of deer hunting and have been dreaming of venison.:whistle:

[Bill Murphy]

I enlarge the original copy so I can read it better.

[Paul Plager]

I tried that, to no avail.

[ed good]

nice gon!