Late Meriden GH 16g Skeet Gun

[Brian Dudley]

A local gentleman had me do some work on this beautiful little 16g. Parker Skeet gun. It is a No. 1 frame Extractor gun with straight grip and factory BTFE. It was made in 1936. The last year that Parkers were made in Meriden before the move to Ilion. It is not all too often that guns like this surface.

There was a crack from being dropped that started behind the upper tang and went down the upper border of the one checkering pattern on the wrist. The finish was very dry in many spots. The checkering was not bad, but the border was nearly gone.
I sured up the crack, freshened up the finish and cleaned up the checkering and cut nice new borders.

The thing that I really notice about these later guns versus the early guns is the engraving is very different in appearance. Though it is pretty much the same pattern, it has a different style and feel to it. Heavier lines for sure.

23157

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[George M. Purtill]

Lovely gun- wish it were mine. I could break some birds in style!

[Dean Romig]

The engraving on that gun has all the characteristics of engraving done by Robert Runge. That's why is looks so different - he had his own style, as did all engravers, but his style is deeper and a bit more open than that of his recent predecessors in the engraving department.

[Bill Murphy]

Is this 16 gauge marked Skeet In and Skeet Out on the barrel flats?

[Brian Dudley]

No it is not. It may not "technically" be a skeet gun, I just refer to it that way because of the additional features on the gun like straight grip and btfe. It is choked more M/M.

[Dean Romig]

It is about everything I would want in a gun to suit my purposes, including the double triggers. I would simply use spreaders in the right tube or possibly both in the early season.

[Bill Murphy]

A great gun with very interesting features.

[Rich Anderson]

I have a VHE 16ga skeet gun and so marked but she's choked .010 & .012 more of a modified choke.

[David Holes]

My VHE skeet 16 is not marked skeet and is reverse choked at 9 and 11 thous.

[John Dallas]

Rich - Interesting that there would be a 16 gauge skeet gun, given that 16 gauge is not one of the gauges shot in registered skeet

[Eric Eis]

Rich - Interesting that there would be a 16 gauge skeet gun, given that 16 gauge is not one of the gauges shot in registered skeet

They made them as I have a match to Rich's gun one serial number off. They also made shells for the 16 for skeet I have some Winchester Skeet shells in my collection in 16. Again why when the 16 was not shot in registered skeet.

[Rich Anderson]

I think when the game was first developed every guage other than the 8 & 10 guages were used hence the 16 as a skeet guage. It may have been used early on in registered shooting but I don't know. Perhaps Mr. Murphy could clear this up.

[Rick Losey]

since the game was developed by New England grouse shooters who are known to ascribed magical powers to the 16 - :rotf:

and Foster, a grouse hunter known for his 16 guage "little gun" - came up with the idea of cutting the clock in half to give us the modern skeet course -

why wouldn't they have shot the game with it with it?

even though it was eventually classed with the 12 as regulations grew, it was still what a lot of them shot.

[Jeff Christie]

It is my understanding that you can/could still shoot a 16 in registered skeet. You would shoot in the 12 ga class. Many older shooters shoot their 20's in 12 as they are recoil sensitive. I believe the first National shoot was won w/ a 16 and it may well have been a Parker. It may have been high overall in Juniors- how quickly our memories dim.

[Brian Dudley]

There was a separate thread not long ago about the 16g being used in skeet. Check it out.

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8324&highlight=Skeet

[Bill Murphy]

The linked thread tells it all. However, in a nutshell, skeet is largely classified by shot weight except that you can't shoot a bigger gun than the class you are in. The 16 could always shoot in the 12 gauge class. Dick Shaughnessy won a National Championship in 12 gauge class in 1936 shooting a 16 gauge Model 21. I'm sure many championships have been won over the years with the 16, but this is the only known National Championship won with the 16. Today, many NSSA championships in the 12 gauge class are won with the 20 gauge gun, including World Championships, which are the same as the old National Championships, renamed.