Here's my Oscar Gaddy GH which I bought from John Swindell at the Sanford event a few years ago. John got it as a project gun and had Oscar and his wood man (Washburn I think) completely refinish it, lock, stock ane barrel. I think John got his investment back. It's a #1 frame 28" 12 choked .009 and .032; a great grouse and all around field gun. Oscar covered it with his "preservative" varnish which sort of hides the work he did. I'm tempted to remove it; so what if it fades, I'm kind of fading too. Sorry for the crummy photography.

That's some great wood on yours too Fred. If you use the gun from time to time you should remove the protective finish so you can both fade together. Unfortunately our dogs all seem to go before us but to go out together with a fine old gun.... well, what could be better?

Bruce...in the picture of the top of the barrels at the breach I see a round dot that looks like a filled screw hole? I know its not but why is it there? I had a early VH 16 with that exact dot??? thanks Kenny

Kenny,What you see in that picture is the business end of the screw that helps hold the dollshead rib extension.

Kenny,
That’s the screw that holds in place the rib extension. The rib matting usually hides it. On some early guns I've seen them with a flower engraved there.

You beat me again Dave.

Fred, a quality restoration. I like it. The trouble with most Parker restorations is that they are not true to the original. Yours is.

Do all parkers have that rib ext. screw? If so most are invisable? thanks Kenny

Yes, Kenny. That's how the rib extension is held on. You may need to use a 10x loupe. They are more difficult to see on blued guns and easier to see on damascus guns, but they are always there on doll's head guns. The very early hammer non dolls head guns had continuous ribs. I've not examined a later hammerless with the rare non doll's head, so I wouldn't know about those to know if they used a continuous rib or just had a rib extension piece without the doll's head. So, rib extension=screw head.

I'm using the term "screw" because that's what Dave used. I thought it was a post. Guess I need to get into the diagrams, and Kenny, the assembly diagrams show the structure. I'll bet Austin recalls.

Fred, I'll bet that my friend Jon Swindle would love to see that gun again. Jon bought a gun from me this past weekend, a nearly unfired Smith transition hammer gun with Syracuse frame. Jon's collector interest is mainly "Bill Murphy's Father's Guns", but he has a minor interest in L.C. Smiths.

Bill, Thanks for correcting my spelling. I was unsure, therefore should have verified. My apologies to Jon.

Fred