Here is a copy of the letter. It reads gun was done by Del Grego prior to 1980. Larry stated this because unless I had an exact date, he said it takes to long to search through all of the records. This gun was bought by a friend along with a VH and a CHE all three were restored by the previous owner in the late 50's. Gun is perfect with the exception of the staining a a couple of scratch complements of USPS that istroyed the box

Given that, it looks to me that somewhere along the line the VH forend wound up on this GH. The Delgrego's know the proper checkering pattern for a G grade.

Under normal circumstances I would be reluctant to remove screws that have been untouched for 50 years, but since my friend has the VH we will know shortly

Well all numbers match ????

It's a great gun. Leave it alone.

I have never seen a Del Grego restored Parker that had the wrong checkering pattern for the grade - in this case, A GH gun with VH or PH forend checkering pattern and the checkering on the grip is not correct on the lower part of the grip below the end of the trigger guard tang where the correct Parker pattern was a radiused sweep back over the grip cap rather than the 90 degree angle this one takes. I'm having a hard time trying to convinve myself this gun was done by Del Grego.


And now I'm editing my post after having read the April 2010 letter you posted from Del Grego..... only to say that I guess The Del Grego's weren't as accurate with duplicating Parker checkering patterns as they ought to have been.

Well maybe Larry Del Grego will cover this under warranty ( rework).:rotf: After all it has only been 50 years. Nicely done but a shame it does not follow the original pattern. With 3 guns there possible the wood got mixed up, after they sanded of the checkering. This wood is rather plain, yet the wood to metal fit is great. I will call my friend and see about looking at the VH.

Obviously, LDG did not replace the wood or initiate a new checkering pattern. If he did anything to the wood, he sharpened the incorrect checkering and refinished the wood without drawing the oil, an expensive fix that will need to be refixed. I doubt that Del Grego did the wood, even though Lawrence or Babe said it was their work. It's still a nice gun.

Well Larry had the gun in his shop in March so he could inspect it first hand. You would think he could Identify his work. But then again lots of questions on this one. Even has the black Del Grego recoil pad. I was going to put it on Gunbroker but will hold off for now. Too many issues. I appreciate all of the feedback.
Phil

Everyone is assuming the gun had the correct stock/forarm wood when it went to DelGrego's. Perhaps the wood was replaced befor the rest of the gun was sent for restoration.