I really appreciate that you didn't bid when you saw my name. You didn't have to do that but it was very nice of you.

I'll start the barrels as soon as I receive it. I'm anxious to see what the twist looks like.

Thanks to all who responded. I guess it was a stupid question and all I had to do was look at a forend latch to see the patent date but I didn't think of that.

Tom,

From a "newbie's" perspective... It's not a stupid question. Threads like this are very informative and appreciated by the unindoctrinated. There's always much to learn! Thank you for the education.

Sorry, but in point of fact, the Parker latch is not a Deeley & Edge latch. It is a mechanism designed to achieve the latching, but different enough to avoid patent infringement of the Deeley & Edge latch. Barely.

The only US double with a legitimate Deeley & Edge latch was the H&R.

Michael....are you hearing any spring drumming yet? I hope this is going to be a good nesting season without a lot of rain. I'm retiring in June so I plan to be in my coverts a lot more this fall. I'm starting to get excited already.

When I was a small boy and out in the yard, I'd hear what I thought was someone in the woods starting up an engine. Drumming sounds a bit like that. I had no idea what I was hearing until years later when I became informed. I love that sound. It reminds me of my childhood.

One more memory.....As a small boy I was always fascinated with the guns in my grandfathers gun cabinet. The Parkers always stood out to me because of the shape of the floor plate. That intrigued me then and it still does. I love the shape and the way it is fitted.

We're running about three weeks behind compared to last spring in NH. I just recorded spring peepers and tree frog choruses for the first time last Thursday (26th). I was hearing them as early as April 7th last year. No sign of grouse drumming yet, but the population is a little "thin" in my immediate area. Still plenty of snow hanging around in higher elevations.

I'll be making my annual spring fly fishing trek to northern NH, upper Connecticut river, in a few weeks. Will run the setters in a few covers up there to see what's around for birds. We've had a lot of rain in the past week. The water table is quite high and it's pretty soggy around here. Supposed to warm up significantly this week and I expect it to dry out quickly and start hearing spring drumming most any day.

I received the 10 bore Parker in question. The gun is right with nothing done to it. It actually looks better in hand than in the pictures. This is going to make a great shooter. It has no finish remaining, so I'll freshen up the checkering a bit and also the stock. The goal will be a light touch so that the gun still looks old.

I start on the barrels this week. I'm anxious to bring out the twist.

In addition to ducks, I plan to use the gun for grouse a few times. I'll load an 1 1/4 oz. load of #10's to find out for myself how effective this bore and #10 shot is on grouse. I want to duplicate the experience of the old market hunter Dee Slocum. Some of my hunting will be in the area he gunned for the market long ago. I'll be walking in his steps and "finding out for myself". This is going to be a ton of fun.

That sounds like quite an adventure, Tom! Would love to see pictures of your 10 bore as the project progresses.

As far as the fore-end latch. I have two 1877 lifters both with non-radius breech. #9562 has the cross pin type fore-end latch. #11009 has the "A&D" style latch. The wood and metal on both is correctly numbered to the gun. Was there an overlap into 1877 for beginning use of the A&D style or is 11009 a later refit? The wood was stripped and refinished and there is no evidence that it was converted from a cross pin type.