I suspect a lot of that was done at Meriden and even some at Ilion but at least those workers knew that the pieces would need hand fitting.

Simmons ain't what they used to be and haven't been for a long time. I've known this for quite awhile, hopefully the barrel thing confirmed it for everybody else.


Destry

Yup-- Ol' Ernie Simmons would be turning in his coffin
 

best way IMO- to insure proper parts pertaining to Parkers when dis-or re-assembling same- use masking tape and magic marker pen- number them in order as you remove them- especially since Parker guns had "indexed screws"-- sure sign of a ham-fisted bozo when you see miss-timed screws with boogered up slots on a Parker-

About three years ago I sent a set of 12 gauge FWE 28" field grade LC Smith (Armor steel) to Simmons for a friend in Iowa- he had his father's 12 FWE Ideal with ruptured barrels due to snow obstruction in a Winter rabbit hunt=-they did a first class job for him-- But I agree with Bruce and others, any competent gunsmith will strive to keep ALL the parts with the particular gun upon which he is working at that point in time-:bigbye::cool::cool:

I'd just like to add that I'm glad YOU figured this out, because I don't think any of us "internet gunsmiths" would have EVER thought of that!

It is sad to think that a company that thought they could make Parker barrels didn't know that parts weren't interchangeable...

Jim

Interchangable or not, even if I sent a dime store Remington 870 to a shop for repair I would expect to get all of MY parts back. I don't know what to make of that, hard to believe a shop could do such a thing, but unfortuantely there are alot of those guys out there.

I've talked to Tom Carter and unfortunately, he doesn't have a 004 SN gun. So, if anybody had a gun at Simmons for the new barrels they were going to make, its possible theirs is the 004 gun with my 859 cocking hook in it. Trade you.

I agree with Destry about the decline in the work now done in Olathe. BTW Bruce I have used J.J. Perideaux at Champlin in Enid as he is a Marcel Thys trained man and his work for me has always been first class. Besides I can drive there in 3 1/2 hours. I also had a loop come loose on an "Elsie" 20 gage and took it to Mike Allee there in Kansas City,who has done some "French Gray" for me on some custom rifles, and he resoldered it with a high strength low temp solder that didn't mess up the original (85%) blue. To top it all off, the gun had some slight looseness between the barrels and frame when in the open position but not when closed even with the forend off. When the loop was resoldered all trace of looseness is gone and it"snaps" shut characteristic of rotary top bolt guns. I think the loop was loose when I bought it but was undetectable until I shot a couple rounds of clays with it. I took the forend (beavertail) off and the loop came with it. I found also the Baker Type spring forend attatchment is more prone to this than a latch type (Deeley) or a pushrod (Anson) fastener. Have a great one!! Lee.:bigbye:

What is your experience with the LC Smith "Curtis" style
 

-- IMO- early extractor Smiths had a not 100$ secure latching system- but the Curtis system for extractor Smiths from 1914-1920 was a great design- IMO-- too bad there was a patent right lawsuit- plus the Bros. Hunter going into the $ crapper with their waterway/canal project that drained the gun works of needed capital--:bigbye::bigbye:

Agreed on the "Curtis" fastener. This little girl is a 1947 Hunter Arms Marlin in the Featherweight Deluxe Field edition according to the original order form and was ordered with a pad (Jostam), checkered beavertail forend, and the "single sighting plane" high rib. It is choked full/xfull with 28" barrels. The wood is serialed to the gun and since it's a Marlin Field, the snap on beavertail. I got it from the original owner who worked for and ordered it through W.A.L. Thompson Hardware Co. in Topeka, Kansas. I just had to have one Smith. Lee.