Tim,

The Italian, English, and Belgium barrels found on some Parkers and other vintage guns take away from their collector value but make them great shooters! I own a couple of Parkers with English barrels that are wonderful guns. I also own a LC Smith Grade 2 with Belgium barrels. That Elsie is a 10 gauge and the barrels and action are proofed for the 3 1/2" magnum shells!

As I sculled into a raft of over 2000 ducks this past October I had the Elsie with 3 1/2" Bismuth #4. One shot laid down four ducks. Modern barrels on our old guns are a pleasure to shoot...

Mark

If I had seen your thread earlier I would have warned you that I have recently, within the last year or two, seen four Parkers with replacement European fluid steel barrels marked Acme Steel exactly as you.

Are European barrels still being installed on Parker frames? Was this a practice done in the past and by whom? Was/is it an acepted practice to replace blown out barels/damsacus barrels?

Sound to me like the barrels are sleeved with replacement tubes. Post a picture of the breech end of the tubes. There should be a joint of some sort visable. The fact that the gun was a 0 frame 16 guage originally explains by they went down to a 20g size when sledging. Typically sledging requires the guage to be reduced. Especially if there is not a lot of all thickness. If the gun was a 1 frame, the 16g bore MIGHT have been maintained.

I own two Parkers with English barrels which used the original ribs and lug.

My Lefever sleeved DH 3 1/2" ten has the original ribs and lugs.

Back in the 1960s Atlas provided replacement barrels for Parker Bros. guns, at one point made of Vickers Steel --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...kerBarrels.jpg

A good friend of mine bought a straight-gripped DH-Grade 12-gauge with Italian barrels at Fredrick & Nelson in downtown Seattle back in 1967. We are still looking for the original Damascus barrels for #88224.

Tim, do your barrels have wedge engraving at the breech end?

Dean, No the barrels do not have any wedge engraving or any engraving period for that matter. There is no evidence of sleeving either. I will try to get some good pictures to post this weekend. I am working a lot of hours now and also the flash is not working on my digital camera. Maybe I can get some good daytime pictures outside this weekend. I really appreciate all the input from all the guys here.
Thanks,
Tim

Okay guys, I took some pictures of the barrel and the water table as promised. I don't have the best photography equipment, just did the best I could. I know the old girl looks a little rough. This is the as-found condition, haven't done any cleaning or anything yet.
Thanks,
Tim