I will chime in here, I think all Parkers are candidates for restoration, but several things come into play, rarity, desire to keep the gun and shoot it, and if you are like me I do not like to see fairly high grade Parkers left in this condition, This gun is not rare only rarity here is its condition, I would restore the gun" and it can be done" Just look at Charlies "Chicken Coop Gun", a fine example whats possible when it comes to restoration. If you can afford to restore it do it! If not my suggestion would be sell it to someone and feel good in the fact that the old girl will be resurrected! Gary

Just have to say something else, I am presently working on a gun that most would have parted out, This will be ongoing for a while, I wish I would have taken photos of this gun, It is just an 0 grade lifter, but is consecutively numbered to another 0 grade I have so I am doing a restoration on it, I will show photos of the pair when this old girl is finished, they have a home a two gun oak and leather case I bought at a sale in London! Gary

With out a doubt to take on a project such as this one is a commitment to the preservation of this individual firearm. There is no real financial gain to be realized but the satisfaction of taking this out to the clays course or into the field is IMHO priceless. A great satisfaction in the preservation and the passing of the torch so to speak to future Parker enthusiasts isn't to be discounted either.

I have always enjoyed a gun that needed 'cleaning up' more than one that needed nothing.

As I stated I would not consider restoring such a gun but I have to tip my hat to all you dedicated Parker guys who would jump at the chance to save such a gun. WOW I am impressed.

Craig, would you bring back a high grade Fox in this condition?

Dean: No way would I consider restoring a high grade Fox in that condition but that is just me, and I have had the opportunity many times. I am just surprised how many Parker collectors said they would restore such a rough gun without hesitation-----I am very impressed.

Doug Turnbull had a O frame 16 ga. CHE with 30" tubes and safety delete that he had completely refinished. He had it on his site for $30k if I remember correctly, a while later I saw it on GI advertised for much less. Anyone know what it finally sold for, that would be a good indicator of this guns value.

First order of business now is to get some oil and fine steel wool and try to get some of the rust off the barrels or at least slow it.

I wouldn't hesitate for a second to have that gun restored. Craig I have a Fox project I'm bringing to Hausmans.

I have a GH 20 w/30 inch Damascus barrels that Turnbull completely redid. I have no idea what it looked like before the work was done but It's a very nice gun now.

When you stop and consider the price of some of the newer high end shotguns it makes the cost of restoring a Parker look like a bargain.

i too think this lovely old 20 ga should be restored..if i had found the gun i would not have the money to start a full fledged restoration on this but you can have the gun fixed or worked on as money be comes available...i do not look at most guns as investments but this gun done right sure would make you more money than putting it in a bank..also you could think of selling the gun to someone on this a a fair price who has the money and passion to fix this little 20 parker..i think this 20 ga will bring more than a 1000 in its present state.. charlie

Jim Kelly restored another CHE 20 gauge that has been on one of the gun websites for a few years, if you want to see what this one could look like. He did a great job on that one.

I've had laser welding done by a friend with a business in the aerospace industry. This laser work was on small, specific areas of steel barrels, pits were ground out with some kind of micro technique right down to bare metal, and the steel filler was ~ matched with the barrel steel so they didn't have different or mottled colors after rust bluing. I once sent pics of a barrel similar to this CHE to that friend - and then to one of his welding techs - just to get an opinion. Actually its rusting was somewhat less extensive. They both said my barrel could be done and finish up to look OK cosmetically - but because of the very large total surface area to be overwelded, pressure integrity would be an issue for them and thus they wouldn't consider doing mine. Period. I know this input is kind of apples and oranges, but I'm posting it here as food for thought.

PS When posting here about laser welding I usually get PM's from gents asking for my source. Sorry, friend does this work for me as a favor, he is not in the gunsmithing business, and is not soliciting similar laser weld work from anyone else.

My "Gold Hearts Parker" was a rusty mess when it came home to my house. The restoration was limited to the two sets of barrels and the skeleton buttplate. The receiver was cleaned with oil and fine steel wool and the wood was left in its original finish. You would be surprised how good a gun can look without trying to make the receiver look brand new, just addressing the worst of the other parts. Attempts to recolor and reengrave a high grade receiver sometimes results in a horrible looking final result. Some of the guns from the late Jim Parker's collection are good examples of guns that should have been left alone rather than fully restored.

IMO, the barrels are everything. If they can be saved with over .020 minimum barrel wall thickness the restoration is in order. If the barrels need to be sleeved or lined the value of the gun will probably never catch up to the restoration costs. Personally, I would send the barrels to Kirk Merrington for his opinion.

I have measured numerous small bores that were made in this time period and the barrels tend to be thiner than the barrels made in the 20's and 30's. The thin spot is right in front of the choke.

BTW, a CHE with 30 inch barrels is very rare. There was a gun at the Southern in the same configuration except for a ball grip that sold in the mid thirties. It was not perfect but very nice original condition.

Echoing Mark's comments, TPS lists the C grade guns on p. 298.

The above 30" 20ga with Titanic barrels is the only one made. There were 21 made with 30" Acme barrels.

The barrels of the poster's C are in poor shape, maybe they can be saved, maybe not, and its not possible to tell with the photos provided. Some barrels with rust pits have been saved in the past. The chicken coop 20ga D hammer was covered with a fine bloom of orange rust which was quickly removed. The only part with deep corrosion was the skeleton butt plate, which had to be ground to be fairly thin, then re-engraved. The B hammer had the sculpting on one bolster deeply corroded, which had weld material added. That area was not subject to stress.

Thanks again everyone who has offered advice and direction on this. I am inclined to head down the road of restoration if the barrel can be saved. I took some measurements of the barrels now that finally had some free time.
Chambers 2 15/16"
Left and right bore 0.620
Left and right choke 0.030 down to 0.590
Left and right OD from mid way to about 2" from muzzle 0.694 and the end .695.
Simple math wall thickness is ~0.375.

As stated the barrels are Titanic steel and the bores themselves are super clean. What would be a minimum wall thickness the barrels could be taken to?

Much smarter people then me will chime in here. That said the phrase "it depends" kicks in. If minimum barrel thickness of say .022 is located about 6-8" from the ends of the barrels that wouldn't both me much because the pressures have dropped way down by then anyway, and I'm assuming you would want to handload or shoot something like RST Lite loads where pressures are kept way down. That same .022 sure wouldn't work for me say 8" from the breech. I think halfway down the barrels you'd like to shoot for minimum of .032. Some factory small gauge Parkers were struck quite thin towards the ends of the barrel before the chokes started to kick in. PS. I had Fox early Pin Gun I purchased with some pretty significant outside pitting on the barrels. Had Dan Rossiter strike the barrels to remove the pitting and he had to take them down to .025 about 6" from the barrel ends before the rust blue. He recommended I only shoot RST ammo out of it but thought the barrels would be fine. When they get real thin they can be prone to dents from hitting just about anything (car doors, trees, etc. Ask me how I know :( )

It looks like this gun may have been ordered with 2 7/8 inch chambers. There were a few 20's made on the 0 frame with the long chambers. The ones I have seen went to the west coast. The barrel weigh is also on the heavy side. While your measurement of the OD diameter less the inside diameter is a good sign, the barrels still need to be measured with a barrel wall thickness gauge. IMO, the ribs need to be removed for this restoration to be done correctly. I would say the odds of saving these barrels has gone up.

Minimum wall thickness up in the front is one thing. And your pitting towards the front of the barrels looks workable. And if you are really running high 30s for thickness up there then that should not be a problem in having material to work with there. The more important thing is how much material there is back by the breech. And that is where the pitting looks worse. I like to measure thickness at the forend loop and also in front of the chambers. I like to see thickness of .050 plus at the loop and usually wall thickness will be .090" to .100" at the chamber front on most barrels.

At this point it is all speculation since only a hands on analysis of the thickness in the pitted areas as well as depth of pitting will need to be done on your barrels to know for sure.
By the looks of it, they likely can be saved. But it will be a lot of careful draw filing.

I would not try to turn down the outside of the barrels in an effort to reduce the pitting and rough spots. I would have the pits filled in by micro welding. Consult some of the craftsmen on this forum such as Brian Dudley, Brad Batchelder etc.

The verdict on these barrels cannot be rendered on this site. Although they seem savable, only a professional double gun barrel man can make that determination.

In my view, there are two good choices in that regard: Kirk Merrington or Brad Bachelder.

Since these tubes are fluid steel, some pits might be weldable. File work should be kept to an absolute minimum in any case.

Rather than elicit more speculation, I suggest you send the gun to a pro. Then heed his advice.

Not a Parker but this is my early LC Smith Syracuse extra heavy Quality 3 10 gauge with 32" barrels that had heavy pitting near the breach. The work was performed by Brad Balchelder who used laser to weld under magnification. Call him and I'm sure he will explain how he did it since I am not sure exactly how he did it. In any case, to do this on Damascus barrels is amazing. I'm sure he can help you with fluid steel barrels too.

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...0110804_11.jpg

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...psfa3b9ecf.jpg

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7e7db17b.jpg

Yes, Brad does this work on Damascus guns, as does Dale Edmonds ( through another gunsmith). I have previously posted pictures of welded splits in Damascus and twist barrels and filled pits. Some of the welded seams were quite old, indicating this repair technique has been going on for a long time. and holding since then.

Some people believe that only fluid steel barrels can be repaired by welding pits and implying that if Damascus the pits or even splits could not be welded. That is not the case from what I have seen.

BD:
Mia culpa. Being a ferrous metal composite, of course Damascus can be welded. But with varying aesthetic success by amateurs. Bachelder does well. As do a few other specialists. And... if you were to read my previous post carefully, you will find that I did not say anything about Damascus barrels, nor the potential for their welding.

Brian,
You could always just stabilize/remove the rust, get a stock on it that fits you, and have it cleaned/checked out for safety by one of the good Parker smiths here , and have the coolest shooter grade gun in the woods . It would always have the story to tell and be preserved for a full correct restoration in the future if you wanted to .
Awesome gun and horrible it ended up this way .
Great find !