I've complained about this problem a number of times on this board and I hate to do it again but these barrels make me so d*** angry I'll do it one last time. Photo below shows the gun when its closed (you can see the barrels are tight on the breech). The only way to get the lever over is to slam the gun shut or wiggle and giggle the lever till it moves over. I paid to have them fit to my gun and here's what i got. Seller does not respond to emails or phone calls.

My 16 Ga. set fits about the same as yours in the doll's head area. My lever comes over and the gun locks up alright but the beavertail forend falls off in my hand at about every third shot. Lou tells me "send it back, we'll make it right." I shouldn't complain because I have never given them that opportunity yet.

He told me NOT to send it back... "it would wear in." Subsequent emails and phone calls have been ignored. I don't use it because I'm afraid it will damage my gun. Very very disappointing, especially when the tab was over 2 Grand.

Greg, popular legend has it that 500 Repros were sent to Krieghoff for fitting, but there were more barrels that were not fitted at Krieghoff. I don't know what the total 16 gauge barrel production was, but barrels were offered by Skeuse for fitting here.

500 set of 16 ga barrels were made by Merkel for the Parker repros. Not all of them were used up before they quit making the guns. About 4-5 years ago I obtained 8 sets of the original 16 ga barrels that were off premises. The remainder were submerged in the flood that also destroyed the rest of the Parker repro parts. Actually they were obtained as salvage by the insurance company after they settled the loss. They were then destroyed and not resold, I was told, to avoid any potential liability on the ins. company.

Bill Davis,

It has always been common knowledge that the original 16 ga. barrel sets that were "lost" in the flood were those made by Krieghoff. This is the first time I've ever heard they were Merkel barrels.... You sure about that?

Sorry--You are right. I meant to say Krieghoff--NOT Merkel. The ICD barrels in 16 ga. were made by Merkel. Sorry for any confusion.

Dave- although it is tough to diagnose these things remotely, there are a limited number of things that would prevent your toplever from snapping back on these barrels (presuming they function properly on the original set). I suspicions (as Ho'ace Miller was wont to say...) that the bolt is hanging up on the wear plate (mostly likely the angle of the plate is just a hair shallow. As one can not mess with the bolt on a 2 barrel set, a little engineers blue (or magic marker) on the plate might show you the spot and a stroke or two with a stone might make it work normally. Ideally, you could fix this easily and still complain about in retrospect..a win/win situation for you...:)

Don - I "suspicioned" the same thing and did file the bolt plate down a little (didn't want to get carried away). I next "suspicioned" it may be hanging on the side where the little flange on the bolt hits the side of the wear plate. I tried using some lamp black to diagnose exactly where the problem might be but no clear trouble spot was evident. I need to just send it off to someone and stop b****ing. I apologize for being so negative about these barrels but every time I read one of these threads smoke blows out of my ears.

These problems can be frustrating...I've been there and done that.

Dave, I recommend Russ Bickel.

I tossed in my deposit a few days ago, then went and found a 28g Repro to use them on. Found a nice one at Jaqua's. Then decided to register on this forum. I have a couple other Parkers, both damascus #1 frame 12g.

I called Lou before buying the barrels. He said the barrels are a one time production run. A day later, a lady called from CSM and told me they didn't expect to run the .410 barrels for quite some time, the 410 barrels being the last of all the gauges to be made. She said it could be as much as a year from now. Then she asked if I wanted to cancel my order. I didn't. I'll wait.

Hey Chuck, welcome! Is Jaqua's still selling off their "last batch" or are they just continuing trading in Repros?

Tell us about your 1-frame 12's.

Dean

Hi Dean,
My 28g is a secondhand one that someone closeted. It's been fired but not much. 28" M/F straight stock, SST. splinter. It was a consigned gun.

The #1 frame guns are both G grade extractor guns. One is a 28" pistol grip gun that has been restocked nicely. The other is a 26" straight stocked gun that I'm in the middle of restocking and has .040/.005 chokes and is a great little upland gun.

I had to re-lay the ribs on the 28" gun. It was my first job re-laying ribs. I had been working up to such a job and searched and prodded for information on how to do it. I found it fairly straightforward. I won't go so far as to say it was easy, but it wasn't terribly difficult either. I did a tutorial with pics on it as I went and posted on doublegunshop.com. RevDocDrew (Drew Hause) posted most of it on his doublegun knowledge website. http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/18691676
I did some experimentation on a sample damascus tube with some of the information that Dr Gaddy published along with some of my old emails with him. I got a great result for a black and white pattern and I'm ready to do the barrels I re-layed .

I don't know if I'd have the guts to tackle a rib re-laying job even though one of my Parkers could benefit from it.
Have you shot the gun since re-laying it? I wonder if POI is affected by such work...
People like Drew and the late Oscar are invaluable to the double gun community - we're lucky to have such people.

Dean,
I've shot it on a board as well as clays and hunted it since the job. No problems. I spent a lot of time ensuring it went back together just as it had come apart.

Here's the 28" GH
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...kerwphez-1.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...rtsidercvr.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...iggerguard.jpg

Chuck,Who did those barrels?

Dave,
In the pics, a friend had finished the barrels. It turned out I needed to relay the ribs and did so. I haven't recolored them yet. I spent some time learning how on a sample and I'm now confident enough to redo them.

Here's my sample

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...rmanyrusts.jpg

Nice work on the Damascus.

The rest of the gun looks like Turnbull's work - is it?

That's a very nice GH... I'm very envious.

Dean,
It's Turnbull's finishes on the receiver, forend and triggerguard. The prep was by a friend. Also, the stockwork was by a friend using my blank.

I'm impressed with the stock. The wood is very nice but I'm more impressed with the attention your stocker paid to executing the detail of an original Parker Bros. stock - the fluting at the nose of the comb and the delicate lines at the wrist and throughout the stock. Can we see a better picture of the checkering pattern?

Chuck,Thanks for the reply.Your damascus sample is very very nice!

Dean,
Here you go.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...y/DSC_6257.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...y/DSC_6259.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...y/DSC_6265.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...y/DSC_6274.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...y/DSC_6277.jpg

Dave,
That sample is from a section of what was believed to be Lefever barrels. Based on the pattern, I'd say at least F grade or higher. It's a very fine pattern and presents better in an enlarged picture like the post I made. I think one or two more cycles of blueing and etching/carding would darken the pattern a bit more.

I basically rust blued 4-5 cycles with Pilkingtons as normal (rust, boil, card), then used an etch bath of circuit board etchant (40-45% ferric chloride out of the bottle) diluted 6 parts water to one part CB etch. Dip the barrel (sample) in the diluted solution of etch for 10 secs, flood with water and card (scrub) with 000 steelwool. Repeated 2 more rust blue cycles, then etch/card. That was about it by memory. You can keep going on the blue/etch/card cycles and it darkens each time. The number of times you rust blue between etches seems to be forgiving.

Chuck, the checkering is true to Parker Bros. grade 2 perfectly. What a nice job he does!

I wish I had the nerve to try refinishing Damascus barrels...

Dean,
Overall, I think my friend does a better quality job on the stocks than most of the low and mid grade vintage guns had from the factory.

On the damascus finishing, if you're already doing rust blueing, the damascus refinishing is just a little more effort, but not too technical. At least in my one part sample experience.