And those smokeless RST shells are so much cleaner to shoot and clean-up is a breeze compared to cleaning your gun after shooting black powder.
A great many of us shoot our Damascus or Twist or Laminated Steel barrels with low pressure smokeless ammo after having determined that they are in good safe condition.





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This is technically none if my business, but , I really wish you would think long and hard about a full restoration. I do not think that the gun looks that bad from what we can see in the pictures. Let a skilled barrel man such as Brad Bachelder look at the barrels first. He can tell you what your options are. Move slowly , think carefully, and seek advise. The wood can be gently cleaned up, also the frame can be cleaned up with a Frontier pad and Hoppes or light oil. These old guns have a beautiful patina that can not be replaced or regained once lost. All of the character will be lost with a full restoration. It is quite reasonable to believe that the barrels will need some work, at the very least removing the 'home grown' sites. But as Edger says, ' they are only original once.' Of course you need to repair broken or damaged parts but the guns can take on a warm feel , especially a family gun like yours. It would be a shame to take all of that away from the gun. I'm sorry If I come across as telling you what to do with your gun and how to spend your money, but I have received good advise from others in the past about this type of situation. Some times 'like new ' is not what it is cracked up to be. Respectfully, Mark

Wise advice, Mark.

Well I am off house probation

First of all, I want to thank those who have commented on my Dad's Parker. Tough to see the 82 year young man tear up about one of his lasting legacies as his time is slipping away. I reassured him it will stay in the family. The research I have put into 'ol reliable has been nothing short of 40-50 hours. Having you guys help fill in the gaps where you can has excited all of us involved. Starting to lean away from a full restore, starting to understand what we have and what it should be moving forward. As Matt posted, the pics after deer season will hopefully let all of you in on our family treasure. Please help us continue the "hunt" part of this treasure.

Thank you, Dean

i have a parker which is a 3 frame with barrels that says 7 lbs 14 ounce stamped on it with factory 30 inch barrels..shes heavy but handles really good..hope you get your parker fixed up in shooting shape..i would think twice before i altered this old gun fromits present state..i kinda like the idea of those sights on it.....charlie

Ok Parker friends,
1. is the gun safe and will we ever be able to fire it?
2. Who is our person to check out the barrels and where do we send it and what should we ask about getting it checked out?
3. Stock cleaning, what is the best and how or who should do it?
4. Recheckering thoughts?

help me out guys and gals

matt

Here is my 2 cents

Answer for #1,2 and 3. Send the entire gun to Brad Bachelder. Have him evaluate the gun (especially the barrels). If he determines the gun is sound, shoot it with low pressure ammo.

Answer #4, I would tell Brad to remove the sights as best he can and also have him clean up the wood. I would not rechecker the wood, new checkering without redoing the entire gun would not look proper. Leave it in as original condition as possible, it adds character and shows honest wear.

Since this has so much sentimental value to your Dad, why don't you gift a PGCA membership and research letter for Christmas. We just did that for another member as a gift. The membership can be made active and the research letter dated Dec 25th and present it as a gift to your Dad.

Matthew and Dean -

The T stamped on the barrel flat with the ( above it and the ) below is Parker Bros. stamp for Twist Steel barrels. You already know what the 5 and the 12 stand for, and the J is an inspector's or contractor's stamp, but we don't know just who.
The JS stamped on the lug next to the frame size 3 is John Stokes' mark. John Stokes was a barrel maker or contractor for Parker Bros.





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matt you should be able yourself to determine if the gun ius safe to shoot or not...about all my guns that are old have pitted barrels...they have been shot lots of time..soap and water and a soft tooth brush will help clean up the stock...whats wrong with that sight on the gun some of your ancesters put this on there for some reason i bet it was put on there for deer hunting...if it were my gun i would clean it up as best as i could andif pitts just aint terrible deep shoot them rst shells or load your own..pete lester has all of the 10 ga loads posted for us reloaders...charlie