I bought that gun, the fish tail was one reason I wanted it. I wonder if there is another gun (hammer or hammerless) made after that with the fish tail lever?

Thanks Scott!

That is another upper limit

Now, does anyone have a hammerless fishtail Parker below 66,000 or above 74,000? Does anyone have a straight toplever within those serial numbers?

Good snag Jack. I wonder too. Later toplever hammer guns seem to all have the fishtail (that I have seen anyway)

Mills..I have 66,156...12 ga..Should have paid more attention To Mill's ??..Mine is hammer,,,j..

i do not have a hammerless gun with a fishtail but have several guns wwith hammers that have the fishtail....all thee of my parker 8 ga hammer guns have the fishtail....several of my 10 gas have the fish tail....the 8 ga serial no s range from 24000 to 60.000i like the fish tail lever on hammer guns but like the straight lever on the hammerless guns...charlie

1892 DH 12 ga. #70662 has a fishtail

well- how is this for a theory -

when the hammerless first came onto the scene - they were still making and selling hammer guns as well, so the FT still fit a need

as the newfangled hammerless guns took off and hammer gun sales began to decline- the need to use up the FT lever inventory became apparent - so they started putting them on some of the new design.

that would explain why early hammerless do not have them but after a while for a short range of numbers - they show up regularly

BTW - its within your known range - my latest made FT is PH # 70168

I've got a fishtail GH 12 ga. 69,841 ordered in 1892. Damascus 28" barrels. Love the gun.

Matt

Rick, I think that is correct basically . I have not seen any straight toplevers within this range and they appeared on all guns seen in this range regardless of grade. I wonder if part of their reason for being was aesthetic

BINGO! Use up the old stock. THEN make and install the new straight levers. Just good business.