Talk about drowning in information, but worth every single penny. One mistake can cost thousands. I justified it as "insurance." I think I learn more from this site with (honest) criticism of guns. The PS I use as a reference as it's hard to digest and remember everything.

Welcome Mark, Nothing better than your first Parker! It's hard to find one that hasn't been touched in one way or another. I know it may seem like some are ganging up or bullying you, but I think they're eager to steer you in the direction of what is correct and what is not. I take all remarks or negative comments as constructive criticism. There are alot of great people here in the PGCA, and a lot to be learned. I'm still learning myself, and I work on these guns daily. You should become a member and get in the loop, I guarantee you won't regret it. The people here are very supportive of your love for the Parker. I'm a believer in, if you like it, buy it! I've done it many times, and I'm having fun! Now get out and shoot that gun!
Chris, AZ

Tough advice may not sound good but as mentioned, you can spend a lot of money on a Parker and make a mistake but you live and learn but will always appreciate the advice the next time you look at one and recall what you learned. Many of us have bought before we knew what we were doing and that's ok, just hard to admit. Folks like Brian will teach you and help you all they can and without their advice, I would have made mistakes that could have cost me more than I want to admit....join the club, you will never find a better group of folks to help and teach you to be a proud owner of the best America shotgun ever built. I recently was asked to evaluate a 20 ga. that a friend had bought and even fired, but it was no 20, just another 16, wasn't a Parker but obvious numbers can be changed or altered. If you don't know where to look, you just didn't know, lesson learned and a good laugh later.

Not to disagree with Brian, he has a lot more experience and expertise than I do, but those barrels might not have been caustic salt blued, in my opinion. They could have been done by the Belgian type of blue which is not intrusive. Belgian type blues are darker and shinier than slow rust bluing.

I noticed that the barrels are pretty much soaked with oil. This could result in the shiny and dark appearance. The pictures may not be perfect which could also create a false impression. I believe that we need the barrels in hand to definitively identify the method of bluing.

The case colors do not mimic Parker colors but aren’t bad. It’s hard for me to imagine that someone who has the expertise to case color a gun would salt blue the barrels of a double.

Just my thoughts.

As far as the gun, a 16 bore 0 frame is nothing to sneeze at. They make great game guns. I wish I owned one. Enjoy yours Mark and welcome to the Parker community.

Field Debut
 

I hit the fields today with the new Parker. It was easy to swing, smooth triggers, very light recoil and deadly on quail! Couldn’t be happier.

I have one technical question that hasn’t been answered and is confusing. The marking on the barrel lug is a “K”, not “0” as the proper frame designation. Can anyone shed any light on this?
Attachment 93486

Attachment 93487

Should be a 0 on that lug. With a n unstruck barrel weight of 3 lbs 6 oz, it is a little heavier than mine, but that makes it swing better IMHO. The serial book says O frame.
Looks better in those pictures, did you hunt over your dogs?

Agreed, should be “0”, but it’s not. Gun swings very well. Total gun weight is exactly 6.5lbs. Yes hunted over my dogs. One of many photos today.

I've seen quite a few Parkers without the frame size stamp. Rest assured it's a 0-frame if the firing pins spacing says it is.

The K on the lug was an inspector's mark but with the W.K. stamp (Walter King, gun works superintendent after his father's death in 1910,) the K isn't his stamp.





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Another satisfied Parker customer.

Nice gun, nice dogs. Are those Tennessee Reds?