And so Mr. Dudley puts the experts experience to the subject and makes my last post obsolete. Thank you Mr. Dudley.

My DH was as tight and smooth as if the gun was new.

Russ Bickel was an awesome gunsmith and a lot of people truly wish he was still with us.





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On second thought, I would cut the old dolls head off, screw and pin a cylinder of steel to the breech. mill off the excess, and finish with smoke and file. To make perfect without engraving figure 2-3 days labor. Not cheap but I think better than welding.

Edgar made a great attempt to explain why a gap would exist at the doll's head after a set of barrels was refitted after correcting wear at the hook and the loop. Unfortunately, I don't see why any "new" gap would exist after making corrections at the hook and loop. Maybe Mr. Dudley would tell me if I am right or wrong. And I'm not making any negative comment about Russ Bickel's work, only about comments made in this thread about guns that have nothing to do with Mr. Bickel's work. Changes in the breech face usually have nothing to do with a gun getting loose. That is why the hook and the loop are usually corrected when a gun gets loose. Again, maybe Mr. Dudley will tell me whether I am right or wrong. I have never seen a breech face filed so the barrels can be set back, therefore creating a gap at the shoulders of the doll's head.

Here you go. This solves the problem.

A real pigeon gun! Obviously not a Trojan.

VH, no safety, 32 inch barrels choked full/full. Straight stock and splinter forearm.

Bill, It was Brian, Not me, who gave the explanation for the gap.

The photo here shows a gun which was off face by enough to see daylight, roughly a sheet of copy paper. Aurora Micro Welding laser welded the hook for me, and I dressed it back down with a 3/8" round diamond file, smoking the hook and the dolls head the whole time. Prior to welding, the front hooked edges of the dolls head were just rubbing the recess. When I finished dressing the hook, the dolls head was no longer rubbing, and if you look closely, you'll see the gap on the front edge. I consider this more than acceptable.

Sure it’s acceptable Edgar, and IMO, so are #’s 2 & 3 in the OP’s first set of pictures… they’re just not perfect.





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The engraving around the edge of the dolls head is still uniform, at the back, which tells me they were not filed.That is the main reason I believe they are added barrels. I'd still probably have trouble looking down and seeing those gaps. The gaps look to be at least 1/16", and you know Parker would not have shipped a gun with a rib extension that much shorter than the pocket it fits into.

edit: I do think the gap on the A grade is better than the gun shown in the third picture, but look at any of Steve Barnett Fine Guns, or Puglisi's higher grade guns. Those are what one would expect.