I bought the PHE from a gun dealer, it has two brass screws coming thru the rib where the lug was re soldered years ago, I know it can be repaired but it looks kind of neet to go with its age, and it shoots great at trap , 30 inch full and full. Mine is a 1 1/2 Frame

PDD

Randy, here is what I would do and I'm assuming the gun has sentimental value to you and you want to keep it, not sell it.

To me the gun looks like it's a canidate for restoring, assuming that the barrels are in good condition. You have great looking wood for a P grade except for the forend, and the screws look good. The gun was willed to you so you don't have any money in the gun from purchasing it. The money spent to restore it would be recouped if you ever decide to sell it.

Mimimum I would do is replace the forend wood. If you want to go farther, have the metal recase colored. This would require the engraving to be picked up but a P grade has minimal engraving so that shouldn't be too expensive. I'd also have the engraver file down the trigger guard to remove the name and reengrave it. You may also want the barrels reblued depending on the amount of original blueing remaining. Lastly, you could refinish the stock by yourself which with a little bit of practice, it would turn out nice.

I have no idea how much this would cost but I think you would recover your cost if you ever sell it.

I'd send it to Brad Bachelder in Michigan for an estimate.

The buttstock is in good condition and is very nice on that PHE. However, in my opinion, the wood is too nice for a P grade and the checkering pattern on the wrist is not correct for the grade either.

If it were my gun and I wanted were to do any sort of restoration, I would replace the forend, recut checkering on the wrist, maybe add some finish to the buttstock (but it looks like it might be ok as is), file out the name on the guard, polish and reblue the guard. That would dress the gun up enough and address the issues with it but not be too much.

As expected there are a lot of options out there. Pa SxS; you are right I will never sell this gun. Do you fellows have an opinion about the red colored "Western Field" butt pad? Was that original or is it supposed to have a metal butt cap? B.Dudley are you saying the stock is not factory or the original stock that came on the gun? Do you guys know the guy from Bend, Oregon "Double Guns and Gun Smithing" he has a link on your site and this is not to far from me I acutally travel through quite often.

i d shoot the daylights out of it and be quite pleased with it...if there are no mechanical problems why fix any thing....i kinda like the forearm... charlie

Hello Randy ,I was looking over this thread about 1:00 AM this morning and was just too tired to sit and type ,but I agree with Brian ,I too thought the gun may have been restocked and the checking isn't correct as Brian says , If you are careful not to bugger the Trigger guard screw ,you could take the screw out and lift the rear of the guard carefully not to chip any wood ," Don't pry with screw driver " and with the gun laying on its barrels ,turn the trigger guard counter clockwise , it will unscrew from the receiver and if it is the original stock ,the serial # will be stamped into the wood under the trigger guard , of course it is up to you if you want to check ,but I didn't know if you were aware of this ! Best ; Russ

The western field pad is not corect. This would be an aftermarket pad or maybe one off a Sears gun. Don't quote me on the Sears part. Gun would have most likley originally had a Dogs Head hard buttplate.

If the buttstock is original, then it has been cut for that pad. If you do not like that pad on it, just replacing it with a period correct one would be a good option. A Jostam or Hawkins pad would be a period correct option. But the Pachmyer old english leather finish pads are nice and have a great look on classic doubles. They make a sporting clays model that is very nice if the gun is going to be shot a lot.

Checking the S/N under the rear of the guard would be the way to tell if the buttstock is original or not to the gun. Every now and then a lower grade gun can be found with very nice figured wood, but it is the checkering pattern that concerns me. Maybe it was recut with that pattern or special ordered even. But that style of checkering was not used until the C grade guns. The correct P grade checkering would be along the lines of the V grade pattern. Also the shape of the comb hints to it being a non-original replacement.

Of course all these points are only to lend a hand in your decision of to restore or not and how/what to do. Just some things to think about.

I can't see the head end of the stock but the checkering I can see almost looks to be C grade. Pull that trigger guard screw and check under it for a serial number.

I am no expert, and my statement about P forend checkering being different than V shows that. I was thinking that the P's had a border around the latch and they don't. So I was wrong. However, I am not concerned at all about the wood firgure. Its typical that P's have one nice figured side and the other fairly plain. I have one just like that. You know the forend has some silver wired border in there. You know the Western Field pad is not original and looks odd on a Parker. The stock checkering has a bulge above the grip that is odd and its not C type or P type.....I have both, I think I know. But I have seen and posted pictures of checkering that is odd for the grade . A close look may show it to be original or added but I would not rule out original. I've posted many pictures here of grades with non standard checkering.

By the way, I kind of like these little custom touches. I have seen guns with ivory grip caps and silver grip caps cast in the form of the standard Parker gripcap. I think they are neat. Not that I own any guns like that, but they are interesting.

What I would do with the gun is just clean it up, refinish the wood yourself, leave the silver wire forend with darkened center the way it is, clean up the metal and barrels with a little lighthanded Flitz or other cleaner/polish and leave it the hell alone. Maybe you consider changing out the pad to a Hawkins, etc. ( available at Conn. Shotgun web site) . Then shoot it and shoot it some more.

Dave,
If I recall correctly Greg Millers VHE letters with a C grade stock including C style checkering.