Yes but why would the water table be stamped V if it was a rebarreled P?

I never suggested it was a rebarreled P. What I did suggest was the possobility of ordering a P (Grade 1) with the brand new fluid steel "Vulcan Steel" barrels, hence the stamp on the water table. I'm only suggesting this as a possibility in the earliest stage of fluid steel barreled Parkers. Soon thereafter the Vulcan Steel barreled Parker got its own designation and became the VH and took its place as the Grade-0 without the engraving embellishment of the Grade 1.

All pure speculation on my part.

Interesting ...The book states that 88234 is a V grade gun with a capped pistol grip stock 12 gauge with 30" barrels. The two guns preceeding this are the same configuration but P grades. Hmmm. A clue?

As are each of the previous six V's, 88220 (the very first V), 88226, 88227, 88228, 88229, 88230. I don't know if this tells us anything but there appears to be a pattern.

We need to see one of those guns.

Put the Hookah away Deano.

At least one of the early Vulcan barrelled guns was a BH and still has its Vulcan barrels intact. It shows up in the book as a V5 as it should. When the Vulcan barrels appeared on the scene, all bets were off as far as uniformity.

Gents, thanks to all of you for your inputs, it has been very instructive for me in tracking down this particular Parker.

Couple of notes:
O.H., yes, the head of the stock is darker from oil and handleing.
Dave, the gun has a capped pistol grip and 30" full & full chokes.
Bill, either the very early VH guns used P engraving as a marketing feature OR they used the P engraving until the standard VH 0 grade engraving was finalized. Not sure we will know for sure.

I'll get the gun back to the owner with your excellent comments. He will be very pleased to have a better ubderstanding of the history of this family heirloom.

Regards, Ed

I have Kf stamped on my barrel and always wondered what it meant.

Ed, you say we may never know for sure. As time goes on, we will find a couple or a few more guns between the first VH and your gun. Then we will know. This is the first of this type we have seen, but will probably not be the last. What we have learned since we opened the records in 1997 and 1998 boggles the mind.