Research letter on 36"Parker V Grade
 

Hello,I thought I would share this as I am a little confused with the findings.Thought I would ask the experts.

Last photo is a comparison with a Remington 870 with 30 inch barrel for reference.

It would appear that you have a forend iron from a SBT... and that just ain't right.

No, no, wait... that's an extractor forend iron modified to accept a Parker ejector mechanism... and that just ain't right either.

And the forend lug on the barrels is for a splinter forend.

And the extractor rod (your gun was originally made as an extractor gun) has been reworked to function as ejectors.

And none of the work I mention was performed by Parker Brothers.


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I found this gun last fall at a local gun show and just had to have it with the long barrels being unique.It isn't a very pretty gun as the receiver and trigger guard are dark and pitted,as are the last several inches of the barrels.The bores look good and the action is not super tight but is very shootable.The forend iron is from a different gun and is engraved and has ejectors.It also has a beaver tail which I doubt is factory.I believe the stock to be a replacement as there is no serial number stamped under the trigger guard.It has also been cut,added back into with a plastic spacer and a Hawkins pad added for a length of 14 1/4 inchs.Like I said,not pretty but it will kill ducks as I got a double with it last fall on a pair of green heads while pass shooting.According to the Parker Serialization and Identification book this gun was built in 1915,and I have heard that only possibly 3 were built with 36 inch barrels.Im confused with the letter stating it was returned to a Theo. Wallace of Canton S.D.which is only 10 miles from where I live and grew up.As the letter states Mr.Wallace sent in a set of barrels to be framed and stocked for another gun.Would that have been beside purchasing this gun or was this gun fitted with the other set of barrels also?I have done a little research and found a Wallace family that came from England and settled near Canton S.D. sometime after 1865.There were 5 sons in this family,of which none were named Theo.The search continues.This gun has 2 7/8 or 3 inch chambers depending how you measure it.With a galazan chamber gauge it comes to 3 inches flush with the end of the barrels at the chamber. The forcing cone is 3/4 of an inch long,and then opens a few more thousands gradually for about 7 inches to the bore of .7365.The gun is choked at .043 in right and .044 in left.Sorry for the extremely long post but I think this is quite a unique gun and wanted to share it with the experts on this site.Im hoping this Virus gets under control as I've made some new friends here and hope to get together for some shooting and hunting this year.Thank you,Jeff Sweeter.

It appears I need to get some work done on this gun just to be a safe shooter.

I'm glad the serial numbers match on the frame and barrels so I have something to start with.

I would assume it didn't come with 3 inch chambers either,but being the forcing cones ard short it could be original.When looking in the chambers it doesn't look any different than a few other Parkers I have.Wish this gun could talk.The stock dimensions are 1 3/8 at the comb and 1 13/16 at the heel.God dimensions for a trap gun as it has a high comb.

Where the letter does not mention barrel length I would suggest that Parker No. 133140, the gun that the barrels came from, was the gun that was originally made with those 36" barrels.

No offense but that's a Franken-Parker if I ever saw one - done by both Parker Bros. as well as others after the fact.

Those .043" and .044" chokes should really reach out there, and if they don't.... you can always reach up with those 36" barrels and knock those ducks out of the air.

Dean





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Thanks for the info Dean.I was planning on going to the Northern shoot this summer in Wis.I was going to bring this gun along and maybe would be someone there that could look it over to see about doing some work to it if needed.Have to play it by ear to see if that happens now.

I see in the Parker ID book serial#133140 is not listed.It skips from #130975 to#133788.Evidently a book or ledger is missing.Im amazed at all the records that are available from back then.I had a good friend that worked at Remington,and he told me of a fire they had in The Green Room where many records and blue prints werd kept.He was employed there at the time.He sure had some interesting stories from there.