10 ga. from the closet
 

Picked this up last Friday. 10ga., D grade, 32" bbls., tight clean, shiney bores. It has spent at least the last 35 years in the closet.
Now the question; The fore arm is way worn compared to the stock and butt and it does not have a ser.#. Is it off another gun? Other observations and comments welcome. The ser# is 70835 and I have requested a letter.
Thanks, Gary Cripps

I can't answer your question - BUT WOW! What a gun!

Great find! That is a dandy.

Gives a whole new definition to "coming out of the closet".:whistle:

Exactly what is it that doesn't have a serial number?

I have two guesses...

1. The forend might not be original to the gun.

2. It has been restocked.

Forend wood is often more open grained than buttstock wood and tends to wear faster. I do not think that the forend wood wear is clearly inconsistant with the rest of the gun. The forend wood is checkered correctly for the D grade of the gun.

The standing breech face and the barrel breech end show little wear. The barrel end still shows broaching lines, which wear fairly quickly. The gun went back to Parker for installation of the 1910 patent bolt plate on the barrel lug and matching bolt in the action.

Normally, the forend iron on its upper external side is stamped with the SN. You can easily take out the screws holding the forend iron to the wood and check for the SN on hidden areas of the wood and iron. Should be there.

A nice gun, not butchered or altered that I can see.

I am not an expert on Parkers and others may have different views .

I have seen many Parkers with forends that showed much more wear than the rest of the gun. Many hunters used the forend to hold down barbed wire fences,push branches out of the way etc.

Oddly, I can't see a serial number on the water table... is it there and I'm just losing my eyesight?

Looks like a nice magnum set of barrels! The wear depends on how the gun was carried. When I'm carrying a gun alot I always hold onto the wood, because in my opinion the wood finish is easier to repair and replicate than original case colors and barrel blue. Looks like a great find.

I'd bet this gun was back to the factory for a new stock at some point in time. The shape/profile of the grip smacks of a later Parker Bros. gun.

Unless the pictures are airbrushed, there appears to be no serial numbers anywhere.

PDD