Just bought my Parker
 

Hello all I just bought my first Parker I will enjoy reading and learning.

Welcome Charles. Stick around there is a bunch to learn here.

Welcome to the board Charles

what did you get and where are the pictures???

Charles,
Congratulations on the purchase of your first Parker and welcome to the PGCA website. Please tell us about your new gun.

I would love to have pics but I am waiting on the ups man to bring it. It's a 12 g 1 1/2 with 28" barrels. It is a shooter class gun. I would think pretty low grade. Still has original butt pad.

The Serial number is 146442 made in 1907

Here are some pictures from seller
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...psc18af28a.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps70b1e155.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...psd4e0e82d.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps56ae6e29.jpg
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps62522e00.jpg

I don't think I stole it or paid way to much got it for $1350.00. What model is it what can you tell me about it.
I know nothing about parkers except the name and they were tops in American made shotguns.

That is a grade 2 / GH and a very nice gun.

Thanks I cant wait to get it here. I wanted a Damascus barreled 10 gauge when I started looking for a nice old double. When I found this 12 reasonable money I could not pass it up. The 10 gauge can wait for some day.

10 gauges are not hard to find, but be patient and wait for the right one.

You did very, very well. That's a nice Grade 2

My first stupid question is does it have 2 3/4" inch chambers. The oldest 12 gauge I have is 1920's it had standard chamber. I have an old 16 gauge with 2 9/16" chambers. I plan on loading low power shells, but is the gun safe with modern 2 3/4 dram trap loads just to try it. Like all older guns it will shoot tighter with plastic shot cups than it did with wads. Any thing else I should know.

I recommend RST shells.

http://www.rstshells.com/

The very first thing you should do is to have the barrel wall thickness measured to be sure the gun is safe to shoot at all. - Presuming you have an inspection period from the seller, during which you should be able to determine its shootability.

It was likely made with 2 9/16" or 2 5/8" chambers, both of which can be used with 2 3/4" shells of the appropriate pressure. Many of us prefer to load our own or buy from a company that specialized in the manufacture of low-pressure shells for these old guns. I like RST Classic Shotshells for most of my Parkers.

I have an appointment with a gunsmith that shoots and collects Damascus guns.

Perfect!

Welcome Charles,

My first Parker was a GH grade as well though it has fluid steel barrels. I love it and though I have acquired a couple of other Parkers this is still my favorite. Your gun is beautiful and should make a shooter to carry and be proud of.

Dennis

Charles congratulations on a very,very nice firat Parker and for not knowing much about them I think you hit the ball out of the park with this one:bowdown:

Will you buy my lottery tickets for me???/:rotf:

I would like to think I'm super smart but the truth is I owe a big thank you to a couple of guys on Facebook. One found it the other looked it up and made sure it came with 28" barrels. They guided me without there help I would have ended up with a Ithaca.

Thanks guys.

Charles,

Congratulations. That is a beautiful G grade that you bought for a very good price. You will enjoy shooting it. What are the chokes? You should get a Research Letter as you may learn some fascinating things about the history of your Parker.

Richard B. Hoover

I do not know how the gun is choked it was not listed in the book. A letter sounds like a great thing to do.

Picked up my Parker today. Was disappointed the butt plate was broken and had been glued. It did not make the trip. The gun checked out at the gunsmith both barrels fire. The crack in the stock was worse than I thought. All in all I'm pleased a neat old gun.
The barrels checked fine the gun is choked modified full. The barrels were made by Walter king. The chambers are 2 5/8"
I have a email sent to bachlder to see what I can afford to do with the barrels. I don't want to refinish just bring out Damascus pattern.

Bill and I are just a couple of enablers is all :cool:
Glade we were able to get ya started Charles.

Anyone is welcome to join us on the private Facebook group:
I love old SxS's

Charles, welcome to the forum and the PGCA. You will find that Brad Bachelder is a pleasure to work with and the quality of Brad's work is excellent. Brad and his team have worked on 3 of my Parkers and I could not be more satisfied. It might be best to just ship the gun to Brad and have him break it down, inspect it and then discuss with him his 'findings' and go from there. You will not be disappointed.

I think this was meant for you Charles :)

fixed. thanks mike