Lucky find
 

I just bought a Parker from sister inlaws grandfather yesterday. Looks to be a vh from 1906. Neither of us had any idea what it was so I got a ridiculous deal. These guns are beautiful ad this thing shoots and shoulders like a dream.:shock:
I am in Alberta Canada.

Congrats. Matt on what sounds like a nice gun and a Great Buy ! I hope you are aware the next problem is that ,you have opened the door to that shotgun buying disease most of us have here on this Forum " PARKERITIS " Once caught, well..... just let me say the VH won't be your last Parker purchase !:rotf: Matt if you join the PGCA and desire a letter for your new Parker ,you actually get your membership and discount on the letter for less money than a non member ,ordering a letter for the info on your gun ,plus a really nice quarterly magazine to go with your new membership ! Best ; Russ

russ is right you have opened a whole new world..these old parkers were built to last several life times if taken care of. sounds like you have a nice parker enjoy it..charlie

Now I just need to figure out how to post pictures and hen verify it is what I think it is lol

Congratulations! Post the serial number and we can tell you what stock and barrel length it left the factory with.
Go to the home page and you can see high quality pictures of each of the grades.
Before you ask; there is no cure for Parkeritis, nor is anyone looking for one.

So here are a few shots. First impression I'd say restocked on the but with a weatherby recoil pad and its been reblued all over.

Have you measured the length of the barrels a 2 frame marked 4 lbs 4ozs I would guess would be longer than 30''.

She's 30" on the dot sir. I am really curious what the chamber size is a the previous owner was using win AA loads in it that we're pretty light but 23/4"

Also any idea what the wk in the oval is?

Matt, The "WK"is the inspectors mark of Walter King.

Also from my measurement it looks like she's full/full.

Matt, if I'm reading the serial number correctly as 138,723 then the serialization book has it leaving the factory as a VH with no options, capped pistol grip stock and 30" barrels.

Well it certainly looks like that's it. My reason for thinkijg the stock was redone is there is no planets on the underside plus it has an old weatherby rubber recoil pad on it. Would the receiver have been bluer or case hardens ? Also any ideas what the chambers would be?

Send some more pictures and we'll tell you more about the gun. A side and bottom view of the stock will tell us whether the gun has been restocked, or just cleaned up.

I'll take few shots tonight when I get home

Ok so here are a few more shots.

So any input from anyone ? On another note I was in the cabelas fine gun room in edmonton AB tonight and they have a Parker Trojan for sale @ $1500 bucks a sight more than the $200 I paid for my VH.

Yes, that is a complete restock. The stocker didn't even reuse the original grip cap.
It looks like a nice strong piece of wood so if you only want it as a shooter you may want to leave it as is. Chris Dawe is east of you but still in Canade and can do a correct restock for you. You can contact him through this website. You may also want to contact Brian Dudley in New York through the forum here as he is an excellent stock man as well.

Yeah I figured it was redone. It fits well and shoulders well so I will likely just leave as is for now . But who knows maybe in the future it would be worth getting a proper stock. On that note would this beba 2.5" or 2.75" chamber ?

Probably a 2 1/2 or 2 5/8 chambers. You can shoot 2 3/4 ammo in it without a problem. Keep in mind that a 20 ga. Parker is going to give you a bit of a wallop if you shoot heavy loads in it.

Yeah Ive shot heavy game loads in my CBC single and it'll wake you up lol.

Would you folks recommend a certain type of easily attainable shells ?

Matt, I often use Winchester AA Low Recoil, Low Noise for my Parker 12 gauges. The Parker's lock up will handle heavy loads, but these are gentle on the wood. Only about 960 fps but plenty for most clays or grouse. Unfortunately in Canada we don't have the selection of shells for vintage guns they have in the U.S.

Thanks bob I will need to have a look and see if I can find those. I am curious if perhaps there is a buckshot load available that would be safe in this old beauty. Or perhaps I should be wary of a certain dram equivalent ?

Beware game loads and buckshot in full and full barrels will definitely put a strain on the gun! I would stay away from such a load. David

You should be able to find the Winchester AA LR,LN in any of the larger sports stores. In southern Alberta I expect that Wholesale Sports or Bass Pro Shop in Calgary would have them. I've had an on and off urge to rattle up and take a nice whitetail buck with a Parker for a few years. No luck so far, but I've found the Remington managed recoil slugs to be fairly gentle. Nothing exciting about the ballistics compared to the smoking slugs that are out there, but 1200 fps and a 1 oz slug will work for as far as I would try to shoot without sights. I had to try several of my Parkers before I found one that shot them relatively accurately with both barrels fairly well regulated. They're made to work with full chokes and your 4/4 weight 2 frame barrels are fairly stout. My only concern would be how well the stock head is inletted. It looks like a replacement and glass bedding it to the receiver might be a good idea.
I just re-read your post, Matt. For some reason I read slugs rather than buckshot. I don't know about buckshot loads, but if there are some that are low/managed recoil I expect they would be fine.

Boy isn't that the truth...I'm terminal:whistle:

What a way to go !:rotf:

Thanks for all the input guys. Love the folks here very helpful. Just waiting for my membership to kick in lol then I'll have to order a letter on this old girl.

Yes, buttstock is a replacement. Forend is original.
That buttstock could possibly be worked over some to make it more correct looking. But hard to tell for sure from the photos.

You stole the gun at $200. But then again, the Canadian dollar is worth More than ours is now.