Parker 8 Gauge Hammer SxS
 

I collect large bore market/punt guns and have just purchased an 8 Gauge that happens to be my first Parker! I'm looking for info about the gun, how many were made, and your thoughts about the interesting factory records behind the gun. A friend called and the gun letters as an 8 Gauge, 38" bbls, hammerless, straight grip. Only problem is the gun is a hammer gun with a pistol grip and 34" bbls!?! As you can see by the pics it is a honest used gun and completely original. The serial number is 56757, matching throughout on the gun, and frame size is marked 7. The water table is marked 2 (GH grade?) The gun has Damascus barrels and is a toplever. Its a very nice gun overall with good bores, no cracks/chips in the wood, and looks to be 100% original. Any info would be appreciated! Thanks, -Dean

Wow what a find. The book definitely says hammerless 38''. A 7 frame 8 gauge what dreams are made of. What does she weigh?

I think you need to order a PGCA Research Letter on your 'new' Parker. Obviously some serious mistakes in the Serialization and ID Book and the order book records may support the actual configuration of the gun and may even give some interesting provenance.

A research letter for a non-member is $100....
But a research letter for a PGCA Member is only $40. Annual membership dues are $40 so you can save yourself $20 by joining before you order the letter.

you made a good find in that 8 ga also looks like a shooter to me.keep us posted on the 8 ga theparker 8 is a well made gun...charlie

forgot to mention about 400 parker 8 ga made in differant models...charlie

Research
 

Dean has given you the best advice on spending your money. The research letter that Chuck Bishop will give you will be the best investment you will ever make.
A good provenance is priceless.

Aside from the $20 saved on the research letter the benefits of membership are worth many times over the $40 membership fee.

You will receive 4 (quarterly) issues of Parker Pages, the journal of the PGCA, (48 page color, glossy magazine) full of technical articles and hunting and shooting stories... All about Parkers.

You will have access to the PGCA Members Only section of the Web Forum where you can buy and sell Parkers and other old doubles.

You will be mailed an entire PGCA Membership roster so you can easily find other PGCA members in your area.

Come on guys - help me out here... there are lots more too, but it's getting late...

"PGCA Member" looks a lot cooler under your name than Forum Associate.
You're right dean. It's really getting g late

The new friends you'll make in the PGCA will be lifelong, interesting, and dedicated to the best interests of all Parker Collectors.

Congratulations on your 'new' Parker. Most every member will remember their first, but few can say it's the rarest out there. While it's possible the barrels have been bobbed, there have been plenty of Serialization Book errors found. Either way, your gun will still command attention wherever it travels.

The buttstock looks original, or should I at least say Parker factory. So it was likely either restocked by the factory or it is an error in the book.

Also, the barrel length could have been altered. There is no rib matting, so that cannot be a tell tale sign, other things like the style of the bead and appearance of the end fill/if tubes are touching or not can be indicators as well.

The barrel length can also be an error in the book. As other suggested, the only way of getting a very good idea will be to get a research letter.

Odd that the gun is made all by itself with no other 8g guns around it. Sometimes 8g. guns are seen in batches of 4 or 6 in production. For example, S/Ns 54476 - 54485 are all a group of 8g. guns. However, looking at the pages surrounding yours, there are some singular 8g. guns peppered about. The closest 8g. guns to yours are listed before and after. One about 800 S/Ns behind and one about 500 S/Ns in front.

A Quality 2 Parker Bros. hammer double was either an E, F, G or H grade.

E-Grade was a 10-gauge with a pistol grip
F-Grade was a 10-gauge with a straight grip
G-grade was all other gauges with a pistol grip
H-Grade was all other gauges with a straight grip

So, your gun would be a G-Grade. A GH-Grade was a hammerless gun.

Thanks for all the info guys, I'll definitely invest in a factory letter. I'm curious to see if there is any interesting information as to who ordered the gun. Though I'm a little green on Parkers I handle antique guns on a daily basis so I can say for sure that the wood is original to the gun. The whole gun has the appearance of a very well used but taken care of original gun that I'm sure killed ducks and geese on a daily basis. Is there any way to further break down how many G grade 8 Gauges were made? Thanks again, -Dean

I have quite a bit of information on this gun. It will answer some of the questions but leave you guessing on some other questions!

Send for a letter!

According to the Quality 2 tables in The Parker Story, Volume One, there were twenty 8-gauge lifter action hammer doubles in 8-gauge, 17 with Damascus barrels and 3 with Laminated Steel barrels. There were forty Quality 2 top-action hammer doubles with Damascus barrels -- two with 32-inch barrels, 21 with 34-inch barrels, 16 with 36-inch barrels and one with 38-inch barrels. In Quality 2 hammerless doubles there were 78 8-gauges, 67 with Damascus barrels and eleven with Parker Special Steel barrels.

Your first Parker is an 8 gauge? That's sort of like being afraid of girls your whole life until the homecoming queen asks you to be her date.

The knowledge base of the longtime collectors is worth the price of the membership. Ask a question and the answer you almost certainly shall receive.

That's a nice gun…

JM

Well we got a letter on the gun and what a story! This is particularly intriguing to me since I primarily collect market guns and this gun appears to have been a truly well used market gun. The gun was shipped to T. B. Davis (T. B. Davis Arms Co.) of Portland, Maine on October 16th, 1891. Davis ran a sporting good store and retailed shotguns. The gun was a top lever hammer gun, 8 Ga, straight grip with 38" Damascus barrels. One week later he returned the gun to Parker for a full credit (apparently someone didn't like it!). Parker held the gun for a year and a half until they sold it to Schoverling Daly & Gales of New York City in March, 1893. They were another sporting goods retailer, who sold the gun to E. G. Elliott of Nantucket Island, Mass. On November 9th, 1894, Elliott returned the gun to have it "restocked 1/2 pistol grip, install Silvers recoil pad, and make shoot as best as can". Two years later in 1896, Elliott returned the gun yet again to "restock, take out dents, and re-blue". Obviously Mr. Elliott was a market hunter who was showing this gun some serious use! He then sold the gun to Frank Meiggs, also of Nantucket, who I have confirmed to have been a market hunter. He returned the gun in 1898 to "tighten the action, clean up locks, clean and rebrown barrels, and solder on ribs". So within just five years the gun was on it's third stock, had to be repaired multiple times, and even have new ribs soldered! Needless to say the barrels were professionally shortened to 34" during the period as well. I can only imagine how many waterfowl this gun must have had to take down to gain so much wear and tear over a short period of time. This also confirms that the gun is the one and only quality 2 toplever hammer 8 Gauge with 38" barrels ever made.
-Dean

man this old gal certainly musta shot her share od water fowl..i too have an old 8 ga hammer gun that was shot and abused a lot they even built a steel collar for this old gun to keep it breached together when fired finally the old gun got over 1/4 inch off face took me 2 hours cleaning and fileing crude and rust away to even to be able to get a shell in the barrel...today she still do nt look like much but she will shoot and stay together with out the steel collar..it was the wort gun i have seen or held in it s present condition before i owned it.it was sold in calfornia...now resides in miss. would love to see some pictures of your punt guns..there was a 6 barrel ten ga punt gun for sale a while back on the auction sites...charlie

Dave,

Just to clarify, I classified this gun as a Quality F grade gun based on the barrel steel, grip type, and price listed in the order book. Parker didn't have a Quality grade letter designation for 8ga. guns but said to take the Quality grade with that barrel steel and grip type and add $35.00 to the price listed for the 10ga. gun. When I took the price for a Quality
F grade gun and added the $35, it matched the price in the order book. Regardless whether it's a E,F,G,or H letter designation, they are all considered a number 2 grade gun.

So, who scored the two great 8-gauge boxes in the Wards Auction?

not me..charlie

Not me...missed those somehow, someone got a good deal!
-Dean

I looked and looked, but had visions of the shipping cost. The Remington box was a real deal.

How much did they go for?

The extremely rare 50 round Winchester box for 8-gauge NPEs with 20 rounds remaining went for $750 when they were predicting $1500 to $3000. The extremely late (after 1934 because it has the DuPont logo) full box of Remington ARROW 8-gauge, 5 1/2 dram equiv., 1 3/4 ounce #2C, went for $352.

The one box of shotgun shells and three paper items I was interested in went for pocket change short of two grand before the vig and shipping, so my credit card came away unscathed!!

the remington 8 ga were a bargain and the winchester were worth the money i already had a box of the remington 8 ga but at this time i passed on them winchester 8 ga...i do love to look at those old 8 ga boxes and loads....charlie

I also liked the Eley eights, although they were modern. Can't remember the price.