Hey there
 

Good evening all,

I just got around to joining this Forum, and will be joining the PGCA tomorrow. I have been hanging around here for a while and soaking up the knowledge and ideas you folks are nice enough to share.

I recently acquired a VHE 20 ga. with a straight grip and a beavertail forearm. It is my first, of what I hope to be many, Parker. And it fits me extremely well and I shoot it rather well. (I wish I could say I shoot it extremely well, but I don't want to start this relationship with a story.)

I have been a member of the Winchester Arms Collectors Association for a few years and now I have to join this site and organization. Dang this affliction known as collecting! Between myself, my wife and my father-in-law, there is also Foxes, Ithicas, Smiths, and Brownings. We have guns we like the looks of and that we shoot with at least a modicum of success. We're not stuck on any particular manufacturer. Although, I have been somewhat enamored with Winchesters and my father-in-law's Parkers.

Thank You for the opportunity to join you all, and I look forward to a fun exchange of ideas and stories. With that, I am off to bed to get my much needed beauty sleep.

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Hi Larry and Welcome! We sure would like to see pictures of your VHE 20.

Hey there
 

Hi again,

As per the request that I add pictures.............here goes nothin'.

I will try but my computer skills leave a little to be desired. And if this works, you will see my camera skills aren't much better. I tried to get pictures of the serial numbers and water table, etc. but they were blurry.

As you can see by the pictures (I hope) this gun has been restored.

I do have a question for the members here, is the checkering on the cheek of the stock normal for a VH grade. I have seen some with the checkering and some without. If memory serves, the ones I've seen with the checkering on the cheek in this grade were restored guns. My father-in-law thinks this was added my the restorer. Any ideas?

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That's a pretty gun. It looks as if it may have been refinished by DelGrego simply by the fact that the color case hardening is done by the cyanide method which was his trademark coloring up until recently. If we had the serial number we may be able to tell you if the straight grip and the beavertail forend are in keeping with the original configuration.

Duh!! I meant to list that in the last post. The serial number is 230915.

I appreciate any and all information you can give me in this little sweetheart.

And thank you for the compliment, I thought she was kinda pretty too.

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Unfortunately the stock book that contains that serial number is missing and there's not much that can be said about your gun other than what can be observed.

Could very well be a DelGrego skeet gun conversion.

Oh well, I really don't need to know the way the gun left the factory to enjoy shooting it. I appreciate the try though.

Perhaps Autumn Daze is right and this is a DelGrego skeet gun conversion. It has cyl/cyl bores and shoots very well on the skeet field.

The cheek panels would not have originally been checkered on your V grade. Unless specially ordered that way. By the look of them, they do not look factory.

Usually checkered cheeks on low grade guns are done for two reasons. To dress them up, or more commonly to hind a repair to the stock head.

Forend checkering is also not the normal pattern for a V grade. So, maybe the cheeks were done in order to dress the gun up along with the forend work.

Thanks for the info on the checkering of the cheek of the stock and the forend. As stated earlier, it seemed to me that every Parker of a lesser grade I had seen with that cheek work had been restored. I have examined the stock very closely and haven't seen any sign of a repair being covered, but then I don't have the expertise of someone like yourself. Perhaps someone will be able to tell me more someday at an event that I might be lucky enough to go to.

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Pop pop, I once owned a16 gauge factory made Parker skeet gun in Vulcan grade. The serial number was in the 238,000 range. The stock cheeks were checkered at the factory and there was no hidden repair. As with Parker guns"never say never". Enjoy your gun for what it is......

Here's another Remington era GHE 16 with checked cheek panels - 236199... no repairs at all.




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very nice gun either way. I'd shoot it. My DHE 16 has checkered "cheeks" and no evidence of repair--but have never pulled the stock off. Straight grip also. Where in NW Pa are you from?

Thanks for the information on the cheek checkering possibly being factory. I plan on doing a lot of shooting with this, it's already been to the skeet field twice and the sporting clays course twice. I can't wait to get it in the grouse woods. I didn't get to do much hunting except deer this past year (2014). Had a hip replaced November of 2013 and while recuperating from that, found out I had cancer. Spent all last year getting back to normal. Sometimes the "cure" is worse than the disease.

Anyway, good looking DHE Harold. As is Dean's GHE. The engraving on both of those is very pretty. Very tasteful without being gaudy.

I am south of Erie, PA about 40 miles. A little town called Cochranton.

On another note, I may be acquiring another VHE only in 28 ga. It has a splinter fore end and is choked IM/CYL. The serial in 170723, any information on this available? I guess I need to invest in the serialization book I see advertised in the Double Gun Journal don't I.

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Wow, 28 ga VHE, sounds like the bug bit you hard. That would be a great little find.

A VHE 28 would be very special and a wonderful little gun to carry in the coverts all day long. Please show us some pictures if you get it.

Welcome Larry to the world of Parkers. Does you VHE have a rod going length wise through the forarm? If you can post pics of the forarm lug on the barrels we can tell you if the BTF is original to the gun. Either way it's a great gun to be using either on the clays course or the game fields......until you get the 28 that is:rotf:

I'm also a Winchester buff esp Pre 64 M70's and just can't seem to get enough of them. A nice FWT 06 and a 22 Hornet have come my way recently.

I have relatives in Erie PA. If your considering coming to one of the SXS shoots you would be hard pressed to find a better one close to home than Hausmanns Hidden Hollow in Friendsville, PA.

C.O.B.,
The fore arm does have the rod running the length, however, the lug on the bottom of the barrels doesn't have the wider and heavier base on the receiver end. The things I've read says that lug to which the fore arm attaches should have a wider base than one for a splinter. So who knows? Like they say, "never say never".

I am hoping to get to a SxS shoot this year, maybe the one in Friendsville or in Harrisburg. We'll have to see how things go.

You are like my best friend, C.O.B., he too favors pre 64 model 70 Winchesters. I like model 12's and 42's and 21's myself, liking to shoot shotguns more than rifles. My wife and I deer hunt with old lever guns (a 94 and a 92). We deer and squirrel hunt to fill the freezer, and bird hunt for fun. That FWT '06 will be a kicker, the last one I shot was. Have fun with the Hornet, a very versatile and fun caliber. Have killed a number of squirrels with one as well as groundhogs and coyotes.

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The DelGrego's put BTF on quite a few guns, the forarm lug is the only way I know of to ID it as Parker. Either way it will make for a great field gun and will become a family heirloom to pass on to future generations.

Some day I'll add a M42 solid rib skeet gun to the family. I have a 42 I use for rabbit hunting when not using a 22LR. One of my goals for next fall is to shoot a deer with a M94 I have in 38-55.

You mean like this, C.O.B.?

One of my favorite guns, I have more fun with that on the skeet field than the law should allow. It really upsets Kreighoff 12 ga shooters no end to get bested by the little sweetheart. It's a skeet choke but not a skeet grade 42. It's a deluxe field grade, a lot people get confused with the skeet choke marking on the barrel. The deluxe field grade (with the nicer wood and checkered grip and fore arm) was available in all chokes. A true "skeet grade" had a little better grade of wood and the word skeet stamped on the underside above the serial number on the magazine tube.

The 38-55 is a great caliber and will do a nice job of bringing down a deer. My wife's 92 is in 25-35 and kills a buck about every year with one shot, as does my 94 in 30-30. Of course it helps that we wear old "woolrich" woolens and don't get in tree stands. We're sort of old school.

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Yup exactly like that one. I had a solid rib skeet that was upgraded with #5 engraving and very nice wood but I let it go to someone who wanted it more than I did at the time.