Parker Question
 

I have a 16 gauge Parker that will not close unless the top lever is pushed over. I find it kind of odd. I gather it was built like that, my question is why. Just curious. Serial # is 128737 if that would shed any light on it.

The lever should be to the right in order for the barrels to close.

My twelve will close without pushing the lever, that is why I am curious.

The top lever should lock in position to the right as the gun is opened. Then allow the gun to close as it snaps back to centre. There is a good chance the internal catch/trip is hung up somehow, probably by dirt. A professional strip-and-clean of the gun will probably fix the issue.

If you need to push the lever into place, you either have excessive dirt or a broken top lever spring. I would suggest the latter.

I don't need to push it into place, I need to push it to the right as if I were breaking the action, to close the gun. Nothing seems sticky or not right except that when the action is open in order to close it you have to push the lever to the right, or "open" position to close the action. It is all smooth as silk, but it seems as if it were made that way. I have never had a gun like that before.

Top lever spring likely has nothing to do with the issue.

The problem is trip related. Could be dirty. Could be a broken/worn part.

Simple answer. Get it to a smith that knows Parker guns to fix the issue.

From what I can decipher...., your top lever stays in the center position when the action is broken, and you need to push it to the right to get the gun to close? The lever should stay right all by itself when the gun is broken open. If it's not, then probably the top lever spring is faulty. But it's hard to tell based on your description.

It wasn't built that way. It's broken.

The trip is dirty or broken or the trip spring is broken.

Take the barrels off and putting the receiver close to your ear, push the opening lever all the way to the right. You should hear a distinct click. I looked at a Parker the other day and the guy told me that you had to push the lever back every time to close it. It would open before taking the lever all the way to the right, and when one did, it clicked and locked in place just like it was supposed to. He said he had several from the same guy to sell that did that and he thought they had been modified. They had not.

You will find Parkers that will open without going over to engage the trip/spring/pin.

If it tries to hang and lets go or if the sound is dull, it will need to be cleaned or parts repaired.

Complete disassembly, cleaning and new lubrication tends to solve a multitude of annoyances. Many Parkers have not had that "luxury" since leaving the factory. A testament to the maker but a good cleaning once a century is not an excessive demand. Cheers. Jack.