Finally, a small bore Parker!!
 

Just bought 200828, VH 16, 28” capped pistol. Finally! Will post photos when in hand. Looks too good to be in original condition, as described, but I paid less than resto cost would have been, if the gun is a resto (fairly confident it is a resto), 1 frame gun with light barrels.

Love frame 1 16's. Weight from 6 1/2 to 7. not to heavy to carry, and the barrels are not to light to swing.

Congrats on what sounds like a fine gun! Hopefully it will fit and shoot well for you. Love to see some photos!

Mark,

I have that same gun in original well worn condition. 16 Ga VH, 28 barrels. Mine is a 142XXX numbered gun from 1907. It is an honest gun. It is great to carry and shoot but choked modified and full so mine is tight. Okay for open terrain shooting, but not close quarter combat for grouse and woodcock. Would probably be a great Snipe gun. You're gonna love yours.

Btw one of the most famous exhibition shots of all time used a 16 gauge Parker, and probably for good reasons.

Actually I have some modern sxs with 26 inch barrels and the Parker is close to same overall gun lengths when laid side by side it is hard to tell the difference.

Look for the hinge pin :whistle:





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Hinge Pin? Yes that is always a discriminator. My man Deano here is cracking himself up this morning.

Congrats on the 16 but a fair warning your at the top of a slippery slope when acquiring small bore Parkers.:rotf:

Hey Rich ,you aren't kidding ,The next thing we will be reading on here is Mark telling us he just had to buy that Parker 410 Gauge to shoot that darn Rabbit eating his lettuce in the garden ! :rotf: Been there done that ! Congrats Markyou are going to love that 16 Bore !

[QUOTE=Dean Romig;234918]Look for the hinge pin :whistle:





That's funny, good one !

I have a 1 frame 16 VH also. It was my grouse gun for years. It was M/F also, but when I bought it around 1988, a friend had an IC reamer, and now both barrels are IC.
No real regrets about that, made it a better bird gun. I do love the O frames however

I have a GHE 16 O frame that's heavier than some of the 1 frames I have. A light sub 7lb 16 O frame is hard to beat. I traded a nice DH for a nice Fox but still regret it. Oh well it gives me something to look for:whistle:

Here are sellers pics, gun matches book. Will post more when gun in hand. I think the floorplate screws may be swapped.

More following. Decent Resto job?.

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I would be seriously concerned about the legitimacy of those “case colors”. The water table looks right, but that is about it. That is either a torch job or a chemical metal stain job.

Also check and make sure the ribs are sound. When i see breech faces and locking lugs fully blued, that usually points to hot bluing.

I had the seller “ring” the barrels over the phone....they sounded great, the seller was astounded to learn that trick.....that was my concern too, as the barrel blacking looks a little matted to me. Seller is a pawnshop in NJ, and I had to walk them through taking the gun apart. I agree, the colors look suspicious, but inless they stain my hands when handling the gun, ill live with it, I definitely only paid a “servicable shooter” price for the gun.

Brian, what is your opinion of the wood refinishing? So many that I see show lots of rounding of edges at wood metal junctures, and the checkering on this gun looks so good, it makes me think replacement wood maybe....but inletting looks pretty darn decent to my inexpert eyes.

I too have a 1 frame 16 (1927) that has been passed down to me from my grandfather and father. Had to have DelGrego re-stock it as the original stock wood at the head was punky and literally falling apart. Great grouse and woodcock gun. Just can't beat the old 16 IMHO. But that 20 Trojan that I'm saving for one of my grandsons....a delight to hunt with and was terrific on quail last season. I agree with the previous member who said sub gauge Parkers are a slippery slope.

The wood is refinished. But it still looks like original wood.
Rounding over of the edges would only be seen when the refinisher does not know how or when to use sandpaper.

If you mean the checkering looks good by it being sharp, then sure. The borders however are far too heavily cut and are not mullered. Also, fully pointing on a recut of a VH or PH forend is not the way to go. This leaves the latch standing up proud of the wood by a lot. And that can lead to a cutting hazzard on your hands at each end of the latch. The proper way to gain some extra wood to recut the checkering on these grades of guns is to set the latch down into the wood some.

16 VH
 

Hey Mark I recently bought a Remington VHE 16 that matches my Reminton VHE 20 ga both 28" tubes both Mod and Full all original and extremely nice guns 20 has old English pad 16 has DHBP. if you want I can send you pics of both. I will tell you my guns don't have colors anything like the gun you bought. they are late 30's guns with knockout wood like late Rem guns have. I'm going to let my grandson shoot turkeys at Wallace's with either one. Also have 30" 16 VHE he could use. Hope you are there we will have a great trunk show. Lots of new toys. Will I ever be cured of this damn Parker fever????? Rich was right it is a Very slippery slope!!

In a word David.... No :cool:






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So, David and I have an upcoming spring turkey hunt....im going to try and kill a bird with the $150 grade first year Parker Lifter I got this fall before sending it to Bachelder’s for a redo!!then hopefully another longbeard next season...after resto....might even write something up to submit to Dean for PP!

Thanks Mark, that would be great.

Remember, that gun has the sharp 90 degree angle between the water table and the breech face so watch those loads.






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was planning on using the RST 2 7/8ths 1 1/4 oz.

It will go into temporary remission from time to time, but only because you have been innocculated with browning fever, or colt fever, or purdey fever (thats a pricey one I am told). But it always comes back.

Hey Mark. I also picked up a 16 gauge myself this past fall. It's a DHE with 32"
barrels and a PG stock on a 1 frame. It weighs in at 7-4 oz with those barrels.
The DAH was 2 3/4" and it lettered as such. I tried to shoot it but was just not satisfied wiht that drop so I had the stock bent to a more shootable dimension for me. As a matter of fact I hope to have it back next week. This one has 2 1/2" chambers so I was shooting RST's in it. It will be on a pheasant hunt in the future for sure. Not the best pics, one of my near future goeals is to get some higher quality pics of guns.

Wow, I love that gun!!!

New 16
 

I’m partial to 16 as a 16 Fox was my first Gun back in 1959. I like your 32” Parker bet it swings nice would be hell on pass shooting Whitewings in TX. Mark and I are going after turkeys with our 2 new/old Parker hammers this spring in TX.

Depending on the chamber length... I doubt the chambers are that long and being such an early gun it was most likely chambered to shoot brass shells and consequently, likely has no forcing cones - just a 90 degree ridge at the end of the chamber.

I would strongly recommend measuring all aspects of the chambers.





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Randy take that 32 inch 16 to the sporting clays range you'll love it. I have two both on the #1 frame. A hammer gun and a GHE vent rib and they are fun to shoot clays with.

The constriction is .028 in each barrel so it would work on the pass shooting, at least for me anyway. It does swing well. Good luck with the turkeys !

Oh you don't have to encourage me in that department. I have been to the skeet range and 5 stand with it and just as soon as that little stock bend is complete we'll be back at it. A GHE VR 32", wowsa! Put me at the top of the list if you should ever become disenchanted with her !:bowdown:

Now you have me concerned!!! Think I will measure the chambers and get Gad Cartridge to load a few brass black powder for the turkey hunt!

Have you received the gun yet Mark?

On the truck for tomorrow Mike! Looking forward to see if its a “keeper”!!