Big Surprise under the Buttplate
 

I just picked up a Parker G grade shotgun made in 1890. Typically I bought one that has seen much better days and would be of little or no interest to a true collector but I love to find derelicts and get them back to shooting condition. This is a hammerless gun with Damascus barrels and barrels cut to 25 1/2 inches eliminating all choke. The interesting part is that as i was disassembling it I removed the broken buttplate and found the gun had been signed, in pencil,by what I suppose was a bunch of cowboys. That kind of leads me to think this might have been a ranch gun that they shared. Any other ideas or has anyone else found this kind of thing?

Neat find for sure.

Now that's a neat find under a buttplate.

:whistle:i see a king and ulrich there

:):Neat, I wonder how many butt plates will be looked at now?......

Could they be Parker employees?

No. The one legible date is 2 years after it was made.

Probably not. The gun was built in 1890 and the buttplate is inscribed 1892. Also on the wood I can make out the words Texas and New Mexico. I'm guessing they were putting down where thy were from.

That is cool. You never know what surprises you find with these guns

some good finds...charlie

I look under the buttplate of all the guns I buy just in case someone did put their name or something else there. To date all I've found is a picture of a woman circa 1900 under the buttplate of a drilling manufactured in 1908. Unfortunately the last rifle cartridge in the toe trap removed her face. The only other thing I've found was a bundle of matches in the butt of a sporterized Krag. Still, in both cases, it was a nice look at the past. I put my name and the year in an inconspicuous place on guns I build.

I wonder if gun was a gift and all those fellas chipped in to buy it for someone. Just a wild guess. Maybe a letter could track to who bought the gun.

VERY COOL ! Great Find !!!!!!! I always look,so far I have come up empty !