Early lifter
 

Nothing special but a good, honest early lifter. 12 gauge on 1 frame. Handles well . . . looks like an early Grade 2 equivalent. 3,000 sn range. First Parker of the year

I like it Mills! It looks like a pin lifter too....

It is a pin lifter

Mills , glad to see you are off and running on Parker purchases for 2019, good looking gun, Gary

Sandringham's Gun Room contained a case with 17 hammered Purdey's. I took that as a challenge to have 18 hammered Parker's. How's your count coming along Mills?

I have lost count currently

Letter came today. Chokes were RH 130 and LH 135 pellets of no 8 shot in 18 x 24 pattern at 45 yards. I believe that is relatively open so would make sense for an upland gun. Also looks like it was returned in 1913 for minor repairs from Louisiana along the Mississippi river north of Natchez. I was just reading about woodcock hunting in Louisiana and it made me wonder if it was a woodcock gun back in the day

Mills - that's not open at all....

18 inches by 24 inches at 45 yards is a pretty small target to put 130 pellets into. Sounds closer to IM or Full to me.

I would use a good bore mic and check for constriction in thousandths.





.

Maybe so. I have a hard time with those kind of choke descriptions

I have some lifters that have 170 and 190 pellets described in the research letters with the same target/distance that I assumed are full and very full choke. I have another lifter that is 120 pellets that seems to me like a cylinder choke.

Dean knows more about this than I do and measuring is the best way to know for sure(I personally don't have those tools). And of course you could shoot and pattern it. Based on my lifters and research letters, yours seems closer to improved cylinder.

Looks like you'll have to do some shooting and let us know :)

After reading Jay's 170 & 190 pellet counts, I'm rethinking my IM and Full comment above... to maybe more like Mod.





.

We could probably put together a Parker specific table with pellet count and the approximate choke. It wouldn't be definitive, but a good general guide.

That is a good idea and I have thought about that. The thing is there are so many variations.

Could some one explain the reasoning behind 18x24. I have always thought a pattern being round it would be evaluated in a circle. I have the feeling I am missing some thing very basic here.

The older lifters had one gauge larger bores to accommodate the interior dimensions of extruded brass shotgun shell. In a 12 gauge you will typically find bores to be .751 or 11 gauge rather than the standard today of .729. A rough guess at constriction is to measure the muzzle with calipers and subtract from .751. Roughly improved cylinder would be .741, modified .731, full .721, and extra full .711. You can pattern your gun at 10 yards and the results will be: Cylinder 19 inch circle, Improved cylinder 15 inch circle, modified 12 inch circle, and full a 9 inch circle.

That is a good question and I was wondering the same thing. I have always seen circles as patterns

Occurred to me it may mean an 18 in. within a 24in. circle. Would differentiate the core from the rest?

Who knows. There are a lot of mysteries with the early Parker days. Frustrating sometimes, but it makes it fun too.

To the best of my knowledge they were patterned for rising birds... so, 18" wide and 24" high would likely have been the way the pattern board or target was measured.






.

If the patterns dispersed fairly equal across the 18x24 piece of paper it’s just as good in practical application as a 30” circular target . We have guys at our club that are anal about patterning their tube sets in all gauges . Center of pattern in relation to the aiming point was always more important to me then how many pellets were in this quadrant or that quadrant . Plus the fact that patterns on paper are ONE dimensional and an actual load of shot in the air isn’t .

Parker 1866
 

I'm trying to find the value of a 1866 Parker Bros shotgun, serial number: 048 with the patented date Nov. 13, 1866. It was just brought in from an estate into my antiques shop here in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
It needs restoration but I think a collector would prefer it as is.
Any advice would be appreciated

Pics would be very important here. Are you saying it is a “T” latch action?
If you don’t know, that is why pictures are needed for us to give an opinion.

I would love to see some pictures of this gun.