What can be done with a Repro - The final chapter.
 

I had previously posted some other separate threads on the wood work and engraving work on this gun, but I thought I would start a new one on the finished result.


This gun is a 26" Parker Reproduction 20g. DHE Double Trigger gun.

My intent for this project was to refine as much as possible on the Repro platform as an example of what can be done with these guns to dress them up some more.

I started with reworking the wood for lower shooting dimensions. The comb was brought down quite a bit and reshaped, and the heel lowered a little. The forend was thinned out a lot as well. The finish was redone in a medium gloss oil (to somewhat resemble the Urethane that was put on the repros) and the figure and color was enhanced a lot in the finishing process. The checkering was recut and the borders than mullered.

The barrels were not touched as they were just fine. Only the breech face was striped as original Parkers were.

I replaced all of the screws on the gun (metal and wood) with new ones that have much thinner slots than the original repro screws. Especially the wood screws. The slots on repro Wood screws are huge.
Then I polished out all of the metalwork.

Geoffroy Gournet then embellished all of the scroll work on the gun to give it more dimension and to make it all look hand cut vs the machine done "engraving" by the factory. Special attention was paid to the 3 game scenes and a lot of detail was added to them and also background detail. A note on the engraving is that the factory "engraving" can look washed out with the faux case color, and even with bone charcoal case color. But that is not the case with fresh hand cut engraving. It really stands out through the new bone charcoal case color. The hand cuts allow the light to be reflected off of it.

The trigger guard serial number was redone in the original style with the No. before it.

The frame and metalwork was case colored by Turnbull.

I Nitre Blued the buttplate, trigger guard and screws.

Oh, yeah... and the triggers were Nickel Plated, like original grade 3 guns.

I also had Geoffroy engrave the stock oval with my monogram as this is my personal gun and it will be shown and shot. Look for it at some of the upcoming events if you want to see it up close and in person.

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Here are some side-by-side comparisons with a factory repro.

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Good God. Gorgeous work.

Very nice Brian

Was anything needed to be done to improve function of Repro? Cosmetic improvements are truly fantastic.

Did you give any instructions to Turnbull as to how you wanted the case colors to look? The blues and rust colors are excellent with very little straw and the blues go all the way to the edges. The colors are about as close to circa1900 Parkers as I've seen.

No special instructions. It is the way I got it back. With original guns, I usually get very good coverage with minimal straw from them. But every gun is different. As far as repros go, they usually all look pretty close to this. They color nicely.

It appears you tightened up the radius of the heel, and reshaped the fore end to look more like a Meriden gun. Those are the two visible features that have always bothered me on a repro, and this gun is such a wonderful redo. Four thumbs up. (My dog likes it too)

Yes, edgar. I was able to lower the heel dimension some by bringing down the spur of the plate.
You dog has thumbs?

Well Done! Not many of these type of enhancements totally come together in such a pleasing manner and look true to a Parker gun.

Outstanding color, both metal and wood. Congratulations.

Brian, did you use the original checkered insert under the skeleton butt plate or did you shape and checker the butt yourself?





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What an outstanding result, if they looked like this originally I think they would have been more successful, and more expensive! Very nice!!!

Outstanding to say the least!!

I'm constantly amazed by what you are doing Brain, you've taken Parker restoration & repro upgrading to the next level!

Awesome job! Kudos to Mr. Gournet & Turnbull as well :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

Yes, I reused the original butt insert.

I did not like how light the back end of the gun was, so I added some weight to the butt in the hollow section of it and filled the rest with solid wood. Then glued the insert back on.
The weight of the gun feels much better to me now.

Nicely done Brian. You have me drooling once again.

FANTASTIC ! Thanks for posting that. Ed

Beautiful work Brian! There's just something about a skeletonized butt plate and checkered butt to make a gun POP!

Very Nicely done as usual Brian.

I would love to chase some quail with that one!

I saw and handled Brian's gun over the weekend. It is even better in hand than the pictures show!!
Bob Jurewicz

one thing for sure this is as nice as they come....charlie

Really nice work Brian. A pleasure to look at.

Outstanding work Brian

Brian,The gun looks great!Just curious,how long did the project take start to finish?