New Member in Kentucky
 

All, I found this forum trying to sort out a Parker I now own. My wife went to an estate auction and came home with several antique firearms for my collection! Oh, and she loves watching the NFL, and baseball, and basketball, and will do so even when I'm not home! If she'd only cook she'd be the perfect wife! :rotf:
I was hoping all you officianados could help me with my gun. I spent time on the Parker Gun website, but I'm still lost. Serial number is 104363, so I did figure out it was made in 1901. The barrel grade is "v", whatever that means. It's a 12 gauge, and is a "2" regarding frame size. I noticed there is a "8" near the marking of the frame size, so I don't know what that means. The barrel is not marked with what kind of steel it is. On the barrel lug there is a marking Kf I think, and the 4 to the 1 power is the barrel weight. I'll see if I can post some pictures. This gun is easily 90%, and maybe closer to 95%. I hope my wife did good...I think she paid $1100 for the gun.

Greg in Kentucky

Hopefully a avid member of the "BIG BLUE Nation"; UK!!!!!

THAT, was a condition of marriage. I'm originally an Air Force brat, grew up abroad, but high school was in Georgia after Dad's retirement. On to college and grad school, and got the hell out of the heat upon graduation. Move to Kentucky and met my wife. The rest is history.

Here's some pictures...I hope...
http://img.gg/ogb49ua
http://img.gg/D9Oyzwp
http://img.gg/HYyW7NH
http://img.gg/A9JsVoi
http://img.gg/m9G7Xqy
http://img.gg/zY9DyJO
http://img.gg/FsENQv4

It has a gold shield on the bottom of the buttstock, but that photo did not turn out.

Greg in Kentucky

VH grade, case colors redone, aftermarket vent rib added to the barrels and then reblued. Reblued trigger guard and looks to have been refinished. Looks as if the head of the stock has had a screw/bolt placed through it? Gold shield is probably just finish added over silver colored shield. At least that's what I see.

Welcome. Appears to be a nice serviceable VH-Grade Parker Bros. shotgun. You can't see the rib legend because it has been covered by a Simmons ventilated rib installed on top of the original rib.

Attachment 82718

The Kf marking appears to be the steel type marking on the barrel flat of the early vintage VH-/VHE-Grade guns.

Attachment 82719

From my rather limited observations the Kf marking was in use into the 1336xx serial number range. VH-/VHE-Grades had a V or a V in a circle steel type marking beginning by the 1350xx range.

Attachment 82717

I really appreciate the input. I like the gun, but know nothing of Parkers. Sounds like it wouldn't be sinful to turkey hunt with it! :rolleyes:

It is not in the Parker serial number book so measure the barrels for length. With a vent rib added one never knows if the chokes may have been altered for some type of targets. If you can measure the chokes, do so, but if you can't the old method of a dime not going in the barrel does tell you that it is usually full choke. Anything in 12 gauge around .700 would be full, and less than that the better. We wouldn't want you to go out there after a turkey with cylinder in each barrel. The gun will make a nice shooter and save you from having to refinish anything. Since the gun is not original, the vent rib is a nice feature in my opinion.

p.s. If I had a wife that went out and bought me antique firearms, I would go to chef's school.

Gregory,

I'm between Lexington and Versailles. If you are near I would love to see your Parker once the dust settles from the coronavirus. Do you shoot clays at Kentucky Sportsmans League or Elk Creek?

Kindest, Harry

Harry

The gun will make a great shooter but I can't believe you were so anxious to leave God's country.

FWIW, Parker master engraver Bob Runge made the observation many years ago that the Kf mark could possibly be a final inspector's mark from the barrel shop connected with manager Walter King and the German word fertig, meaning "finished." His theory was that barrels so marked were completed and ready to be forwarded to the next step in building a gun.

I'd love to get together. I have only recently begun to shoot clays, and have not been to either venue yet. I'm hoping to go to Elk Creek soon...after life returns to a more normal state.

Greg

:rotf: I am the cook in the house. Have been for 32 years. She won't try due to intimidation, I guess. Now you know why we're both significantly overweight!

Having lived all over the world during my youth, I developed an affinity for a certain climate type...and Georgia ain't it! Don't get me wrong, I lived there for a total of 14 years, but I've been in Kentucky for 30, and the northern tip of Kentucky at that.
What made me leave is I was a senior at the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine. My first rotation in Senior Clinics was Equine Lameness. I got to be the handler to run the horses on hot black asphalt while the Clinicians diagnosed the cause of the lameness. Problem was it was July 1986, and it was 108 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade for a week straight! I went home dehydrated and vomiting every night, and managed to lose 15 lbs I didn't have to lose in 1 week. I made my mind up that if I was going to pursue my dream of being a mixed animal vet and spending a significant proportion of my time outdoors, it wasn't going to be Georgia. So I started looking around, and wound up in Kentucky. Met my wife here, and the rest is history.
Different strokes...
Charlie Daniels song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" comes to mind...cuz' he felt at home there! :rotf: I just can't handle the heat. I keep thinking my next home is going to be in Alaska!

Greg

I finally got the calipers out and measured the choke to be 0.700 inches in diameter, and the barrel is an even 30" long. I mention it because I had joked about turkey hunting with it.
I'll actually be turkey hunting with my Benelli SBE3, with extra full choke (Jelly Head, turkey choke), and Trijicon RMR reflex red dot sight.

Without knowing the bore size and assuming .729 or thereabouts, you have a full choke, not extra full but full. Find out if it likes 6s, 5s, or 4s and go for it.

Sounds like a turkey slaying gun to me. You might like it up here in Alaska Gregory; there's still 3ft of snow in my yard!

I'm sort of jealous...but I thought I heard there weren't any turkeys up there! Is that right?

But a moose hunt...that is my dream!

Harry and Greg - Keep me in mind if there is a plan hatched to get some KY Parker guys together to shoot some clays! I'd love to join you, although I'm coming from the Bowling Green area.

All the best,
Dave

Other than a few of my politically misguided neighbors, no, there are no turkeys up here. Some folks raise them, but no wild. Moose are getting very difficult to find; too many hunters chasing them. Hell, getting a moose is my dream also! I haven't shot one in 20yrs, and it's not for lack of trying.

Dave,

About the third Wednesday of the month we have a vintage shoot at Elk Creek. John Bugdon occasionally ricochets up from Murray. We have a nice crown and though just a few Parkers are represented there are some very fine guns being shot. Elk Creek remains open, but I've elected to stay on the farm as I am compromised from a previous bout with cancer. I'll keep you and Gregory informed.

Harry

:cheers: