AHE 1924 Damascus
 

A buddy asked me to post these photos for him ( he won't post here himself) of a 1924 12ga A, all original.

He sometimes sees questions asking if damascus guns are as valuable as fluid steel, or if all damascus guns are for black powder or how late Parker made guns with damascus barrels. He thought this post might be useful, and if not, asked me to delete it.

What a stunning Parker!! Tell your "buddy" we like it!

MAGNIFICANT! The gun appears to be new!

Best Regards, George

Stunning.... Tx Bruce.

I have a completely unprovable and wild theory that wealthy older men during the 1920's who had money and remembered the best of the guns from when they didn't have the resources, would order a top grade Parker in damascus because that's what they remembered as the epitome of a high grade gun. They would put the gun in the cabinet and admire it, and they already had a bunch of guns to shoot, so it wouldn't get much use.

Just my thoughts and I'm sure somebody will tell me that I'm no expert and I should be banned from having these theories.

Makes perfect sense to me Bruce. That's exactly what I'm planning to do when I get some money.... :whistle:

Dean don't you mean Yen? Will the Chairman give you X-Mass off?

Thank's to "Our Buddy" for showing us some great Parker's

My Dad didn't know much about a shotgun but always relayed to me that his Dad always referred with reverence to his E Grade Lefever pigeon gun as having "soft barrels". When I received the gun from my uncle about 1958, my Dad never said anything about not firing it with modern shells, only that I should be careful with it in the field, lest I dent the soft barrels. My Grandfather apparently owned many guns, but shot the Lefever almost exclusively until his death in 1929.

Bruce, I can only dream about owning a Parker like that. Beautiful!

Bill, you talk about "soft barrels", and it does seem like every Parker I've looked at that has dents is damascus, not fluid steel. Are they truely softer and if so why, assuming the wall thickness is the same.

I would guess it's the iron content of the damascus?

Bill and Chuck, remember the Parker letter that John Davis published on this website that essentially stated that in order of barrel wear resistance, from most easily worn to most wear resistant, it was

damascus
Bernard
Acme

Acme was the only fluid steel grade considered. Likely wear resistance equates to hardness and dent resistance as well.

Damascus has more dents because it has been around longer. Many Damascus guns were relegated to the scrap heap before we rescued them. My old 1887 Lefever doesn't have any dents.

Bruce
That is one beautiful gun. Thank you and Sir C fore sharing it.
David

Bruce: I think that your hypothesis is sound. An AH from that period with Damascus barrels would have to have been someone's "Dream Gun".

Bill: I believe that if Damascus barreled Parker's tend to have more dents than steel it is, probably, because they have been around longer and been on more hunting trips.

Best Regards, George

I took a good fall out bird huning three weeks ago, and my RBL-16 took the worst of it. In my own feeble mind I'm sure that had I been using one of my vintage guns the barrels would have been dented, but the RBL's barrels are only scratched. Two big gouges out of the wood near the head on the right side too. The RBL seemed to find the rocks, while I was pretty well cushoned by the heavy CRP grass.

Wow!! That is some fine AHE-Grade!! I'd sure make safe room for that gun.

You have those big rocks out there to gouge barrels and stocks. Back here we have those deep badger and coyote holes in the middle of dense CRP, and you don't see those things until you are leg deep in one with the gun on the ground. I'm always afraid I'll break a stock. I brief the people who hunt with me to be careful of those holes and I'm usually the first to fall in one.
Be careful and I'm glad you weren't hurt.

That is a beautiful gun! That gun needs to be taken out for some box birds, ASAP!
Thanks for the post.

I'll say this much for this board, it's made me a damascus barrel nut! Just bought a 20 GH with damascus barrels, I don't know much about it yet but I should later this week.
What a gorgeous gun this gun post here is, maybe the prettiest double I've seen. A board member on here sent me some stunning photos though of some of his damascus and twisters. He's the one that put the non-fluide steel bug in me! Jerry

Me too. They sure are great looking guns. The only problem is that people are starting to think that they can shoot them.:crying:

Know those badger holes well. I always wonder what the probabilities are to actually find that relatively small hole in that rather large expanse of land. Whatever they are, I find a couple every year. I spent close to a half hour trying to extricate myself from one. The boot toe had bent back and the fit of boot to hole was very tight. I was a mere couple hundred yards from the car but out of sight of it. It was a day that Kay was sitting there totally unconcerned about how long I would be walking around the area. I burned a lot of hiking energy just working on wiggle/pull and only gaining minimal distance. Just told Kay I didn't see anything and we carried on. She worries too much :)

Back to the beautifl AHE. After all the education provided on this forum, other than the beauty of that gun, the first thing that struck me is that the indexing of some screws is off. The inference from that is that the gun has been opened up but not quite properly re-assembled. Is this a valid conclusion from the pictures?
Cheers,
Jack

WOW!!!!!

Yes the screws have been turned and not indexed properly. No way that gun left the factory like that. Also, it looks like there may be a little rust on the SBP and screws. It's really hard to criticize this gun with so many outstanding features. Single trigger, beavertail forend, beautiful damascus and case colors, the only thing missing is the vent rib!

Rich Anderson has one with all those features Chuck.... but it's not an AHE

For now I'll just sit and drool over this one and turn a blind eye to the little things that don't matter.

That is a really beautiful gun Bruce. As I look at the pictures though, I have to ask if the stock and the barrels are original to the gun? As I look at the pictures it appears the fit on the stock and forend are not really up to specs for a Parker of this grade and I can't make out the Parker borders on the checkering which is so hard to duplicate on refinished or restocked guns. I think the gun is in fabulous condition and the beavertail, damascus, ejector combination is super, but is it real and original? Does your buddy believe it is? It would be a great gun to take to a Parker gathering to let others view in person. I would really like to see this gun in person or some additional photos. Do you have any additional pictures that you can post? Thank you again for pictures, super gun in incredible condition.

Patrick

Chuck I was going to reply but no :banghead:

Hi Patrick!

Actually, this is NOT Bruce's gun. Bruce was asked to post it for his "friend", who does indeed post to the this Forum on occasion - but not pictures (see the December POM thread ;) ).

For that - what Bruce might have posted, but didn't when the first question came up over a week ago (but didn't for whatever reason he chose not to?) is that..

Actually - many have seen this Parker - and it's "right as rain". Unfortunately, the pictures do not do it justice. It's an incredible Parker. I can say that, as I've seen it (err - "fondled it"?? ;) )..

The indexing of the screws - hell, I didn't notice either - but - I can tell you that the owner didn't either. Seems that old Parker had a few loose screws, but if I were "borned" (is that a word??) in 1924 - I'd have a few loose screws as well..?? HAH!!!

I'm going to close this thread as the original intent of the owner (NOT Bruce) was to share this fine old Parker on the site for reference for all regarding late DAM Parkers. I really respect that - and so do most folks. Wish there were more like the owner of this fine old Parker...

As to why Bruce couldn't clear this up with a simple post when the questions came up - is a mystery to me as well.

But I don't take responsibility for what and how others post for others..

Best to all for a wonderful Holiday Season and Christmas!!

John