2020 Parker additions-how about you?
 

2020 is a year I am ready to forget. The social isolation was very difficult especially for us that live alone. Fortunately, I have hobbies to occupy myself. I have dodged the virus bullet so I feel blessed. For whatever reason I was able to upgrade my collection, some nice guns just came my way. I bought or traded 6 and sold 6 so no net increase.
Early in the year I acquired a AH 10/32 Boston Show gun that I wrote about in the recent DGJ. Auction purchases were a high condition DH 12/28 and a very nice original DH 20/28 damascus, my two bargains of the year!!! Individual purchases were a GH 8/36, PH 8/36 and a three-way trade in which I ended up with a BHE 12/30 straight grip.
How about you??

Several left and several came my way. Seems the more I try to narrow my focus the broader it gets! I am most pleased with a very original high condition 20 skeet gun. So much to love about getting one that seems to have been untouched for years. it is accompanied by a 16 skeet gun that is in similar high original condition. I suppose I need a matching 28 ga now for the trifecta! A very nice original 20/32 vent rib joined my small group as well.

20ga VHE -- shooter grade.

8 Parkers and 9 Model 70’s. The year is not over either and sent an absentee bid in today.

I think I have mentioned all the Parkers except the two most recent. One is a GH 16 0 frame which is a project even by my standards. Hoping to bring it back. It has original 26 inch barrels which should make a great upland gun.

The last is a GHE 12 and PGCA had the original work order tag! I now have it in a plastic sleeve with the research letter. It is a late Meriden gun

The first Parker of 2020 was a VH 12 which was also a Boston Show gun from 1901 I think. 2 GHE 12 gauges from the late Meriden era. GH 16 which is the heaviest 16 I have seen. C top lever 10 with original 31 inch barrels. The order book is missing so no record of who would order such a gun. It must have been special order. Then a SC SBT owned by Fred Gilbert. A VH 0 frame weighing exactly 6 pounds. These are the others

Also a Parker coffee mill and a nice Aiden Lassell Ripley quail hunting scene.

Lets see, I got a patch, thanks Destroy.

I had a good year collecting as well all things considered. Some interesting non Parker items:

I finally got a Winchester 42 and love it. I also added a nice WC Scott and Son 12 gauge from 1878 with the Duck Bill locks and crystal indicators. This is my first gun that is "cast off" and I like it!

I bought a real nice contemporary recreation of a David Morton Pennsylvania Flintlock rifle in .54 caliber. Also on the muzzleloading side, I had a replica made of an original New England Fowler from 1770-1790 that I bought a few years ago. The modern copy is amazing in 28 gauge/.54 I can hit clays or put a round ball into a relative tight group at 50 yards.

On the Parker side:

I found a few grade 0 or 1 guns that were unique in their own way and I couldn't resist. One notable one was a straight stock top action hammer gun made in 1905 with twist barrels and a fishtale lever.

I found a nice grade 2 check hook lifter with the updated(top action) firing pins. This gun falls right in the transition period from lifter to top action.

I got my A grade top action 10 gauge back from Brian better than ever and breaking clays. This Parker turned out better than I ever could have imagined!

Lastly, Josh had a few for sale that I just had to buy. That was enjoyable on many levels. Getting great Parkers and dealing with Josh. One was Parker #97 and the other was a grade 3 top action 16 gauge. I was hoping to show these 2 off in person at a few events, but this year has been tough for that. Hopefully, we'll have a chance for some Parker shoots next year.

I got Brutus (8 gauge 7 frame 36”) . Got a VHE 20 26” . 16 top lever 30” . I think the Grade 3 #4 frame top lever came my way this year . Picked up three or four 1911’s Colt and Kimber . I’m sure there were others but this stuff kinda blends together any longer . And I do have almost three more weeks to add something else . Oh yeah the little Mannlicher Schoenauer MC carbine in 6.5x54 MS arrived this year . And the Sako competition HB in 6mm PPC arrived early in the year .

I was unaware that you’d acquired a second giant ! I’d enjoy seeing pics of that one of the notion struck you :whistle:

My daughter found me an interesting VH 28ga. It was from a consecutive order of two 24" guns, being the first 24", 28ga. guns made. The buttstock was equally short, so because the gun matches the letter, I'll set that stock in the closet. Brian Dudley is now installing an original skeet gun stock to it.
I also bought a super nice model 700 Coffee grinder from member Allan Swanson.

Mills nice job 8 parkers, maybe 9! I always take comfort in knowing others are as active collectors as me! Craig the PH pictures are in the Restoration section of the forum.

A CHE 20, GH 20, and PH 20. The CHE and GH each took wild birds on the first shots fired from them. I'm still looking for the right time and place to use the PH.

I also found original consecutive copies of the first several years of Wilbur Parker's American Sportsman from the early 1870s. Fascinating reading, and like entering a time capsule for period guns and shooting.

A few left, and a few came.......
A GH 12 and a PH 12 found new homes, and then I added a Roundel engraved CHE, a Bernard barreled CH, and a very petite 1 frame CHE 12 being restocked, and a nice condition DHE 12.

Unfortunately no Parkers came my way this year, mainly due to my focusing on a couple of Model-21 custom upgrade projects I've had in the works. I was able to complete the 20ga & then found a 16ga to match it, so now it's in the works.

The 20 is a first year DT, Extractor, 28" gun that I converted to a flat side, English grip, skeleton butt with a ho-hum stick of wood & American prairie bird theme engraving, plus a ducks head on the top lever.

Before & after pic's

Ho-hum? I don’t think so.

Picked up a 1968 Purdey 12 ga. on the cheap...a friend of a friend going through a divorce who needed cash. Almost in perfect condition.

that's a unusal carbide light in the picture...can you tell us about it....very nice coffee grinder very nice and bright colors....all I got this year was a 22 stevens crackshot rifle and one of those 30 round plastic 22 s....charlie

The Model 21 is beyond wonderful. What are your plans for receiver finish?

I thought it looked like a pretty honest, good looking 21 to begin with but wow! That's a better than average 2x4 they hung on that 21 for you.

Well 2020 was good year health wise and Parker wise, I sold several high grade hammer guns and bought several, The ones that stand out are the 16ga with milled out receiver and 38" barrels, and the AAHE with 32" Whitworth barrels that is consecutive numbered to my AA Hammergun also with 32" Whitworth brls both pigeon guns ser# 92791 and 92792. Gary

A beautiful gun that AAHE Gary!





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If you take the 2 at the end, and put it at the front, you get my telephone number. Numbers tickle the shit out of me.

Charlie, that lantern is an old Delta battery lantern. It's marked N.Y.N.H. & H. RR. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. That company goes back to the time when they owned the rails, and several side-wheel steamboats that ran from New York, up the Connecticut river, to Hartford. I hope to able to get a battery for it if I can get my credit score up a little higher

New to me a very nice nh 32 in. F/F choked 10 ga. With factory str. Grip stock that i would have ordered. 13 3/4 lop over dhbp, 1 5/8 ths dac and 2 3/4 dah. Barrels show a lot of twist pattern bores a perfect and tight as new !
Happy hunting and a better 2021 !
Scott

For me a nice DHE 0 frame 20 ga with 28" barrels.

A 12 gauge Parker Trojan, a Parker SC with 30 inch barrel, a Parker SA and a Purdey SBT.

Sold a Trojan, bought a Trojan.

No shotguns in 2020:eek: but it was the year of the rifle. I started in March with the beginning of the Covid gun project which I have posted pictures of (I took a deer with it from my new blind last week so the inaugurations are complete}. I found a Remington 700 classic in 300 Savage to go with the 250/3000 then the single shots came. Ruger #1's in 375 H&H, 250 Savage, 35 Whelan, and 405 Winchester. Every one of these have had at least one day in the deer blind and I can still hunt through January 1:)

you got time to get some more rifles to hunt with....aint life good....charlie

What’s the steam oiler on top the coil box hooked up to ?

1875 Edward S Clark (Boston) steam launch engine. Note, It's an upside-down engine, piston rod comes out the top of the cylinder.

Now that is cool!

I was lucky and persistent and got three guns at decent prices I've looked for a long time.

Nice is the Springfield one of the USMC marked snipers ?

I would almost be willing to bet you have a New Holland hit and Miss or two hidden up there somewhere ! Another of the things I wish I’d kept instead of selling to buy something else 😂

I picked up four Parkers for my collection this year;
A 1925 DHE 12ga special order gun, built on a #1 frame with two sets of barrels 26" IC&IC and 28" F&F, the gun also has an articulated trigger, weighs 6#7oz. A 1904 DHE 16 with 26" Damascus barrels and a 1925 GHE 20 28" IC&F and a 1903 GH 12 on a #1 frame with 28" M&F Damascus barrels.

My only purchase this year was a Parker Reproduction 28/410 two guage set.
Double trigger, pistol grip, splinter and beaver tail forends.
Both barrels measure 26" with the 28ga having IC/Mod chokes and the
410 Q1 & Q2. Both barrels marked Parker Reproduction Proved on the barrel flats.
The 410 barrels have the Parker legend on the rib, the 28ga has no marking on the rib.
All in the original case with cover.
Does anyone know what the F on the 28ga barrel lug means?

This is not a USMC gun, these were made as is by the armory as sporters with a special buttplate, barrel band and halfstock. Springfield Armory sold them commercially for hunting and target shooting in the thirties. Mine is drilled for the target blocks and has a Lyman Targetspot scope.

Back in 2011 Richard Skeuse answered the F question with this: "The first batch of 28 ga guns that we ordered had that F on the lug. They came that way from Japan. I think the manufacturer misread an accounting code we used for computer codes."

Nope but I just acquired a 2 hp IHC Famous vertical.

Let’s see, had my underlifter two barrel 410/28 gun worked on to be tournament ready. Lou Rotelli put a new stock on it and did some tweaking to the internals. Picked up a 32” VHE 12g live bird gun. Fits like a glove!! Also picked up a 28” 16g VH. Did some clean up and trigger work to it and it is now my 16HL event Gun. Picked up a GH 28” 12g with fishtail top-lever early in the year too. Picked up some Lefevers too, but that’s it for the Parker guns.

Mike, have you shown pictures of this gun here on the forums? I'd love to see that!