What do I need to finish gun?
 

I inherited the back half of a Parker Brothers hammerless side by side double barrel shotgun. It is a 1909 manufacture VH. The widest dimension across the firing pins is 2 1/16”. I kneed to know the gauge of the gun so I can purchase the correct barrel and forearm. Thanks, Ed T.

Looks like an O frame gun that could be a 16 or 20 gauge. Your gun is not in the serialization book but there are surviving records for this one so you should join the PGCA and order a research letter which may clear some things up for.
Good luck !

Edward. This looks to be a little used VH. Is there any chance that the barrels are still in estate stuff. Those barrels won’t just drop into any other Parker. All was hand fitted at manufacture. I spent years trying to find a barrel set that would just drop in. I did finally. I think it was 12 years. I would sure want to do an exhaustive search through the estate items unless you know for a fact the barrels were lost stolen destroyed sold etc. Good luck. There are members on this site who can make it whole again. No matter what you do make sure whoever lays hands on this knows Parkers inside out. Cheers Jack

Edward - the correct measurement to determine frame size and likely gauge possibilities is the exact distance between firing pin centers. Yours appears to be exactly 1-inch which makes it a 0-frame. 16's, 20's and early 28's were built on the 0-frame.





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Dean I would think the bolster measurements would rule out the possibility of this being a 28 gauge. Would you agree with that?

No Randy that wouldn't rule out a 28 gauge. I had one that accepted a set of 20 ga. barrels perfectly.





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You are going to be fighting an uphill battle putting the gun back together if that is all you have. All the guns were hand fitted and there is not a lot of perfect interchangeability of parts.

But some are close enough to be made to fit with some welding and machining.





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I don't know if there are enough pictures to tell us whether this is an ejector gun or an extractor gun. Send us pictures of the front of the receiver..

I would first see if you can track down the barrels and fore end. Chances are it is in other estate stuff and it would be well worth the search

Based on what the cut 16 ga damascus barrels on gunbroker went for the other day, it seems like you could replace the missing half. Gunsmith to fit likely required.

There is always the same ad in DGJ from someone who buys SXS barrels of all makes. I can only imagine this person also sells barrels. The only contact is through DGJ so I would give Daniel Cote a call and ask if this person has barrels to sell, including barrels that might fit your Parker.





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That is Daniel who is buying barrels.

Okay, that’s even better.





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One of my 0 frame 28ga. guns is amongst the earliest 28s, (one of a identical pair ordered in 1900 by Folsom, the first documented 24" 28ga. guns) and the bolster measurement is .078" smaller than my other, and that one, including all my other 0 frame guns measure withing a few thous of 2 1/16"

That barrel was not cut. It was 26" and is in the 'book' at 26", from a CHE.

That means one call instead of two. Good luck!