28 gauge VHE
 

Wish me luck. I made a deal on a 28 gauge VHE that has some fairly significant warts but with the help of a skilled and experienced friend I hope to restore it to at least most of it's former beauty. GI #101825598. Looking forward to having it in hand. Hope to have it ready for the grouse woods next fall. I've ordered a letter to learn as much about it's original configuation as available information can provide.

NICE!!

I don't see any "warts" at all. I'd hunt it just as it is. A 0-frame with ejectors and 28" barrels.... what's not to love about that gun!!??!! And the price is about what I would expect to pay for such a gun. Even without a safety I'd still hunt with it just like I do with my hammer guns - with the action open until stepping in for the flush.





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Thanks, I can't wrap my head around carrying a gun in the grouse woods without a saftey and I do carry my gun loaded but open most of the time. I'd estimate that I fall at least once every 2 or 3 days trying to get in to flush. In Michigan less frequently but in New Hampshire it's inevitable.

So, if the action's open when you fall the only damage that can happen is to the gun.

I shot my first "Parkerized" grouse with a 16 ga. Damascus GHE with no safety.


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I typically close the gun before I move in to flush.

Nice configuration- cyl/full!

What a great gun. I have 126,764 close to yours. Were ejectors available that early? I can't remember.

The gun does have ejectors and my uneducated eye could not see any signs that they were added. The forend iron does not match and is #200,000 +, which raised the question if the forend was switched in order to operate added ejectors. I'm really interested in what the research letter will contain about the gun's factory configuration.

The ejectors are factory work, either at the time of the original build or later. The letter should address it either way.





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That's good to know. I remembered a thread re: aftermarket ejectors and the signs and indications of who may have done the work.

Were ejectors available from the factory at that time?

I believe we're inching towards the answer to that question. Perhaps factory work to remove the safety and install ejectors?

I would think adding a safety to that gun would be a fairly simple task for a competent gunsmith.
Nice gun, BTW.

Yes, A local friend has indicated he has most of the parts on hand and once we can see inside he'll know what else he may need.

You have a good honest start there by the looks of it. The gun has a lot going for it.

The ejectors are factory parker ejectors. The addition of a safety back into the gun would not be that big of a deal.

Thanks. The plan is to install a safety, re-case the action and fore end iron, re-blue the barrels and trigger guard and refinish the wood. Should be even more beautiful.

I think 1902 but not 100% sure

Very nice! Looks like a pretty honest, original gun. Gotta be a story on the fore end. Got nice dimensions for upland game, what's not to like? Congrats on the purchase. I personally would like a functional safety to carry in the field, think that's a smart addition.

Dan, we lived in Minford, ohio for 7 years while on assignment at the gas centrifuge plant. I hunted grouse in your area many times. Southern and Eastern Ohio out Jackson way held good grouse covers. Many fond memories.

I've heard stories of huntable grouse populations in E and SE Ohio but never hunted grouse in Ohio. Living on the northern edge of the state makes Michigan a much preferred (and superior) grouse hunting destination. I was also fortunate enough to make it up into your neck of the woods to hunt a few days in New Hampshire last year and plan to do so again this year.

Dan, your member info in the little box on the left side of this screen, says your from nw ohio. That's why I responded to your post. Anyway, if you plan to hunt new Hampshire this fall, I'd be happy to join you and would bring my English setter along to locate and point all the grouse and woodcock we come across.

Yes Allen, I live in Oregon just east of Toledo and near the south shore of Lake Erie. I'm a guest in New Hampshire or I'd be happy to have you along. I've got a lovely little English Setter bitch as well along with a beautiful English Pointer bitch. Both are young dogs but moving along the grouse learning curve. I'm a recent convert to grouse hunting having been a pheasant and waterfowl hunter most of my life. I've been running Springer Spaniels and Labs for the last 20 years.

In the 70's Grouse and Quail were in abundance in southern Ohio. Virtually every farm had at least one covey of Quail and if you had some woods with alittle bit of honeysuckle for cover you had Grouse as well. We lived in town but had a 640 acre farm that had five coveys of wild Quail in the bottoms and plenty of grouse in the overgrown hills(that had been timbered). In the late 70's we had a ice storm that starved and killed most of the Quail and they never recovered. I'm not sure what killed off the grouse but their numbers went way down in the 80's and are few and far between now. The quail have come back enough were there is a limited season in some southern Ohio counties but nothing like the heyday of the 60's and 70's. I was lucky to have lived and hunted in the primetime of this era and had some of the best Brittany spaniels to hunt with.

I shot my first grouse in Ohio when I was 15, and was at that moment transformed into a passionate grouse hunter. I was born and raised and still work in SE Ohio, hunting Belmont, Jefferson ,Monroe and Harrison counties mostly. 25-30 flush days were common/expected. Half day hunts were in the upper teens. Best day was 62 flushes around 1990, and we tried not to count obvious reflushes. With a season that was almost 5 months, it was easy to shoot 40-50 (well, maybe not easy) grouse/season. When the grouse pop. started to plummet , the cover was stiil here. I told all who would listen, that it was due to a virus, probably West Nile, but was poo-pooed. I had a Masters in microbiology and was working on a PhD in Microbiology and epidemiology before I went to optometry school. Now look what they are saying.
Now the Appalachian wild turkey population is plummeting, hmm, wonder why.

Anyway, back to the original thread, quite a nice Parker 28, I too, am uncomfortable without a safety, and would add one. Be sure and post pictures afterwards.

Harold could you elaborate on the decline of turkeys. I have been a bit of an amateur pathologist since college and my interest has always been plants in that is how i made my living but have seen a lot of new diseases and insects over the last 10- 20 years. Our crow population succumed to west nile in 2 years time 20 years ago and has not come back.

Read of a disease(virus) in the Hudson valley in New York that halved the deer herd last year. Spread by no-seeums and high fatality rates. Very interested to know what is affecting turkeys in that the area i hunt in Maine they dissapeared in a years time.

Dan, they say when all life, as we know it, will be gone, the cockroach will still be here. I'm beginning to believe the dam ticks will too.

Naah... ticks need blood.





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Dan, they all relocated to Lawrence Ma. where as many as 25,000 are reported to roost on the roofs of the old mill buildings every night.





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I have seen the films of that. That is all there is though, we used to have winter roosts of a few thousand in many locations in south east Ma. and i hunted the areas but they are gone now and the numbers are so small i have a hard time shooting a few.

The ticks will get blood from the rats that survive on cockroaches and ticks.



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