Gil Wheeler's 20 ga Parker
 

Hello,
New member here; call me Bill or Will.

Gilbert ('Gil') M. Wheeler is my mother's, mother's father. His Parker recently came into my possession. I contacted Chuck Bishop to research the gun; while doing so I gave some background about the gun and Gil. He thought you folks might be interested to hear some of that story.

First, the gun itself: 20 ga built on a '0' size frame, VH grade. 28" barrels, straight grip stock with skeleton steel butt plate. Parker Bros. received Gil's order in Oct, 1914. The gun was shipped in Aug, 2015. Thanks again to Chuck for the research.

Gil spent his adult life in Brunswick, Maine where he was a successful business man and an avid outdoorsman and hunter. Family legend has it that Gil and L. L. Bean were frequent hunting partners. I would be surprised if they were not, actually, given that Brunswick and Freeport are neighboring cities, Gil and LL were of similar age, and they were both avid outdoorsmen. A second family legend about Gil is that he shot with Annie Oakley at least once. I have no proof of this, but my grandmother, Gil's daughter, told me many times as a child that Gil was an excellent shot. Gil often traveled to Boston by rail for business and to see the big city. So, who knows.

Gil passed away in 1956, leaving the gun to his older daughter, my grandmother. She passed away in 1987, leaving the gun to my uncle who, in turn, passed away in the early 2000's. Out of privacy and respect for the dead, I won't get into details, but suffice to say that my father deserves all the credit for keeping the gun in the family after my uncle's passing. My father passed away a little over two years ago. My mother, now 91 and still a force of nature, and my siblings decided that I should inherit Gil's Parker.

I have next to no knowledge of the gun's history since purchase other than Gil hunted frequently well into his 80's. It would not surprise me if he was the last one to fire it. I know my father did not (even though he was a very avid shooter), and I sincerely doubt my uncle ever did.

I'll next attempt to attach a few photos of it. Clearly, it has been worked on by someone not acquainted with Parker's.

Merry Christmas

Wow, nice gun with rich provenance! So great to see them kept in their original families!! Will be most interesting to see what the PGCA letter says re: chokes and SKBP.

I see no evidence that it was worked on by someone who was “not aquainted with Parkers.”
It looks good and somebody in your family wanted to make sure it didn’t deteriorate so they refinished it a bit.





.

Kevin: I do have the Research Letter and there is no mention of chokes. If "SKBP" means the skeleton steel butt plate, then that was an option, costing $5.00.

Dean: Didn't Parker align the slots of the screw heads align the axis of the barrels? I thought they did. If not, then my mistake.

Indeed the screws were originally timed when it left the factory. Misalignment could be the result of a couple of reasonz, both of which display a lack of experience. Yes then, you’re right but at least the screw slots aren’t buggered. Further, the only screw that’s misaligned is the lock screw.





.

As I told Bill, I believe the gun is in original condition except for what looks like a heavy coat of varnish. Gill Wheeler requested a medium full comb and a skeleton butt plate. I was happy for Bill in that usually you won't find VH grade guns ordered by an individual and it was his great grandfather who ordered it! Sometimes the stars align! I told him to just keep it lightly oiled and shoot it. That assumes that the gun is in good physical condition.

Bill:

That is a very special VH.

What is your location?

If it is in the New England region, you should bring it to this year's New Year's Day shoot.

The thread for the shoot in under GENERAL DISCUSSIONS on this Forum.

Here's a short-cut to the thread:

https://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=40612

Welcome to Parkerland! We hope you will join our organization and continue to be a student of all things Parker. What a nice Parker and we would all love to read your expanded story in Parker Pages!

Thank you for the kind words. I'm not in New England, but thanks for the invite.

Here's a photo of the butt plate.

Wow, two holes drilled in the butt.





.

Bill, you don't have to live in New England or even the USA to join the PGCA.
You will learn many things about Parker shotguns and those who used and loved them. You will also receive a quarterly subscription to the clubs magazine
free with price of admission into the club. You'd also receive a 60% discount on PGCA letters that are sourced from original factory records.
Give it a try!

And it's only $40 for an Annual membership - there's absolutely nothing to lose and Everything to gain by joining!!





.

Guys, I'm already a member. Paid $40 for membership and $40 for the Research Letter.
Thanks again for the kind words and interest. Merry Christmas.

Bill,
I have a gun that belonged Gil Wheeler. It's a trap/live bird configuration DHE 12 ga. with 32" barrels, straight stock made with no safety. I remember way back looking him up on the LA48 website, there was an article from an old Brunswick ME news paper titled Gil Wheeler and His Dog Princess Pat. I would have to dig up the letter for the gun, but the Gil Wheeler (Brunswick, ME) in the letter was a known trap shooter who was sponsored by Peters Cartridge Co. if you dig deep enough you can find his name and trap scores in the local paper.

Chris,
Well how about that! Thanks for the information -- it's great to know another of his guns is alive and well. What is the LA48 website? I googled it and nothing shows up. Lewiston-Auburn something?
My mother has a photo in her kitchen of Gil sitting back against a tree with a Parker leaning against his left shoulder and to his right is his dog Patsy! I've never heard the dog called "Princess Pat" -- perhaps that was the dog's full name, but was shortened during common usage.
Thanks again -- much appreciated!

https://curtis.advantage-preservatio...dt=10&cid=2930


There is a lot of references in The Brunswick Times Archives through the Curtis Memorial library.
https://curtislibrary.com/

Or, The LA84 Archives
https://digital.la84.org/digital/

There is some very neat Wheeler family history in the newspaper archives. It's amazing that the information is still available. You're going to get lost those archives!!

Chris, how about LA84? Refers to the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. Great website that was once a bit easier to access.

Yes, I stand corrected, LA84 not LA48. It was actually you Bill who turned me onto that resource years ago.

Thanks Chris. I will check out the links.

You probably know more about Gil than I! If you don't mind me asking, when did Gil order the gun you have? He ordered the one I have later in life than I expected. Wondering if yours is older.

Somewhere between 1911 and 1913. There is a copy of the letter in the link below.

https://parkerguns.org/forums/showth...hlight=wheeler

Bill:

If you are a paid-up PGCA Member your displayed forum info. should identify you as a "PGCA Member". not merely a "Forum Associate", as is denoted right now.

Sometimes the system does not register paid-up or full membership status, and it may preclude you for having access to the "members only" sections of the forum.

This discrepancy has happened to me, and an email by you to Mary Bowes, the PGCA Membership Coordinator, should quickly straighten it out.

Stump: I will contact M. Bowes after the new year. I've been a member for only a couple months or so; perhaps she's been busy and I've fallen through the cracks.

Chris & Bill: I checked out the thread of Chris' and it's extremely interesting. Thank you. If interested, I can attempt to make a copy of the photo of Gil & Patsy that's hanging on my mother's kitchen wall and make it available to whomever is interested. It'll be a while though, as I don't plan to visit until spring.

I also checked out Chris' link re: "Princess Pat". Was interesting to read various articles in the newspaper.

Thanks again.

That would be great Bill! I sent you a PM.

Bill is now a bona fide PGCA member!

Thank you, Chuck. Much appreciated.

Happy New Year.