New To Forum and To Parker 28 Gauge
 

I am new to the forum and new to Parker. I inherited a Parker 28 and I have been trying to learn all I can. There is a lot of information out there and so some things are obvious to me and I have been searching but there seems to be a great deal of accumulated knowledge, particularly in this forum. So let me show you what I have and I would love to have the members share with me some detail. The gun serial is 131429 which dates to 1905. I suspect it has been restored but tell me how you can tell. The gun has Briley screw chokes fyi.


https://imgur.com/OYf0wGz
https://imgur.com/RgC0uVm
https://imgur.com/4Qe2bdf
https://imgur.com/SAIfxKt
https://imgur.com/861SuHV
https://imgur.com/T1gLyv4
https://imgur.com/IV9Tnp0
https://imgur.com/tsvZFqc

The serial number 131429 is not on the list of 28-gauge guns from the records, published in The Parker Story, page 1005. So, it likely started life as an 0-frame 16- or 20-gauge. The research letter pick on the home page here shows there are surviving records for 131429 so you should join the PGCA and order a letter on the gun. At some point in its life the original tubes were cut off and new 28-gauge tubes inserted in the surviving mono-bloc. It appears the frame has been re-case colored by the cyanide process, not the bone-charcoal method that would have been in use in 1905.

It would appear that a skilled hand built a functional gun. The engraved band on the barrels forward of the hinge pin would indicate it was sleeved professionally. The Miller selective trigger and Briley chokes make this gun quite versatile. The buttstock and fore end don't appear to be Parker, but there again, done to a good quality level. While not falling into a collector category, it looks like a fun gun, and nothing is funner than 28 ga.
Does the top rib have an inscription?

My eyes are having a hard time believing this was retubed. It was really well done. The top rib is pictured below. The distortion of perspective is from the camera.



https://imgur.com/FFxXVuu

Well done is when you can't see the joint. Nice gun though.

Bill, please explain "the joint." I clearly do not know what I am looking for.

It is in the area just forward of the hinge pin. The 'engraving' covers up the seam.

https://imgur.com/4Qe2bdf

The engraving is to cover the joint, which may or may not be a good one. Companies like Frank Lefever and Son sleeved guns with a joint that was just about invisible. Some others probably did just as good. Some not so good. It isn't something to worry about.

My historical letter tells me it came from the factory as a 28 gauge.

A nice clear picture of the breech end of the barrels should tell the tale if it was monoblocked..

Pitts, this is getting more interesting. In your third picture, the 'wedding band', the engraving around the tubes at the breech end of the barrel, does not correspond to any V grade engraving pattern. This has me wondering, if, as you say, the gun was originally a 28 ga., and the barrels were damaged, and re-tubed, as evidenced by the ring engraved around the tubes, forward of the hinge pin. If that was the case, does the serial number stamped on the side of the barrel lug match the number stamped on the water table and trigger guard?
Since the 'wedding band is characteristic of at least a D grade, perhaps the original barrels were lost, and another set of donor 0 frame barrels were sleeved to 28ga. It is common for barrels to be re-stamped to match the gun's SN when replacements are fitted.

A faint seam line around the rim recess where the doner tubes were inserted as an interference fit to overbored chambers..

This is quite the education.

https://imgur.com/QAecFRH
https://imgur.com/18RyOVp
https://imgur.com/18RyOVp

Is that a research letter from the Parker Gun Collector's Association?

It is and I just posted it. in the link above.

I cannot see pictures real clear for some reason..However is there a seam line at 1:00 o'clock on the right barrel just outside the rim recess ??

It's easy to see the boring line around the breach chambers. The old barrels ribs removed, barrels cut off & breach bored out & sleeved barrels inserted, soldered & rechambered.

Yes, I can see it well, on both barrels. Also, the joint between old and new tubes is visible. It is the right hand edge of the engraved “chain”.

Yes, & also the tubes weren't centered on the boring. They are pencil thin at the breech from about 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock.

Each barrel smith has his own method, but I suspect they were furnace brazed rather than soldered. Not that it matters a whole lot because this gun looks like a nice shooter, but yoke magnaflux would instantly show a distinct line, both at the breach and the joint between new tubes and original 'block'.

I doubt that they would be furnace brazed since they were demi-bloced with the bottom bloc brazed at the breech end & the rear & top ribs soft soldered. Trying to braze the sleeves in would more than likely make the breech end come apart.

Ribs aren't laid at that point, and they wrap the whole breech with iron wire.

I understand the process. Been there & done it many times.

So all this being said is there an explanation for one source saying it wasn't born a 28 gauge and another authority says is was born a 28 gauge.

Show me the source that says it wasn't born a 28 gauge gun. The letter told you how it was built. That's the way it left the factory.

It's obvious from your letter that it left the factory as a 28ga & some where down the road was sleeved with new tubes. To know if your doner barrel is original you need to look at the serial number on the barrel & see if it matches the serial number on the receiver water table. Also, is the number fonts the same on both.

He should be happy it wasn't sleeved to a 20ga or 16ga.

The comment was solely based on this sentence from the first page, "The serial number 131429 is not on the list of 28-gauge guns from the records, published in The Parker Story, page 1005. So, it likely started life as an 0-frame 16- or 20-gauge." Not having the book I made some assumption about its authority.

The thread then continues on to find all possible evidence that it was "retubbed", thus leading to my confusion. So apologies if offense was taken.

The "list" of 28 gauges is only one of the sources available to the PGCA researcher. Maybe it's time to repost the article that explains how the research material was found and how it was put into its final form.

I just noticed, in the OP’s first post, the fourth picture shows a bit of the engraved stock shield. It appears to be engraved by the same hand that engraved the shield on my Delgrego/Runge upgraded CHE 28ga. This makes me believe that Delgrego and Robert Runge had a hand in at least the stock of the OP’s gun.
The first picture is my gun. The 2nd (double click it to enlarge it) is the OP's

Chuck, what I said was "The serial number 131429 is not on the list of 28-gauge guns from the records, published in The Parker Story, page 1005." As much of page 1005 as I could get on my scanner --

Attachment 129536

Without taking anything away from the TPS authors, the time involved in searching the available books didn't permit the necessary scrutiny the research director afforded me. When I acquired 99687, the database said it found no records. This made no sense to me as 99686, and 99688 were listed in the serializations book (99686 is listed as a 28ga) The research director carefully examined the books and found that a red pencil mark obscured the numeral 7, but close examination showed it was a 28ga. The records further showed it was ordered with 99686, as an identical pair.

The gun was a 28 that was sleeved and kept as a 28g. Who knows why, especially since the gun started out as fluid steel. I have seen it before.

You’re lucky to have a Parker 28 gauge. Show us the top end of the barrels and a straight on pic of where the tubes touch. Learning to use the photo posting feature on this forum would help a lot.

I use both with equal results. The problem is when you just copy and paste in the web address of the photo. It comes out as a link like these. If you click on the Imgur picture and then click on the copy for BBS button, it appears as a linked photo in the post, just like the uploaded photos. I use Imgur here when I already have them on Imgur. It makes it easier position and edit the images.