Steve's new GH
 

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...hotguns023.jpg

I just picked up my new GH. I can't seem to be able to post more than one picture at a time and they come out very big. Her number is 83930. Made in 1895. This first pic isn't very good, others will be better.

The gun is totally untouched. All of the checkering, expecially that one the splinter Forearm is worn nearly smooth. The gun was used. Locks up like a safe. Look at the birds. Are they flying? I think they are on the ground, dead. Ducks. Quail on the ballance of the piece, and on the other side.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...hotguns021.jpg

Damascus colors are better on the underside and underneath the forearm, but it is very clear and only a spot or two of rust which is shallow. I have not tried to remove any, not wanted to shine up the finish. Stock is not cracked and original too. Butt plate is like new, a little discolored. http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...hotguns029.jpg

Bore looks fine. A little light rust maybe, can't tell. It has not been honed. It was shot a lot and I suspect with modern shells. It is broken however. It does not cock when dropped open. Looks like a GH. No ejectors which I prefer. I just pluck out the shells and put them in my pocket. http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...hotguns026.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...hotguns028.jpg

Barrels look pretty thick. I don't know what the chokes are. I'm thinking about having it bored mod and skeet, which will work for clays I think. Both muzzles look the same size. It's probably Full and Full. Don't know. A dime sets the same in both and doesn't fall in. All of my other old doubles are Full and Mod and I shoot modern shells in them. Here I'll reload my own, but first I'll buy some Polywad or RST's. Nor do I know the length of the chamber. If it is short I'll just shoot 2.5 inch shells in it. Unique. That's neat.

Looks like the bead has been pounded down flatish. I may replace it with ivory. First I have to have the cocking mechanism repaired. Has a little too much drop maybe, but the LOP seems perfect. Haven't measured it yet. I just brought it home.

Paid $999 for the old Parker. I think I did okay. No chips or serious dings, nice bore a little case color, nice damascus colors, looks like plenty of steel in the barrels. These Parker shotguns are very neat, aren't they!

You did great. Nice gun. In regards to the chokes, leave them as they are and shoot it before you take that step. Then decide. There are some great published 7/8 oz. Low pressure loads. Easy on the gun and you

I think you did very well Steve. Nice honest wear and character. Love the figure of the wood. GH's seem to always have a nice piece of wood on them. You can clean up the exterior of the Damascus barrels with some Kroil Oil and 0000 steel wool. Check the archives in the Damascus section to how to do this. After Kroil and steel wool, a coat of Forby's Tung oil help bring out the black and white pattern and protect it as well.

I also have to chime in regards opening chokes. Ed gave you some good advice. You mentioned you are going to reload anyway and by doing so you can load up some spreader loads to open up the patterns.

Congratulations.

I'm going to have the chamber measured. You say "published 7/8 ounce loads". I assume you are alluding to loading my own. I guess, if it is short that I'll load Cheddite hulls. If the chambers are short, I'll shoot short shells. Do standard shotshell manuals quote low psi loads?

Shoot that gun as it is and check your patterns....cutting the chokes open is a one way road and must be properly performed or the new patterns could be off point of aim or just not what you wanted....Spredders are great for 12 bore guns and will not change the guns P.O.A. And if you want to go out west and hunt wild roosters it will make a great gun for that too....(-: SXS ohio

You can check online from the powder manufacturer.

http://www.hodgdon.com/basic-manual-inquiry.html

My target load is: Remington STS hull; Remington 209 primer; Claybuster 1100 wad; 23 grains of IMR 7625; 1 oz of shot. 5100PSI 1150 fps velocity.

Thanks, Kenny: I've been reading about spredder shells. I'd rather not mess with the chokes. The gun is in very nice condition. Most of the barrels show black damascus figuring. Where the original owner's fingers wrapped around the barrel at the forearm the tubes are worn silver.

I'm toying with the idea of having the barrels re-finished, just because I love the look of the dark damascus figuring. Keith Kearcher lives just down the road from me and has done lots of work for me in the past. He is very good.

The GH is pretty heavy. It is almost very heavy when compared to my Lefever and it seems heavier when compared to my Sterlingworth. However the gun balances well. The tubes are 30 inchers, but for some unknown reason they don't seem long.

The barrels seem thick at the breech. Seems to me that it'd be hard to blow them up, but I've read what we have all read, and I'm going to be careful.

Someone here said I should load 7/8 ounce loads. Sounds like a good idea to me. Then it'd shoot about like a lightly loaded 20 gauge. That's okay with me.

I have to admit that the thought of shooting a damascus Parker is intriguing to me.

"What ya shoot'en?"

"A Parker."

"Oh."

Okay, I'm a snob.

the bead is factory, it is perfect, i would not change it, :)

What is the frame size? Presuming it is a 12 gauge it could be a 1-frame, a 2-frame or a 3-frame. I don't believe the 1 1/2-frame had been introduced at the time yours was made.

Before you start working with spreader loads or changing chokes pattern your GH. You might have the patterns that you want already. I patterned my new GH on Friday and found that my right barrel was full and my left improved/modified. By the way,mine cost $200 at a gun show but it was not as nice looking as yours (it was ugly!) , It still shoots well!

Thank you. I won't mess with the bead. It is a 2 frame. I didn't post a picture of the water table. It's pretty devoid of marks. A lug on the bottom of the barrels also is marked with a "2". So are three digits of the serial number.

Where the shooter's fingers rubbed against the barrels, just over the forearm, the barrel's are rubbed silver. The rest of the barrels show nice black and silver/white demascus pattern. The serial numbers along the bottom tang are nearly worn smooth. This gun was shot a lot! But well cared for.

Steve

Yep, it is a 12 and 2 frame. The gun is not light, but not nearly as heavy as a Superposed. I don't know how to weigh a gun. Step on the scales with the gun and then without and subtract the difference? I don't think bathroom scales are precise enough.

Nice gun. Undamaged by human hands.

That gun will handle about any reasonable load you want to shove through it , although you can elect to shoot lesser loads to keep it easy on you. A 1 oz or 7/8oz load makes a soft target load.

That gun configuration was the workhorse for most of the existence of Parker Bros.

Enjoy.

I find that a "beater" can be brought back. Black wood can be lightened with proper technique. Rust is an issue. I never really scrub on rust since doing so shines the finish and looks like it has been scrubbed. So your gun may have a brown patina that will have to stay. But that's not all bad.

I fix cracks. Either I do it, or a gunsmith does, if they are difficult enough. They will spread the crack and fill it with glue.

A good gunsmith can make those barrels glow like absolutely new. It'll cost you about $300 to do it though. We have one of the best gunsmiths in the country here. All he does is re-furbish old guns. He uses nothing but authentic methods. Keith Kearcher. He has a website, so you can google him. While I'm not recommending it. You can give him a really beat up gun and say, "Make it new, Keith", and he will. It'll cost about a grand. He can do the engraving, the whole bit. (He sends it out for engraving.)

The only guns that I have had Keith refurbish were really in terrible shape. So terrible that they were junk. One a muzzle loading rifle and the other a muzzle loading shotgun. I didn't want the shotgun to look new, just nice and that's what he did. Now it is something to be pround of. The ancient rifle is absolutely wonderful. Doesn't look exactly new, but pretty.

What shells are you shooting?

Currently I am shooting 7/8 oz of 7.5 shot in my doubles. My 1889 barrels were nicely cold blued and I will probably want to have them restored. Thanks for the info about someone who can do that kind of work. While the bore is rough as the patterns are good I will leave the bores alone, At some time in the future will have the stock replaced as the wrist repair is not the best .

Kearcher could probably gussy up that wrist repair and save you the bucks on a new stock. He replaced a pretty large chip from the toe of one of my guns and it cannot be detected.

He can also polish up the bores, but you may not want to do that. I don't know how much metal burnishing removes.

I'm one of his only walk in customers. He does almost all of his work by mail. You can call him of course. Or wait and do it later. After all your gun is shooting just fine.

Are you burning black or smokeless? If smokeless, what kind? If I decide to load black I'll use 2F. I'd like to use some nitro powders however.

I'll do it! Is Kroil Oil a hardwear store find, or gun store? I've never heard of it. I suppose that Forby's Tung oil is in the paint dept? I've got a few shallow worm holes in the stock. Have to do something with them too.

I'm going to enjoy this project.

Everyone suggests that I leave the chokes as is, and I'm going to take their advice. In bright sunlight one can see quite a lot of rust and staining. Pitting too here and there. Not much I can do about the pitting, but I'll touch the rust and stains some more with oil soaked 0000.

Well, I screwed the pooch. Took a little rust and blue remover and put it along the rib where there was some rust buildup. That stuff, where ever it touched the old damascus finish removed it. I mean right down to the metal. A bit of a mistake. Oh, well.

Is there a way for a person to bring back the damascus color that I can do in my workshop? I'd like to do it myself.

Steve,

Kroil is made by Kano Labs and only available via direct order. Google them and they will happily sell you a can or a case! Kano makes some other very interesting "shop" products.

Semper Fi,
Mark

Steve: If you find out let me know! The process cannot be that difficult. I would rather work at home than spend big bucks for a gun that would never be "collector".

Re-damascus browning is a long, labor intensive, dirty process involving multiple chemical baths, rusting, carding, polishing and cleaning. It will require an out lay in chemicals, equipment and materials.

After having been in Dale Edmunds shop many times and posted numerous photos of the process and equipment on this site, I think this is beyond the capabilities of the casual hobbyist gunsmith, but good luck with the project.

Here is an example of chain damascus re-done by Dale. There are a few other gunsmiths who also do this work, among them, Batchelder and Kearcher.

it can be done, the late Oscar Gaddy did a set of articles in Double Gun Journal years ago on how to color damascus barrels, and how to get the different colors

I bought a solution from a British restorer to try it myself -( on a British gun)
http://www.peterdyson.co.uk/

as with any barrel refinish, I expect to find the surface prep will be a major factor in the results.


and may I add
And seeing what Bruce posting while I was pecking at the keyboard - WOW those look great.

Bruce, Is that a flat rib?

Ed, it is, but its a Meriden Arms gun that happened to be at Dale's when I stopped by. Not my gun. The Meridens were a second level gun but they used great barrels. I enjoy seeing chain damascus and wish Parker had used that design.

Thanks Jarhead!

Thanks for the info.

I've seen this chain damascus pattern before. Isn't it grand! I just looked at my GH's barrels again and they are still in good original condition. I will probably have Kearcher "do" them someday. It is obviously way out of the relm of the home gunsmith. Frankly I'm happy with the gun as is. Least for now.

1911 GHE SN 155,033, barrels redone by Dale Edmunds.

If your barrels look something like this, I'd leave them alone. If all the pattern is gone and they are just silver, well you can see how pretty the damascus pattern is. If the pattern is thin, wiping Formby's Tung Oil on the barrels can bring some of it back.

Stub Twist: I like your load, and if I can find the components I'll use it. I have stacked up copies of Sherman Bell's damascus shooting articles in DGJ and read them end to end. I am therefore pretty confident with shooting my GH.

The gun hefts heavy. I'd say it weighs more than my Superposed, which is also a heavy shotgun. The barrels look thick. I haven't even thought to flick them to see if they "ring".

The Parker is so heavy that I think it'd be hard to "hump" on a long upland game hunt. However, I think it'd be very good while shooting sporting clays with appropriate shells.

I read about the several frame sizes in Parkers. My 2 is not the heaviest, but next to it. I suspect that a 3 is very heavy. I guess that a 1 1/2 is about the best, but I've never held one. I also see a no. 1. Is there an 0? In any event my Parker GH no. 2 frame made in 1895 is no lightweight, just the opposite.

The barrels look like your gun for about 60% of the tubes. Tell you what I'm going to do. I'll shoot it for a while and then decide how much I want to guzzy up the piece. The gun is in good enough shape that I can see what it'd look like if spruced up a bit. It is an 1895 gun! That's a long time ago. My grandfather was 2 when the gun was made, and he was OLD! He has been dead for nearly fifty years! So when I handle this GH I know that she is an antique and needs to be treated with respect.

But she cries to be shot.

Steve, some early 1 frame 12's weigh more than some 2 frame 12's. By the 19teens, it seems they got the weights more stabilized, so as a general rule then , the higher the frame number , the greater the weight. There are no known 0 frame 12's, although there are 1/2 frame 12's, which do not necessarily weigh less than 1 1/2 frame guns. Although a person would have to search for a while, the lightest 12's that a person can reasonably find are the post about 1910 1 frame 12's with 26" barrels, which will be maybe 6 1/2lbs. 1 1/2 frame 12's in 28" often weigh around 7lbs, which is a nice upland game shooting weight for a 12.

I posted this on the assumption that you are serious about pursuing a light 12. Some (me) would suggest you just go find a 16 ga.

Being a Parker novice, I'm sure others can explain the frame/weight relationship better.

When it comes to shooting these late 19th Century double barreled shotguns I am drawn to my "I" grade Lefever which is feather light.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...shotgun010.jpg

My GH, as I've said is new. I don't even have any shells for it yet. It must weight two pounds more than the Lefever above. It is a 1901 gun.

My GH has pretty nice barrels, but are worn silver above the forearm.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...hotguns024.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...hotguns022.jpg

More of my GH.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...hotguns025.jpg

This shows my gun pretty well. It is untouched.

Steve: Your barrels look better than mine-someone has thoughtfully cold blued mine ..... On the other hand they pattern well.

nice looking g steve.. lot better looking than my p grade ten.... charlie