NH Progress!
 

I started reassembling my NH. The exterior was maintained very nicely, especially the barrels, but the interior told another story! There was abundant rust inside, along with sand and green verdigris surrounding the mainsprings. I would have to say that this gun had been submerged in a lake or river. Luckily, the inner workings had been lubricated well and the rust, dirt and gummed up oil came off with ease. The forend iron fared about the same. The aft tang screw threads were buggered, but I had a new one made.

Is your upper tang bent?

Yes. The upper and lower tangs are bent, and the stock was made with almost 3" of cast to the right. The gun was modified to suit an individual that was right handed, but lost the use of his right eye.

Do you know if he sent it back to Parker Bros. for the work?

Oh, like the BH that is featured in The Parker Story. Cool!
Looks like your may not have as much cast to it as that one did. What a find! These guns are very impressive.

Calvin, I think the general concensus is that Parker Brothers did not do the conversion. I do not know if that is based on existing records, or the fact that the stock has been completely inletted by hand, and un-serial numbered. The stock work is top notch, though. I get the impression that the gun was looked at more than once at Puglisi's!

Thanks, Brian. With the large cast-off and 3-1/2" DAH, she comes right up and gives me a perfect view down the barrels. 'Sinistral' as TPS calls it.

Thats the word... I couldn't remember off the top of my head.

No one has called my old crossover PHE Trap a "sinistral" gun, as John Amber and the TPS authors would call it. However, "ugly" has been used on the old pigeon gun many times. The BHE 20 gauge pictured in The Parker Story lives very near me and I have offered to buy it a few times, but the owner is a bit stubborn about parting with it. I have also tried to buy John Amber's old sinistral Purdey, but also been rebuffed by the owner. In fact, Jack Puglisi turned me down on the NH, but because of the amount of my offer, not because the gun wasn't for sale.

Well, at least the owners know who to call if the time comes. Never hurts to show interest.

Sinistral is from the same root as "Sinister" - the old Latin speakers didn't think much of left-handers.

Yes, I remember it well from John's sight. Very nice peaple to do business with.

Only my opinion, but I think, unless there are records that say otherwise, that this gun was built the way it is by Parker. Point one would be the reason for the hand inletting for the stock. "Normal" Parker stocks were machine inletted using specialized jigs and routers. An offset stock would have to be hand fitted. Secondly, the lack of a serial number in the trigger guard channel is not damning because the number was placed there to easily reunite the stock to the proper receiver, after finishing. It is doubtful that more than one gun with this type of stock/receiver was going through PB at the same time. Thus, the number is not critical. Finally, bending the tangs, if not done by Parker, would require annealing and recasing of the tangs/receiver. A much more difficult task than making the stock. As I said at the outset, this is only my opinion, but, until proven otherwise, I am sticking to it.

Bill,
I had the same thoughts about the stock with the hand inletting and the serial number. I wonder if this modification would be reflected in any of the repair log books.

Today I christened the NH with four 1-1/8 ounce RSTs and six of my 1 ounce handloads. I am amazed at the deadly patterns these full choked 10s provide at 50 yards! It is definitely a long range waterfowl gun. I think I will keep her:cheers:

I think I shared the information with Mark that I had, long ago, gotten information on this gun from Mark Conrad on this gun that indicated that the gun was not a crossover gun when it left Parker Brothers. He also told me that there was no indication that the gun was sent back to Parker Brothers for a conversion. The stock does not resemble Parker Brothers work. When Mark gets the gun to his satisfaction, he will name a price and I will purchase it. He may get to own one of my prizes in return. This gun is turning out great.

There is no indication in the Order Book that this gun was anything other than your normal NH grade gun when originally sold. That does not mean that the gun couldn't have been returned for modification at a later date and that Order Book is missing.

Here are a few photos. I could not properly capture the dark red hue in the wood. I did not stain the wood, but only applied Tru Oil.

I now own the gun, will have it at the Southern, but I have not yet testfired it. I have three crossover Parkers, but this is the only one that I can shoot in the ten gauge events. It is a wonderful NH, one of more than a couple that I shoot, but the nicest. The barrels are outstanding. The English Walnut was obviously not selected by Parker Brothers for an NH grade. My opinion is that the crossover conversion and restock was done in Great Britain.