1926 VHE with Take Down Issues
 

I recently aquired my first Parker. According to the serial number and other markings I have determined that it was made in 1926 and is a 16ga., VHE. I was told that it had an "excellent" refurbishment by a qualified gunsmith but could not get any info about who or where. The gun is tight and shoots very well. But, I cannot separate the barrels from the reciever. And "at times" the forestock is difficult to put back in place. All of the serial numbers match so I am pretty sure that everything is an original match. I grew up with various SXS's and understand their actions well. But this has me perplexed.
Can anyone direct me to a knowledgable parker gunsmith who might know what the issue is?
Many thanks
Mike

Mike , You could give this a try ,Open the gun and cock it ,Shut the Gun ,Fire Both Triggers ,then before opening again ,Pop the Forend off and slide the opening lever to the right ,the Barrels will probably seperate at this point ! I don't have a scientific answer to this but have owned many Parker guns which behaved this way ! Some Folks say the Internals are Gummed Up but I know a Couple I had ,were clean on the inside and still behaved in this manner ! Give it a go ,you can't hurt anything and see if this works for you ! Good Luck With it ! Russ

I don't think you would want to take the forarm off an ejector gun without it being cocked.

Rich Good Point ,I hadn't given any thought to the ejectors so I just tried it on one of my Ejector Guns and I had no trouble putting the forend back on and it cocked as per normal although a bit louder ! Good thinking though , I would know how to cock the ejectors if need be ,maybe Mike should just find a competent Smith to take a look at her , I have had the same problem many times with Parker Guns and this is my remedy !

Whenever I have taken a forarm off an ejector gun without them being cocked it's a pain to manually recock them esp if the forarm is a BTF. I leave all the guns cocked that way I don't have to remember when I take them down.

Rich ,I agree they are a pain in the butt to recock , I use a pencil and Hold the Forend Firmly and use the eraser end to Recock the ejectors ! I had posted some pictures earlier ,well quite a while back and I know it's been copied on Our Home Page on how to do it but I can't seem to locate it ! I think the LC Smith is even worse without a Cocking Tool !

I was cleaning the gun room and found a cocking tool for a Smith. I haven't had one for over 10 years, where this came from is a mystry.

i have skinned a knuckle or two trying to recock Parker ejectors.

Now there's a For Sale Item for the Forum !:corn:

Not a bad idea, I wonder what it would be worth.

???:corn:

No wonder you guys are skinning knuckles. Use a 1/2" wood dowel..:rolleyes:

Hey Rich , There's another Country Heard from , Hey Dave were real Men ,we could pry them open with our teeth if we had to !:rotf:

My 16 VH does that at times also, and I simply close the gun , then pull the triggers, and the barrels come free from the frame(the fore end is put back on first before firing). It all goes back together fine afterwards, no problems. Had hoped to get out grouse hunting this week, but my wife and I both have the flu, and so does my son, a tennis pro in Pittsburg. They both had a flu shot ( I didnt) and have had it much worse than me. The up coming weekend is Ohio's muzzleloading season, so the dogs will have to suffer for another week.

My bad! I just re-read the post and saw that the gun had ejectors so maybe that wouldnt work, but it works fine with an extractor gun. I havent had that problem with my other 2 Parkers, but I dont shoot them very much.

You can find it at our FAQ #14

Thank you Robin ,I looked for that this morning and couldn't locate it ,If you wrote the text it is very good your description is right on , I remembered posting the pictures in the Thread at the time but don't recall if I ever read FAQ 14 before ,Very Nice ! Thank You ! Russ

mike.....this sometimes happens when the barrels are put back on face. the barrels are moved on the reciver to tighten it up. what is happening is the cocking hook is not releasing from the cocking slide. open the gun and you should be able to unscrew the cocking latch screw then use a small drift to push out the screw. now the barrels will come off the gun. put the cocking hook in a vice and file off about .010 in. on hook face that hooks to the latch slide. if your not sure what to do i would recomend sending the gun too delgregos .

Thanks
 

Rich & Russ,
Thanks for the info regarding the removal and replacement of the forestock on my parker. I can now take it off and get it back on with a bit less effort. Although the action must be open to get it set back on!
I still cannot separate the barrels however. As soon as I have time I will try the suggestion at the end of the post. It seems to make sense.
This forum is a great resource.
Thanks all.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the ejector hammers would still be cocked if he took the fore end off before opening the gun, and should go back on as they were. I just tried it on 2 of mine and had no issues, with the gun fired.
It sounds like his cocking hook is not disengaging with the cocking slide when he goes to take barrels off.

Edgar ,I agree and well put , as I said in my second post ,I believe it was ,I did the same as you and mine went back on also ,so I did it to another and had no problems with it either ! If he is fortunate ,when the guns is broken open ,he may be able to get at the head of the bolt for the cocking hook and be able to release it , but it doesn't always work that easily ! Best ; Russ

i too dropped the hammers on a d grade hammerless gun and took the forearm off and then removed barrels then put the forearm on with no problems...now my lc smiths are another game i dont take the forearm off these guns very often..i have 3 lc smith with ejectors and each fore arm has its own special way of going together... charlie