Painted parker lifter
 

My sight unseen, represented as a 12ga, lifter arrived today. I bought it as a parts gun and hoped it might be good enough to save as a shooter. I knew it had been painted but when I got into it what a suprise. On the out side it looked pretty much as advertised, broken stock with the most crude repair I have ever seen, and painted with a spray can, but it gets better. The inside of the action had been filled with "great stuff" expanding foam insulation, as you can imagine, nothing would move. So after 3 hours solvent and a brush it finally came apart. The final kicker, it's a 10ga, not a 12, on a #2 frame. The serial numbers on the action (7136) is different than the barrels (13206). Long story short, I will have someone that knows a lot more about these guns than I, to look at it and see if is a candidate for a shooter. The things people do to these wonderful guns blows my mind. I thought you guys might find this story amusing.
Carvel

That's a very interesting story. Please post some pictures. The people here are quite knowledgeable and can give you advice on what to look for and who you should show the gun to.

on some the early guns- the order number is on the barrel flat where you expect to see the serial nbr

take a look on the side of the barrel lug for another number

7136 should wear 10 Ga 30 twist barrels

how are the bores?

The bores are very rusty, the outside look pretty good once you remove the paint. The trigger plate is broken in half where the triggers come through it. Also the top tang has been ground down so they could put a plate to reinforce the stock.

Is this the parts gun that recently sold on Gunbroker? If so, that thing was beat!

Oh well, You bought it as a parts gun, so you shouldn't be too disappointed.

if you are just a little bit inclined you can fix that old parker with not much expense..she wont look pretty but she ll shoot again...i have a old 8 ga that i now shoot that was in worse shape than yours..took me two hours just to get tha shell to fit rite in the barrels...the gun was off face over a quarter of an inch.... if your barrels are deemed worth to shoot and your locks and hammers function..your on your way to shooting this gun again... i vote to try to fix the old gal....charlie

Post some pic's. We would all like to see what you got. We have all bought worst guns than you are describing in the past. Nothing like a challenge.

After 3 hours and a gallon of mineral spirits I Finally got the paint and foam off. I am not sure it will ever shoot again, but there are some good parts and its useful as a learning tool.

Years ago, I found a Civil War era rifle in an antique shop, that had been painted red. I'm guessing it might have been used as a parade rifle, but who knows?
I paid the 250 bucks, took it home, dismantled it, and soaked the parts in lacquer thinner. All the paint loosened up, and was rubbed off, revealing a surprisingly nice Colt manufactured, 1861 Springfield. It is a good shooter, BTW.
There are still a lot of treasures out there, if you're willing to roll up your sleeves, and do the work.