storage ?
 

Is it better to store a Parker with the mainsprings cocked or uncocked? and if uncocked must you use snap caps or can Parkers be dry fired without concern?

Thank you

It really doesn't matter but if you prefer to store it with relaxed mainsprings you may drop the hammers of a hammerless Parker on empty chambers without harm.






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While it may be somewhat unconventional in appearance, it is useful if the gun is to be stored vertically to have your Parker muzzle down. That will not allow oil to find its way into the stock head. If it is hanging on a wall, just a slight tilt toward the muzzle will achieve the same thing.

If your gun has ejectors and the springs are relaxed make sure you recock them prior to taking the forearm off. I learned this the hard way when I broke a DHE 20 down to take to a shoot.

Mr. Romig has voiced the general consensus of decades of practical experience. A properly tempered compressed spring will not lose its power if left compressed. For years. Or decades.

And storage of a gun with the muzzle down to obviate oil seepage into the stock head is of doubtful value. And puts the muzzles at risk of damage.

From my personal standpoint, leave things cocked and don't fret. It will work next time. Oil has already soaked into most Parker stock heads. And unless you're hosing it with WD-40, not much further damage will be done.

All the above is my individual perspective. Others may have their own wisdom.

However, I've recently encountered this opinion from Maj. Gerald Burrard:

"It is no more necessary to release the main or tumbler springs or the ejector springs of a gun [in storage] than it is to release the springs of a watch."

If you have that much oil in the receiver that it leaches down into the wood, your using the oil improperly.

All my guns are stored muzzle down, without damage to them. I have a wood floor in my gun safe/room, and put them down gently. Perhaps someone could enlighten me so I don't damage them.

I store mine with the muzzle down only if I have a pad so it will not distort the pad.

So Paul, do you see a big pool of oil on the wood floor?

I mostly store them muzzle down. The instructor in my Washington State hunter safety course when I was 12 years old said that is the way it should be done.

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My counter tops are carpet in the back half where the muzzles rest. Even though both Fox and Parker said you could snap your guns empty they are all stored hammers down on snap caps.