Cut or not?
 

This is my VH that I had posted about a while back.

It has been my understanding based on limited knowledge that rib matting did not go to the end of the barrel. However, I have seen more than one reference to matting actually doing just that and if you look careful it seems as though the very end was matted separately. Before anyone jumps on me for trying to convince myself that this is original I am not. That is why I am asking the question. The butt has been altered as well as refinished and there are a few more condition issues. That being said, I am interested in lettering this if there is a chance these are factory length barrels.

Thanks

https://i.imgur.com/ncOv2qh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9eWc31W.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/04E1uWH.jpg

Looks good to me even without the flat.

Trimmed possibly but not cut.
The individual matting lines end with a short taper right at the termination line but don’t go beyond it. And the keels are in place.





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What is interesting, and this is the first time that I personally have seen it, is that the matting does appear to terminate, but then a hand engraved “walked” or “zigzag” border is cut in. Which at some points looks to run into the matting. You can see it pretty clear at the one side.
Usually there is a defined termination with a simple straight line engraved.

New things are seen all the time.

Another rookie question, are mid beads common? What sort of material were they?

https://i.imgur.com/EfN3Obg.jpg

I once owned a 20 gauge VH with 26" barrels that lettered. The end of the matting was finished exactly like this one.
Dave

I’ve seen that engraved termination a couple of times before.





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That looks good to me. As a student of the Parker gun I would like to ask this question. Are the barrel ends typically perpendicular to the bore or barrels and is it reasonable to check that with a precision square ? Thanks very much & Best, Paul

Original uncut, untrimmed and completely unmessed-with barrels are perfectly perpendicular (90 degrees) to the axis of the barrels.





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Mid beads are fairly common on Parkers. They were typically/traditionally made from Ivory.