Invincible stock repair
 

I'm a little confused. I think I read in Shooting Sportsman that the Lyman Invincible had suffered damage to the stock and that a replacement was made and that the replacement "wasn't up to snuff" so to speak. Looking at the excellent pictures it sure doesn't look like a restock. What is the story or have I got it wrong?

I believe that the replacement stock was exchanged for the repaired original stock.

I looked at the gun when Butterfield & Butterfield auctioned it and it was very light, almost like maple. Strange indeed. I was told the broken original stock was available but as I remember it wasn't listed as part of the auction lot.

It was rumored that the original stock was repaired and it went back on the gun.

The restock was done by Delgrego but the wood never would take color according to what I've read and been told. The original stock was still with the gun and when modern stock repair technology stepped up enough to make it work the owner had it fixed and put back on the gun. I believe Galazan did the work, EDM saw the gun in their shop on a visit several years ago.

Destry

Invincible Stock
 

I visited Babe and Lawrence and they loaned me several pictures of the Invincibles as they passed through the Del grego shop over the years. These are in the Parker Pages article. The most interesting of these show a single digit aged Lawrence, and 30 ish Babe holding two Invincibles, and then the two of them holding the guns 30 plus years later. 200000 wore a Mershon pad and a BIG btfe at that time, but I think the splinter was replaced for the photo.
Babe told me that Runge made the replacement stock for the last 231000 Invincible, and that he did so with the other Invincibles on the bench. When it came time to fit the unusual initial shield, they flipped a coin. The other two Invincibles had them facing in opposite directions.

Best, Austin

Austin brings up some interesting facts about the Invincibles, one of which states that #200,000, long lost to Parker researchers, once wore a Mershon pad. I don't find that so strange since a neighbor of mine who was a shooter probably more than a collector at some times in his life, owned the gun for many years until his death. He probably had the Mershon pad installed to make the gun more friendly to his shooting style. After all, it is a shotgun. I visited those I Guns a week or so ago and they are safe and dry.

Bill, are you sure you aren't a Parker Life Member since conception? You sure do have some interesting stories to relate.

I had met some people before the beginning of PGCA that shared some secrets that put me and a couple of others at a bit of an advantage. There are several people in PGCA that knew the whereabouts of "lost" Invincibles long before they were outed. It was understood by those people that keeping that information under wraps was what the owners preferred.

Thanks to all for the information. What wonderful artifacts of the American culture and industry.