How hard to find barrels?
 

So I am a new Parker owner and only own 1 so far :) On GB right now there is a 16ga VH receiver without barrels or forearm. I would love to buy it and find/buy a set of barrels for it. All you more experienced collectors- how hard is that to do and is it worth it? If I can find barrels how hard are they to fit? For those who have completed this project was it worth it in the end?
Thanks for any and all advice.
Steve

Find a complete gun in average condition. Trying to put a Parker together from parts is a thankless job that does not usually result in a positive situation even for experienced hobbyists. Sorry.

well said bill... bill is tellin you straight... charlie

That is a well stated response. Bill, in a lifetime of cornering the market on most orphaned Parker Bros. barrels could probably tell us two or three positive stories!!

Bill and I have certainly been "victims of the fury" over the years! My most recent heartbreak came when I finally got all the metalwork completed on a great little 16 ga. DH Damascus gun, only to have the stock break completely in two through the wrist!! I was so disgusted I put the wreckage in a plastic tub and sold the whole thing for salvage at our most recent local gun show. The first guy who looked at it bought the whole thing; his classic comment was, "I can always use parts!". May the Force be with him.

I've had three sets of orphaned Parker barrels snap right onto a gun as if they were made for it but that is just plain dumb luck. I wouldn't buy a barrelless gun expecting ever to find a set of barrels that would fit with a good deal of persuasion from a very qualified smith, much less a set that just snaps right on... this just 'never' happens.

I don't mean to be contrary, but I bought a 1 1/2 frame 12 ga Vh with a straight stock that was in excellent condition along with a number 2 frame forend for $200. Bobby Bray some years later was selling a lot of Parker parts that he got from a retired gunsmith. He had a 1 1/2 frame 30 in barrel for sale for 4 or 5 hundred dollars and the serial number was 1000 off from the receiver so I gambled foolishly and bought it . Much to my surprise it fit just like it was fitted by my Gunsmith in Ellijay. The Gunsmith told me I was very very lucky. The gun works perfectly with no matching serial numbers.
The next set of Barrels I bought, was from a Super Honest member here that said the Trojan 20 gauge barrels he had were not being used and that he had just had them re-blued. Well I bought those and sent them to be fitted and low and behold some one had cut too too much metal off trying to fit them without a gunsmith. That cost me more than the $400 too good to be true Trojan barrels to get them fixed. That was my last barrel purchase thinking it could have been worse.

I have not tried to match shotgun parts such as barrel to receiver but I have a few times regarding rifles. After a few times doing this I have found that I never got my money back out of it because though the gun shot well it was a mix of different numbered parts and nobody wanted it except as possibly a parts gun of their own. My most recent example was a Pre 64 Winchester 70 Featherweight receiver, a standard barrel and a stock I had purchased at a gun show. I had a gunsmith put it all together for me and it consisently shot 3/4 inch groups with handloads. When I needed to sell it nobody cared how it shot, only that the parts were mismatched. I suspect shotguns would be the same. Lots of time and money put into a gun to get it to shoot well only to have a clunker when trying to sell it.

i have one of those mismatched numbers gun i call it the johney cash gun it being made of so many differant parts...but i tell you its one pretty looking little 20 ga and points like my arm..i even added a differant forearm release myself one off a high grade gun.gives the little g grade parker a little class...im well satisfied with well mismatched parts..thanks to russ jackson for putting this little 20 ga together and sellin it it to me... charlie

It's nice to hear positive stories about barrel fittings. All my shots have been in the negative, painfully negative the last time I tried it.

DLH