Hello all. I'm surprised that my little post on screw identification caused such controversy! Sorry I haven't been back sooner to provide the answer. But, since I wrote the copy that Robin wants to put into the FAQs, I'll provide the answer as it relates to what I wrote. The answer is - don't overthink it. Conventions have been established. A gun (or almost anything else) has but ONE left side and ONE right. The right barrel does not become the left when you invert the gun. It is still the right, even though it appears on your left when the gun is inverted. Therefore, my reference to right screws means those found on the same side of the gun as the ACTUAL right barrel, regardless of how the gun is oriented at the time. Ditto for the left screws and ACTUAL left barrel. Really simple.
I'm glad Richard brought the question up though, because if one person was wondering, then certainly others were. In fact, I have to remind myself when putting the floorplate screws in that the left screw goes in the hole on the "right" as I am viewing it (inverted).
Also, I see that I have made a mistake on the "+" marking. I have only run across it on guns with three floorplate screws of equal length. As I stated before, the "-" will still be the left, but the "+" on the 00-frame I just checked is the rear one that you can see partially obscured by the triggerguard bow. The right screw is unmarked. This makes more sense, because it follows the convention previously established with other guns that have the longer screw (i.e. "-" on the left and nothing on the right). The "+" is only needed when all screws are of equal length. Memory is faulty, but I'm trying to remember if I've actually seen a "+" mark on right screws elsewhere on the guns, but I can't really say that I have, so I will have to correct multiple portions of my original post.
Now that I think about it, I'm not sure whether the three equal-length floorplate screws are a feature of later guns, or just 00-frames. This is the only 00-frame gun I've had apart, and coincidentally the only post-1922 gun I've worked on recently. The short (equal-length to the front two) screw could be required on the 00-frame, but I somehow doubt this. My guess is that it has more to do with era of manufacture. I'm pretty sure I've seen three short (equal-length) screws on other 20s-era guns of larger size. Removal of this rear screw from a larger frame gun, circa late-20s, could help provide additional data, but I don't have access to one right now.
So Robin, to make the FAQ entry, I'd clarify it by saying the left screws ("left" meaning the actual left side of the gun, or in other words, on the same side as the left barrel) carry the "-" mark, and the right screws are unmarked. On floorplates the same convention applies, but where two of the three are unmarked, the longer one goes to the rear/center and the shorter one is the right. On floorplates with three screws of equal length, the rear/center one carries the "+" mark, and the right is unmarked as it is on other guns.
Finally, knowing the Parker mantra (never say never), it wouldn't surprise me to find that someone somewhere has a gun that defies the convention that I've noted on all the guns I've had apart.
I have edited my previous post to reflect the above corrections.
Jim
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