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12-29-2023, 08:41 AM | #3 | ||||||
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The other gun I bought at about the same time was an 1879 lifter. It was the equivalent of a Grade 2 gun. The Letter gave his name and delivery city of Hastings MN. Investigation showed that he was born before the Civil war in Wisconsin to parents originating in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. According to census records as a youngster he had several siblings. When 26 years old and working as a printer in Hastings or the nearby county, he ordered a rather expensive shotgun while living in what had to be some of the best hunting land in the US. By the time of the 1900 census at the age of 47 , he lived in San Francisco with his 77 year old mother who was listed as the head of the household. She owned the house and was listed as a "capitalist". He still worked as a printer. They were the only two living there, even though he was listed as married for 14 years.
Sometimes these brief peeks into a life story make you realize what unique and rich lives with many twists and turns ordinary people live. |
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12-30-2023, 08:53 AM | #4 | ||||||
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My VH 16 Gauge letter states that after sitting in J.D. Weed & Co. of Savannah, Ga for over one year it was returned to Parker Bros for credit. It would have been great to know where it went after that and if it had been modified somehow from it's original configuration.
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12-30-2023, 09:07 AM | #5 | ||||||
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Arthur's original note on his gun's letter also reveals something about lengthening chambers. From articles I've read I know that Parker was pretty persnickety about what they would and would not do when any sort of safety issue came up. What does this suggest about lengthening chambers? We've had some of this discussion before regarding barrels shortened by Parker and a gun's originality. My own belief is that a gun like Arthur's that had its chambers lengthened is original (absent any other modifications that can't be documented).
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"Doubtless the good Lord could have made a better game bird than bobwhite, and better country to hunt him in...but equally doubtless, he never did." -- Guy de la Valdene (from A Handful of Feathers ) "'I promise you,' he said, 'on my word of honor, I won't die on the opening of the bird season.'" -- Robert Ruark (from The Old Man and the Boy) |
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02-26-2024, 01:41 PM | #6 | ||||||
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Just noticed this reply and wanted to pass on that the chambers weren't lengthened, they were modified. The gun had the old chambers for the smaller brass shells. parker opened them up to the standard paper shell size. The length is still 2-1/2".
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