I thought this would be an interesting topic to post on.
Most of us know about the style of safety that Parker used on hammerless double trigger guns. It its a 3pc. jacket and toggle lever assembly that installs tightly into the wood of the stock and bridges between the safety slide spring and the trigger blades.
Obviously this design has its faults in that the parts are solely anchored in wood and this can be problematic over time or if the stock becomes damaged.
However, Over the 50 years that Parker was making their hammerless guns, they saw no need to change the design.
Many amateur stock makers tend to butcher up the installation of the safety jacket assembly when putting it in, or sometimes they leave it out all together.
I have encountered all sorts of examples of safety jackets being installed incorrectly or the function of the safety being modified from how Parker designed it.
One example that I have seen a couple times is shown below. An extension is simply soldered or brazed to the front of the safety slide which creates a direct connection to the trigger blades. This particular deal came out of a 1890s PH grade gun that had been restocked at one time. I would personally see this type of setup being good to use if one is fitting a single trigger stock to a double trigger gun if they do not want to mess with rebuilding the head of the stock to accept an original safety jacket assembly.
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However, I encountered a very interesting one today when I was taking a gun apart to be restocked. The gun is a VH 16g. 0 frame that had been re-proofed in Great Britain at one time as it has the appropriate markings on the barrel flats and the water table. The stock head was pinned with a metal pin. Other than that, the stock looked to be an original stock that may have just been refinished and incorrectly checkered at one time. However, when removing it, I found that the stock was in fact a replacement. Likely fitted to the gun when it was proofed in Britain.
As I was taking it apart I saw a couple of pins in the trigger plate on each side of the rear trigger, so I was curious to see what was inside. What I found was interesting. Installed to the trigger plate was a yoke or bridge or sorts that had a toggle bar hinged to it. This bar went up and fitted into the front of the factory safety slide spring. photos are below. Another example of an aftermarket safety modification. This one in particular being pretty well thought out and executed.
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If anyone else has some good examples of safety modifications they have seen, please do share.
Parker aftermarket Safety Modifications
Threaded Mode