Question on Serialization Book vs Parker letter.

[Joe from MO]

So, I have a new to me Parker Trojan coming next week. The lucky owner was on a trip to Africa, so there has been some delay in it coming to me.

Anyway, in the Parker Serialization book, the serial number for the gun shows as a VH 16ga with 28" barrels, not a 20ga Trojan with 28" barrels. I just confirmed with him, that 237411 is indeed the correct Serial number, and it is in fact a 20ga shotgun.....

So, I checked the site here, and there is evidently information to provide a Parker Letter for the gun, but I guess I am curious, if the serialization book is wrong, will the letter be wrong too?

Gun should be a 1935 built 20ga Trojan with 28" tubes and F/F chokes.... There are no Trojans listed in the 2374xx range at all.

[John Davis]

Although the Serialization book is a great resource, it does contain errors and cannot be 100% relied on. You will most definitely want to get a letter. That will be your bona fides.

[Dean Romig]

There were a few errors made in transcribing the data for the Serialization book.

The letter will accurately reflect the data in the factory records Chuck has which are photocopies of the pages of the original stock books and order books.





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[ArtS]

I ran into one the other day where everything matches except it is listed as a 12 gauge but is chambered as a 10.

That one bothers me in that I know during that period a lot of the 12's (maybe most) were actually 11 gauge barrels and the serialization book actually has a B heading for the column which I think is reporting the bore of the barrel, not the chambering of the gun, even though most people accept it as that. I have seen random reports that 11 bore barrels were chambered in 12, 11 (rare) and 10 gauge. Given this is a 2 frame I saw, it is like;y that the slightly smaler bore may have been used.

Life would be a lot simpler if Parker had just stamped the chambering on the gun and recorded the actual barrel steel used on every gun in their records.

[Joe from MO]

Originally Posted by John Davis

Although the Serialization book is a great resource, it does contain errors and cannot be 100% relied on. You will most definitely want to get a letter. That will be your bona fides.

Yes, even though it's just a Trojan, I will do just that. Once I have the gun in hand, and can verify that the serial number being reported to me is indeed accurate........

thanks

[Joe from MO]

Well, finally got the "real" Serial number....


It's not 237411, but 231411. So, there is no records of this gun in either the serialization book, nor do there appear to be any factory records. Gun is a 1929 gun, I guess they were busy dealing with the stock market crash.... :-)