New To Forum and To Parker 28 Gauge

[Pitts Yandell]

I am new to the forum and new to Parker. I inherited a Parker 28 and I have been trying to learn all I can. There is a lot of information out there and so some things are obvious to me and I have been searching but there seems to be a great deal of accumulated knowledge, particularly in this forum. So let me show you what I have and I would love to have the members share with me some detail. The gun serial is 131429 which dates to 1905. I suspect it has been restored but tell me how you can tell. The gun has Briley screw chokes fyi.


https://imgur.com/OYf0wGz
https://imgur.com/RgC0uVm
https://imgur.com/4Qe2bdf
https://imgur.com/SAIfxKt
https://imgur.com/861SuHV
https://imgur.com/T1gLyv4
https://imgur.com/IV9Tnp0
https://imgur.com/tsvZFqc

[Researcher]

The serial number 131429 is not on the list of 28-gauge guns from the records, published in The Parker Story, page 1005. So, it likely started life as an 0-frame 16- or 20-gauge. The research letter pick on the home page here shows there are surviving records for 131429 so you should join the PGCA and order a letter on the gun. At some point in its life the original tubes were cut off and new 28-gauge tubes inserted in the surviving mono-bloc. It appears the frame has been re-case colored by the cyanide process, not the bone-charcoal method that would have been in use in 1905.

[edgarspencer]

It would appear that a skilled hand built a functional gun. The engraved band on the barrels forward of the hinge pin would indicate it was sleeved professionally. The Miller selective trigger and Briley chokes make this gun quite versatile. The buttstock and fore end don't appear to be Parker, but there again, done to a good quality level. While not falling into a collector category, it looks like a fun gun, and nothing is funner than 28 ga.
Does the top rib have an inscription?

[Pitts Yandell]

My eyes are having a hard time believing this was retubed. It was really well done. The top rib is pictured below. The distortion of perspective is from the camera.



https://imgur.com/FFxXVuu

[Bill Murphy]

Well done is when you can't see the joint. Nice gun though.

[Pitts Yandell]

Bill, please explain "the joint." I clearly do not know what I am looking for.

[J. Scott Hanes]

It is in the area just forward of the hinge pin. The 'engraving' covers up the seam.

https://imgur.com/4Qe2bdf

[Bill Murphy]

The engraving is to cover the joint, which may or may not be a good one. Companies like Frank Lefever and Son sleeved guns with a joint that was just about invisible. Some others probably did just as good. Some not so good. It isn't something to worry about.

[Pitts Yandell]

My historical letter tells me it came from the factory as a 28 gauge.

[edgarspencer]

Pitts, this is getting more interesting. In your third picture, the 'wedding band', the engraving around the tubes at the breech end of the barrel, does not correspond to any V grade engraving pattern. This has me wondering, if, as you say, the gun was originally a 28 ga., and the barrels were damaged, and re-tubed, as evidenced by the ring engraved around the tubes, forward of the hinge pin. If that was the case, does the serial number stamped on the side of the barrel lug match the number stamped on the water table and trigger guard?
Since the 'wedding band is characteristic of at least a D grade, perhaps the original barrels were lost, and another set of donor 0 frame barrels were sleeved to 28ga. It is common for barrels to be re-stamped to match the gun's SN when replacements are fitted.