The few Parkers I've seen (not many in person) with no safety AND that were ordered that way according to the research letter did not have the filled slot that yours shows (again, my direct observations are few). I've seen several with the slot filled as with yours, and I always assumed that was an after factory production change. With a gun with barrels that long, it would be a good guess that the owner shot competition and did not want a safety (and lots of hunters disliked safeties -- a notable person was Aldo Leopold). I think the comment to check the stock to see if it was cut out to accommodate a safety is the best answer to the question. If it was not original to the gun, I think relative to its collectable value, there should not be much of an issue since you are planning other restorations.
In any event, what a nice find: a 16 with long barrels like that!
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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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