1890 CH with 28" Bernard barrels

[Czar]

I've been sort of lurking about here for a bit over four years now... I don't post much, but read alot instead. During this period, I've been working on the CH that I got from my father about 15 years ago.



The entire life of this gun was in Rochester, NY, until 1970 when my father was transferred with Kodak down to East Tennessee, where their chemical plant was located.

Dad got the gun in 1960 for $50 from an old Army buddy named Bill Nolan, also of Rochester. Shortly after his return from WWII European where he had served an Army Hospital Administrator, he got the gun from someone he knew from his civilian occupation as an insurance salesman. "Uncle Bill" and my father were very close; we spent many Saturdays as a kids at his home, playing with his nickel slots, and his HUGE coin collection, while the parents played poker, shot muskets and other guns off the back porch at paper plates on Aunt Elsie's clothes line, etc. After nearly a decade of badgering, in 1970 he finally agreed to sell my father the broken Parker he had picked up in the mid 40's.

The small of the grips had been broken, probably when an earlier owner had fallen on it. During the whole time Bill Nolan had the gun, it stayed in his basement gun storage area, untouched. My father kept it in the back of his closet from 1970 until he passed it on to me around 2000.

Unless the metal had been redone sometime before WWII by someone other than the factory, which I rather doubt, all case color is factory original. The barrel bores are literally mirrors; no striations or markings of any kind, and no pitting, either.

As I said, the stock had been broken before WWII, and the repair, which was well done, had begun to fail shortly after I got the gun, probably because of the many moves I had, with resulting environmental changes of dry / humid / dry.

Around 2006 or 2007 I got on this website, and sought advice of a good stock man in my area, which at the time was Tallahassee. A guy up in Athens was nominated, and the repair was subsequently accomplished. Unfortunately, that repair job was to fail also, this time only after three years.

So, this gun spent three long years at Dennis' place in Oregon, and this summer was finally completed and went to Turnbull's have some of the screws addressed, as they had been buggered.

It got back to me, finally, a few weeks ago, and here I've posted a bunch of pictures for your evaluation. I'd like to hear from the experts what you really think.

Here's the pertinent dope from it's Letter, which I finally got around to ordering in September.

Originally Posted by Parker Letter Sep 2016

Parker shotgun, serial number 63983, was ordered by Jas. McCulloch of Rochester NY on December 4, 1890 and shipped on March 5, 1891. According to Parker Bros. Order Book No. 27, it was a CH hammerless, 12-gauge. It featured Bernard steel barrels with a length of 28 inches.

The price was $150.00.

According to Parker Bros. Stock Book No. 23, the stock configuration was a capped pistol grip and its specifications were: Length of Pull: 14”, Drop at Heel: 3”, Weight: 7 pounds and 2 ounces.

According to Parker Bros. Order Book No. 75, the gun was returned on August 31, 1908 by Rufus K. Dryer of Rochester NY to bore RH cylinder, LH slightly choked, retarget barrels and be sure they shoot OK. The price was $1.50.