Parker VH 16 gauge with 26in barrels-story

[Mark Forabosco]

Last year I purchased a Parker VH in very good condition. A friend took a look at it and suggested I get the colour case hardening redone by a talented gentleman named Oskar Kobb east of my area in Canada who had done excellent colour case hardening work for me previously. I took the gun to a local gunsmith who had done some basic work for me in the past. He said he would have no issues taking everything out of the receiver and putting it back together after the colour case job was finished. I explained Parkers can be difficult-he assured me not to worry. Well after 6 months of waiting after I had given him the finished colour case receiver, I had no choice but to threaten legal action. Now during that 6 month time span I heard every excuse why the gun was still not put back together, from it will be ready next week to I'm next on the list. I did ask him if he was having issues putting the gun back together and he said -"Not at all!" At any rate he made a complete mess of things, stripped some screws and put some parts where they should not have been placed. I was very fortunate to find Chris Dawe in Newfoundland of Stillwater Restoration and he fixed the issues and the gun works and looks like new. At my age I should have known better, and it almost cost me a lovely shotgun. If you have a Parker take it to a reputable Parker gunsmith.