Do Simmons Hardware records still exist somewhere?

[John Havard]

Does anyone know if there are any records from Simmons Hardware still in existence anywhere?

My Parker research letter notes that my DHE was ordered by Simmons Hardware in 1906 and was shipped with 30" damascus barrels. However, the gun has serial-number-matched 31" (UNCUT) Titanic barrels. These barrels bear the initials of Walter King, which means that they must have been made prior to 1910 when W. King became shop foreman. How long before he became foreman he stopped proofing and stamping barrels is not known. But The Parker books state that he was replaced by "J.G." whose stamp is found on barrels proofed after Mr. King moved up to be foreman.

The barrels, being 31", are in and of themselves a fairly rare novelty. And the fact that Walter King stamped his proof stamp on them narrows down the time when they were made to be very close to the date of the order from Simmons. They had to have been made and fitted to the gun reasonably close to the original gun manufacture date because they are stamped by Walter King.

My guess, and that's all that it is, is that someone (Simmons? Their customer for whom they were ordering the gun?) changed their minds and altered the order to be filled with Titanic barrels rather than damascus. Either that or the gun was shipped back to Parker within a couple-three years after original manufacture for replacement barrels. All reasonable. But why 31" barrels? That had to have been a specific request placed by someone.

Which gets me back to my original question. My Parker research letter mentions nothing about a change in the original order from Simmons (or a repair/replacement change within a couple-three years after the original shipment date). I'd love to find out a bit more about these 31" barrels and how/why they came to be on this shotgun. Does anyone know if records from Simmons Hardware exist anywhere that might enable me to research the provenance of this shotgun further?