Parker Skeet Originality

[Bill Murphy]

OK, here's what I know about skeet guns and Del Grego skeet conversions. If a gun is generally in skeet configuration originally, a LDG conversion to skeet markings is not easily discovered because, again generally, skeet is not mentioned on the IBM card or the stock book entry. All LDG had to do was apply the choke markings on the barrel flat. Grip styles are not generally specified on IBM cards and often not specified accurately in stock book entries. Butt treatments are not generally specified on IBM cards or stock book entries, so a field gun restocked with a checkered butt and skeet choke markings is miraculously a "Skeet Gun". For these reasons and a couple of others, a skeet configured gun with Del Grego colors is always suspect of being a skeet conversion. With all these facts in mind, it is just about impossible to determine that a 26" gun with skeet features is an original skeet gun. When such a gun has Del Grego colors, suspicions go up exponentially. The occasionally seen skeet marked, Del Grego colored gun with 28" barrels or double triggers is almost certainly a conversion skeet gun.

[Double Lab]

That's mine Bill. 20ga, 28", single Parker trigger, PG, checkered butt, marked SK in/ SK out, definitely done by LDG. I still consider it a skeet gun though.

[Bill Murphy]

I am not criticizing such guns as Daryl's, only stating that they were not likely skeet guns when they left the factory. I own some Del Grego restorations, love them. The "skeet in" and "skeet out" stamps on a conversion are just part of the Del Grego mystique.