Something To Play With

[Gary Laudermilch]

Ok, guys I took a look at this Parker lifter. I don't know quite where to begin but you can bet your bottom dollar that this was a high grade Parker. What I saw and keep in mind that I am not very knowledable about these older guns:

The action is beautiful and in very good shape except for the cracks on both sides. It is a square frame, ie no radius where the water table meets the breech face. I took a dental pick along to see if I could detect how deep the crack was. I was unable to detect a crack on the inside in the locking bolt slot. The barrels seem to lock up very nicely, actually much better than I expected. However, it is severly off face probably due to the crack and being out of square. That is the big question. Can it be repaired?

The butt stock is pretty rough. The repair patch is only on one side so you can see the break on the other. It looks to be pretty much straight across rather than running with the grain. The reinforced side is definitely missing some wood especially where the lock plate abutts and the plate has been inlet into the wood. Who knows what is under the repair plate. The skeleton butt plate is there. The wood is of high quality - very nice figure.

The forend is quite good with a lever latch and fits quite well.

All serial numbers match. There is a large U on the water table with another set of 3 digit numbers that do not match the serial number. The barrel lug has a large 2 with a smaller 0 above it, presumably indicating a 2 size frame.

The barrels measure just a smidge over 27 inches. The barrels are not touching but are no further apart than my uncut V grade. The keels are quite obvious and when I scratched them appear to be brass. I am kind of thinking they are original length. There is some outside rust and relatively minor pitting and mostly near the muzzle end. The bores look quite good. Frosting in the first one third and one obvious pit in each about mid way but do not look to be too bad. Nice looking damascus fine pattern under the forend.

I saw much more than I can explain here. I'm going to the auction and we'll see where the bidding goes. It would be a shame to give up on this grand old girl.

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Gary Laudermilch

However, it is severly off face probably due to the crack and being out of square. That is the big question. Can it be repaired.

Gary, I'm reasonably sure this gun is a Two Hundred Fifty Dollar Grade, and while you haven't said, the SN is likely well below the 4000 range.
This frame crack in the early dollar grade lifters is not at all uncommon, and has likely been seen, repaired, and returned, with a radius intersection, by better gunsmiths. In my opinion, this should in no way scare off a serious collector. The investment will not be an inconsequential amount, but the gun warrants it, and it will be money well spent.
The breech face to water table is never truly square. If it were, the gun won't open. The longer the water table, the closer to 90 degrees they get, and vice verse.
Without a research letter, you won't know for certain what the original barrel length was.
A very beautiful Grade 3, 12ga. Lifter followed me home today, and I have long been a lover of shooting these beautifully balanced guns

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by edgarspencer

Gary, I'm reasonably sure this gun is a Two Hundred Fifty Dollar Grade, and while you haven't said, the SN is likely well below the 4000 range.

This was supposed to say 14000 range, but cat hair and graham cracker crumbs occasionally interfere with the 1 key, actually a bunch of the keys in the top left.

The SN of the subject gun is right about where I expected. There was some over lap between the early frame, without the reinforcing rib and sharp corner, and the improved one. See TPS, Page 102, and pictures, page 104. There were many other changes in addition to this one, but it was all in the high 13K to 16 K range.