My friend Bill, I did not mean to imply that I thought the original serial numbers are gone from the 20 ga. set of barrels. Please tell me what I said that may have, inadvertently, led you to that conclusion and I will modify my previous comments to be easier to understand. I can see no evidence that the original serial numbers have been removed by welding over or any other means.
Here is a pic of the two barrel sets by each other. It is plain that the numbers on the 20 ga. set are not exactly the same font as the ones on the 16 ga. set, and that they are not as straight, obviously stamped by individual numerical stamps without the help of anything the keep them in perfect alignment. However, I do not know that they still couldn't have been done like that at the factory, if the gun had been returned many years later for the 20 ga. set to be fitted. Not having much knowledge of how that was handled by Parker I will leave that conclusion to be drawn by yourself and the other more knowledgeable gents here than myself. Is the difference in the font and arrangement of the digits evidence of non-Parker work?
It has been put forth that the difference in the barrel steels between the 16s and the 20s, on my gun, is not in itself damning, but that 20 ga. barrels that were added to a gun at a later date than the original manufacture were often Vulcan Steel, regardless the grade of the original gun. Again, I fall back on other's superior knowledge about this as well.
It would be nice to know for certain, which I doubt can ever be determined with absolute certainty, but either way it doesn't lessen, or add to, the attraction I have for the gun. I love it and consider myself a blessed man for having it in my stable.
All comments concerning this are welcome, and appreciated.
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