VHE Parker - 20 gauge Pigeon gun....?

[Wes Stueber]

Thanks for the photos and info, Dave - much appreciated here!!

I just CANNOT understand the reasoning behind NOT having a safety lever on a shotgun, or any gun, for that matter?

Can you, or any of our other knowledgeable Parker members, enlighten me as to WHY or WHAT they thought back then..? To me, it is very dangerous.

Maybe I should have bid on the VHE 20 gauge w/ 30" bbls. - w/o the safety..? It sold for $3,100. and was made in 1920. Oh well, I'm learning.

Good shooting & thanks again!

Wes

[Mike of the Mountain]

Originally Posted by Wes Stueber

Thanks for the photos and info, Dave - much appreciated here!!

I just CANNOT understand the reasoning behind NOT having a safety lever on a shotgun, or any gun, for that matter?

Can you, or any of our other knowledgeable Parker members, enlighten me as to WHY or WHAT they thought back then..? To me, it is very dangerous.

Maybe I should have bid on the VHE 20 gauge w/ 30" bbls. - w/o the safety..? It sold for $3,100. and was made in 1920. Oh well, I'm learning.

Good shooting & thanks again!

Wes

If you are shooting live birds or a clay target game, the gun isn't loaded until ready to shoot. Top shooters preferred that feature. I prefer it too. On my clays guns I'll dismantle the auto-safety. Remove the rod on a Parker, lock the safety off on a Lefever.

Hunting guns are a different animal, there I don't lock the safety off. I never trust that an auto-safety actually engages the safety, I'll always check to make sure the safety is actually engaged. That said, I do use some of my clays guns for hunting, unless they are a live bird configuration.

BTW, I've never seen a SBT with a safety.

[mobirdhunter]

Remember the guns with safeties but not intercepting sears could discharge if dropped. A safety can give a false sense of security and is no substitute for what our fathers told us: treat all guns as if they were loaded, and never point a gun at anything you don’t want to shoot. I want automatic safeties on all my guns, but I cannot ever recall, in over 60 years of using a firearm, where a safety prevented an accident.