Serialization book vs gun discrepancy

[Kevin McCormack]

At first look the SN Book can be faulted as wrong, but as previous posters have pointed out, many guns were returned for significant alterations (shortened barrels, opened chokes, "trap forends", etc. A letter is the first "line of defense"'; after that a close examination of the gun in hand will tell you a lot if you know what to look for. Keep in mind that then, as now, someone's "dream gun" may have turned out as a little less that they had envisioned; in that case, many were returned for a "retrofit" to more closely adhere to the original "perfect gun" vision or fantasy.

[Bill Murphy]

A personal look at the gun by a very experienced Parker collector/researcher is always preferred over a Serialization Book reference. We have had years to examine that particular gun, but you're stuck with three days. Too bad. An examination of the gun may tell an experienced collector that all changes to the gun were factory sourced. I wanted to look at the gun, but every time I tried at the Hamburg store, the gun was somewhere else, and now it has been moved to the Left Coast permanently. Good luck.