Parker Gun Cases

[Bruce Day]

These cases were of black walnut. The inside block parts were of a lightweight, light colored wood of some type. Poplar, basswood, sycamore, maybe. The original cost was $10, a bit more today.

These cases belong to a friend and while I would love to have one for my only hammer gun, I don't. I am reasonably sure the lifter action 11ga has 30" barrels. Almost all these hammer guns, unless a rare small bore, were either 30" or 32". A 26" barrel on a hammer gun would raise a question for me about whether the barrels were cut. The easiest indicator is the matted rib ending but matted ribs first came in 1886, after most of the lifter action guns. A person would need to look at the choke constrictions and the barrel end keels. A person can look at the TPS records to see the rarity of 26" barrels, more were made in 28" and most were in 30".

These guns were almost always choked around .035 and Parker chokes that tight were four inches long. A 4" bob would result in a cylinder bore, so a lifter with a cylinder bore is highly indicative of a cut barrel or reamed choke.

But, we have experts here, and I'm not one of them.

This is my only hammer gun, a C Bernard 30" top action hammer, and maybe making a case like these would be a winter project. A fine woodworker can see that the work is on the crude side and a person with the right tools could produce better dovetailed joints and use better fittings , but these cases are as made by Parker.

Bruce Day, Parker beginner