Checkered panels on CH grades

[B. Dudley]

Dave,
Nice fine on your ch grade!

The gun and letter than Gary has shown are a great combination to have. The letter documents certain features about the gun that are not standard to the grade of the gun. Without that letter, one would question the absence of drop points or engraving on the guard.

I just looked at a gun this weekend that was originally a dh and it had checked side panels. The records do note that it was ordered that way. The side panel checkering had no border, was fully pointed and was much finer than the wrist checkering. At first inspection, one would wonder if it was original or not. But it was.

[Bill Murphy]

Gary, do you have the barrels that have Mr. Parry's name engraved? Can you post a picture of the unengraved trigger guard. Thomas H. Parry was a fierce competitor in the midwest at the time. The gun papers were full of references to his shooting. Your receiver looks like the work of Larry Del Grego and Son. Your beavertail forend looks like it may be from the Parker factory or maybe Del Grego put on the beavertail when they did the refinish. Del Grego could also have installed the safety. Whatever, it is an interesting gun with important competition provenance. If you know the name of the previous owner, Babe Del Grego can look up the job they did on it. They do not keep records by serial number.

[Bruce Day]

Gary, for your comparision this CHE may be of interest. Its a few years later than yours and is as built originally except that it went back to Parker to have the safety added. Also, I replaced the hardened and brittle recoil pad with a new leather faced Silver's. This configuration was popular at the time for targets. Sometimes they are called "live bird guns" but they were used on targets of all forms; birds, clay disks, glass balls, bituminous formed balls, etc. This one has a 2" DAH, 1 1/2" DAC. Some people complain about Parkers "all" having excessive drop. Some do , some don't.

Original charcoal case colors. Original splinter forend. It was patterned when made with nitro ( smokeless) powder at 1 1/8oz at 3 drams equivalent, which runs out to about 1200 fps, which is the same load I use today from Federal, Remington, etc. Chokes are .035 and .040, so you can pick off one side or the other of a clay target with the tight barrel. I expect yours would have much the same characteristics unless altered.

Enjoy and treasure your new Parker.

[Brush Buster]

Bill ,It is interesting that the Del Grego's didn't keep records according to serial #'s ,I sure wish they had ,I have contacted Larry more than a couple of times about a gun which I thought they may have a record on ,so far the only one for sure is the 410 ! You know if you think about it ,guns are constantly changing hands but the Serial is constant !

[C.O.B.]

I thought the only way the did keep records was by serial number. If they had accurate records what a treasuretrove of information that would be.

[Bill Murphy]

Believe me, it's a treasure trove, no matter how they arrange it.

[Gary Cripps]

Mr. Murphy,
I do not have the Parry engraved barrels. I have the later ( 1916) barrels. The trigger guard has been engraved at some point. I will contact Del Grego and see what I can learn. Thank you very much for the additional information and providing other paths to follow.