Parker Gun letter question

[Jeremy Pinsly]

I checked the barrel flats this morning. They are stamped as follows:

image.jpg

3 lb 3 oz, D=Damascus. Does the 4 indicate grade? What about the C?

I thought a GH should be a grade 2.

[Dollar]

Yes it is a grade 4 just found one my self.Looking back at your other pictures hinted at that.Real nice gun congratulations.

[Bruce Day]

I have seen dozens of Quality G guns with mismatched Damascus tubes, an occasional one in a D and none in a higher grade. Mismatched tubes are interesting to some and to be avoided by others. Many photos have been posted here of such specimens. I know of no justification other than baseless speculation that they are salesmens samples. None of the known sales and exhibition sample guns have tube mismatching. Still it's an interesting yarn.

Some Gs also had wonderful wood and we have shown photos here before of such guns.

Welcome to the world of Parker's. May I suggest The Parker Story ?

If a research letter is available that will tell you if it was made for a salesman by name such as Dubray.

[Dean Romig]

It is definitely a grade 2 gun, Not a grade 4. The 4 stamped on the right barrel flat may indicate 4 iron crolle.

[John Gardner]

Nice guns Jeremy. I like the Damascus G's and you've sort of got a two-in-one with those barrels. Neat! The wood is great. As Bruce said, a lot of G's have nice wood and your's seems very, very, nice.

Anybody got any ideas why G's can come with such great wood? It's like the wood used skips over a grade or two or three on some of these G guns.

[Bindlestiff]

Originally Posted by John Gardner

Anybody got any ideas why G's can come with such great wood? It's like the wood used skips over a grade or two or three on some of these G guns.

I have noted that the GH guns that I took a close look at had stocks made of wood that showed better on one side than the other. I suspect that the wood wasn't good enough for use on higher grade guns because of this inconsistency but was too nice for lower grades. GH guns where a transition from low to high grade and would accept these irregular wood grains. Thus, some very nice wood ended up on GH guns, even if one side was different from the other.

[Scott Fox]

Jeremy, any chance you could post more photos of the GH wood? Thanks

[Wild Skies]

Originally Posted by John Gardner

Anybody got any ideas why G's can come with such great wood? It's like the wood used skips over a grade or two or three on some of these G guns.

I always thought the reason you frequently see higher figured wood used on GH guns was because Parker Bros. utilized less costly American Black Walnut for them, whereas in the ascending grades Parker Bros. utilized higher cost European thin shell Walnut for their stock wood. Grade-for-grade American Black Walnut is, by nature, more highly figured than European thin shell Walnut.

[Jeremy Pinsly]

I'll post some more pics of the wood tonight.

[Bill Murphy]

Greg is right. If PB had any American Walnut (juglans nigra) with obvious figure, the G Grade guns were the highest grade they could use it on. It was "Put it on a G Grade or burn it in the stove."