10 ga. from the closet

[Opening Day]

Originally Posted by Dave Suponski

This is a great discussion. But just to interject a few thoughts here. These guns were machine made and hand finished. We know there were templates for drop points and such. Stocks were turned from blanks from a master etc.But they were hand finished guns and with that there has to be some "artistic license". Suppose the checkerer overran a couple of lines..change the pattern slightly..all fixed. Suppose a drop point chipped...fix it. Suppose the nose of the comb didn't come out quite right...make it a little different. These great craftsman were human after all and to think that errors were not made means we are putting these people on another plane. I would think that the final inspector would have the final say whether the gun went into the finished rack or went back for rework. After all we are talking about frugal Yankees here and these guns were not machine made 870's.

I'm not implying this is what happened but I thought it would be worth some thought.

I have to agree with you Dave and as we know Mr. Parker was about as frugal as they come. Eric

[Bruce Day]

Or how about this on CHE ( Ber) 136,503? Not your standard C stock checkering and comb nose but it numbers and letters. Except for the checkered cheeks, its correct for a D but not a C.

And the drop points are more rhomboidal than oblate. Guess I'd say more diamond than rounded.

[Double Trouble]

My layman's ignorance may show with this comment, but (regarding the pictures on page 1 of this post) isn't it unusual for un-cut barrels to not touch each other at the muzzle ?

[Dean Romig]

From what I can see, they're touching. That yellow stuff is preventing us from seeing the full thickness of the barrel walls as they touch.

[Double Trouble]

Agreed - I should have put my glasses on & looked more carefully.

[AmarilloMike]

John thanks for asking the question. I thought the same thing you did and I had my glasses on.

Best,

Mike

[Researcher]

Some of us were "trained observers" in our professional life.

[Autumn Daze]

[Austin W Hogan]

I have a little gouge the was my great grandfather's. He was a very skilled cabinet and furniture maker (1830 -1896). A little gouge like that would fit the curves of C and D drop points almost perfectly.
I think the drop points were made with 4 cuts of a gouge on each side.

The groove and point of the comb were also hand cut and finished to provide thumb clearance after setting the stock dimensions. They are not precision machine cuts like the inletting.

Best, Austin

[AmarilloMike]

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

Some of us were "trained observers" in our professional life.

Well I have to say that you and Dave always see things I don't see until you point them out. And by nature I am a "See the forest but not the trees" kinda guy, which has been a very expensive trait over the years.

Best,

Mike