Early Single Barrel Trap

[George "Scott" Davis]

I have a SBT papered by PGCA which was completed according to Stock Book No. 63 on May 17, 1917. The serial number is 177962 it is a SC 12 gauge with 32 inch barrels. So I'm wondering if Parker made a group of SBT and then waited for an order and pulled the gun with the dimensions requested by the customer. The serial number would make my gun 109 numbers after the above mentioned SBT yet completed earlier. This kind of stuff helps build the mystery of Parkers!

[Pa SxS]

Jack, very nice gun but I'm wondering why no checkered cheek panel? More pictures of the checkering to include the border may help determine if the stocks are original.

Scott, I looked up the Research Letter on your gun. The Stock Book does show 8 SC's made in a row starting with 177960 and ending with 177968 so they did make a run of SC's in May of 1917. It is also listed as a straight grip stock! The Order Book shows that the order for 177962 was placed on September 26, 1918 and shipped on October 26, 1918 to DuPont. The stock was a pistol grip Monte Carlo. My guess is that the gun was either sitting in the warehouse until it was ordered and at that time, they converted it to a pistol grip, or it was a demonstration gun that was returned at some time and Parker reconditioned it and put on the pistol grip stock, then sold it when an order for a SC with 32 inch barrels was placed.

[Bill Murphy]

The buttstock could be a replacement. The plain, uncheckered cheeks are a clue.

[Travis Newman]

I just looked at mine and is part of your group. Serial 177967

[B. Dudley]

I was wondering about the stock myself. The checkering and the shape in some spots is suspect. But the butt seems to match the forend perfectly. Looks like the same piece of wood.

The sides of the barrels would not be roll stamped with the makers mark on these early guns. Instead, the vent rib was hand engraved with the makers mark like the vent rib doubles. I see the barrel flat has a "T" on it, but not in a circle. Maybe supposed to be Titanic??? Interesting that the engraved makers mark has no steel type listed.

Your gun has some of the interesting early features such as the firing pin access screw in the right side and the more sparse (nicer in my opinion) engraving. The later ones were covered with stippling in between the scroll and it really hides the case color.

If you stock is original, it has clearly been cut short, which is very common on these guns.

And the 30" length is pretty rare.

Nice find!

[Bill Murphy]

Yup, the early single traps had Titanic barrels.

[bigedac]

I have sbt # 177352. It has a 34" bbl. and it does have a T on the bbl. It also has the screw in the end of the forearm and a screw on the top right of the action just behind the bbl. I think this one was built in 1915.
bigedac

[Dean Romig]

Nope, it was built in 1917, according to the serial number.

[Bill Murphy]

Mike Franzen referred us to this old thread about early singles. My latest find is a high condition SC #176,128. The earliest in the Serialization Book is #176,127. I haven't checked to see what order books or stock books are missing around that period that could contain lower numbers. Strange that our members haven't reported more than a couple early numbers. #176,128 looks like it was rarely fired, is in very high condition. Bob Beach tells me it was sold on consignment in 1937 at Abercrombie and Fitch to a known shooter named Keithley. I have not found him in ATA average books, so he was probably not a competitive shooter. PGCA letter says it was originally shipped to Abercrombie and Fitch April 24, 1917. It was on an order of 25 single traps, all but one cancelled. #176,127, the earliest single known, was ordered by Orren R. Dickey on January 30, 1917. Orren Dickey and Abercrombie and Fitch were the highest volume dealers in graded Parker guns at the time. These two guns were in two different order books, #95 and #97. The serialization book does not include serial numbers from order books, so a close look at these two order books may uncover many more single barrels. Order books were used "two at a time", so #95 and #97 were probably in use during the 1917 period. Research continues.

[Mills]

The SBT auctioned by Rock Island yesterday has Griffin and Howe records available. Hopefully the new owner will check it out and report back to us