New Guy with old Parker

[Stan Hillis]

Brad, welcome to the association, and congrats on a very nice Parker. Jim Kelly is my go to doublegun smith and I've never found better.

Stan

[Brad Kuhn]

Thanks guys for sticking with this problem.

John, I watched the video showing the barrels being removed. The gun he had is very similar to mine. One thing I noticed from that video is that his firing pins were visible on disassembly whereas mine are not visible.

J A, I followed your suggestion too. My triggers would not snap; they are frozen in place and will not move backward or forward at all. However, the barrels did suddenly come off, and I don't know why. I am not sure where the "small metal lever" is, but I assumed it is the small metal tab in the slot, directly down from and between the firing pins. I pushed hard on that tab, but it did not move. I tried pushing a few other likely candidates in that slot but nothing moved. I also tried moving the safety, and that had no affect either.

Brad

[John Knobelsdorf II]

Releasing the top lever, here is how Parker Brothers describes it:

https://parkerguns.org/forums/attach...5&d=1623103172

https://parkerguns.org/forums/attach...6&d=1623103172

See the next to last paragraph of the upper hangtag (the brown one, not the yellow one).

Your description suggests to me that you found the right spot. Labeled “TRIP” on the pictures of the hangtag.

And if the firing pins are not visible, that suggests the hammers are cocked back. “Hammerless” (so called) Parker Brothers guns do not have a floating firing pin. The pin is on the hammer.

# 2 on this diagram. https://parkerguns.org/images/tech_2.jpg

# 1 & # 2 on this picture. https://parkerguns.org/images/parts.jpg

Hard to imagine but not impossible for pins to have been filed down.

[Brad Kuhn]

John,

Thanks for the diagrams. They are helpful. Seems to me that the "trip" pin we are talking about is part #20 which is depressed by the cam on the barrel when it closes. The bottom of #20 must slide down into a recess when it is hit from above, allowing the top lever to swing back to center. It may be that debris has gotten under #20 preventing it from depressing fully. I am just arm waving here, and I don't really know what the part numbers in question are or what happens. Tomorrow, I will make a tool to slide under that tab to possibly clear any debris. Barring success with that, next stop is a gunsmith.

Brad

[J. A. EARLY]

Brad,

My fault. You are correct that you cannot snap the triggers to disengage the barrels because with the lever over to the right, the safety reset rod keeps you from pushing the safety off and snapping the triggers.

You have, I think, found the problem. The trip is stuck and will not go down. Again, push down on it after putting a drop of penetrating oil on it. The trip slides down on a pin that fits inside it and has a spring in the hole inside it to push it into the opening lever. Just hold the stock and the lever open while you push down on the part near the breech in the slot where the barrel lug would go. What happens if you close the barrels with a little force? The trip should go down; but maybe there is something under it like a primer or shot. Shine a light in there and you should be able to see if there is something under there holding the trip up from going down.

[Brad Kuhn]

SUCCESS! I put a couple of drops of penetrating oil under the trip pin as Jerry suggested and pushed down. The trip still would not go down, so I tried to rotate it by gently prying with a screwdriver. It did rotate just a bit but still would not depress. Then, I very gently tapped it with a punch. That did it. After about three taps the trip depressed and the top lever suddenly snapped into place. I put a drop of spindle oil under the trip and the gun works as it should.

I still don't know what was barring the trip pin. Might still be a good idea to have a smith take a look at it and clean the action thoruoughly.

Sorry for all the drama.
Brad Kuhn

[Joe D.]

Congratulations, Brad!!!! Drama, what drama?? I have found that one of the benefits of membership in this organization is access to the wisdom and experience of some of the finest field mechanics in the country.

[ArtS]

You would likely be well advised to have a gunsmith or someone familiar to maybe remover the stock and trigger guard and plate. That will allow access to essentially all the internals enough to see and clean them. I recently bought a 10 gauge Hammerless gun near yours in age. It operated well except for being a little stiff. I would swear that the gun had never been opened due to the condition of the screws and their alignment. I even looked at the screw heads through a magnifier. It took over an hour with fitted screwdriver bits, multiple
applications of oil and even had to use the old drill press trick on one. They all finally came lose and I was appalled at the inside. The entire action looked like the inside of an old car wheel bearing. Crammed full of dust and century old gun oil. I degreased it all, relubed, and put a toothpick tip of 40% moly grease on the trigger, sear and striker mating surfaces. When put back together, It worked as smooth as silk.

As stated, you don't want anyone to do this who doesn't know how (and can; that's two different things).

The owner of a gun with a lot of condition would not dream of doing this unless the gun was malfunctioning. For a user gun, I never know when I buy one the internal condition and have found a lot of surprises. Just bought a sleeved H&H boxlock 16 that looked really looked nice. I took it apart to clean and found a tiny internal crack through the center of the head and starting across one side of the delicate grip. Nothing showed inside. I vacuumed glue into it, clamped it and then put two epoxied, angled, blind internal pins inside.

I would hate to have a nice gun I like or a family heirloom have a catastrophic failure because I didn't want to open it up.

[J. A. EARLY]

Originally Posted by brad kuhn

SUCCESS! I put a couple of drops of penetrating oil under the trip pin as Jerry suggested and pushed down. The trip still would not go down, so I tried to rotate it by gently prying with a screwdriver. It did rotate just a bit but still would not depress. Then, I very gently tapped it with a punch. That did it. After about three taps the trip depressed and the top lever suddenly snapped into place. I put a drop of spindle oil under the trip and the gun works as it should.

I still don't know what was barring the trip pin. Might still be a good idea to have a smith take a look at it and clean the action thoruoughly.

Sorry for all the drama.
Brad Kuhn

A rabbit hunting buddy told me he had his uncle's Parker and the lever would not stay to the right. Had taken it to a gunsmith and it came back that way. Smith told him ALL Parkers worked that way; lever returned to center after opening. He took it to another smith where it stayed for seven years. I took it apart and the three pieces were gone. The first gunsmith had forgotten to put them back in there probably because they were lost in his shop. Took about three days to get the parts from Brian Dudley. A little fitting and it works like new. But while I had it apart it was obvious that the gun had been hunted in the rain or had been in water. But other than missing parts, the gun still worked. I would bet the trip's three parts on your gun either had dried grease holding them together or rust. It should work great now but a once every 100 year cleaning would not hurt. When you look at the trip parts one time, you will understand why I and others hold the lever to the right, close the gun, let the lever go and gently push it to the left to lock the action. I grimace every time my cousin slams his shut as if one is closing a bank vault door.

[Brad Kuhn]

Originally Posted by Jerry Harlow

Brad,

My fault. You are correct that you cannot snap the triggers to disengage the barrels because with the lever over to the right, the safety reset rod keeps you from pushing the safety off and snapping the triggers.

You have, I think, found the problem. The trip is stuck and will not go down. Again, push down on it after putting a drop of penetrating oil on it. The trip slides down on a pin that fits inside it and has a spring in the hole inside it to push it into the opening lever. Just hold the stock and the lever open while you push down on the part near the breech in the slot where the barrel lug would go. What happens if you close the barrels with a little force? The trip should go down; but maybe there is something under it like a primer or shot. Shine a light in there and you should be able to see if there is something under there holding the trip up from going down.

Originally Posted by Jerry Harlow

A rabbit hunting buddy told me he had his uncle's Parker and the lever would not stay to the right. Had taken it to a gunsmith and it came back that way. Smith told him ALL Parkers worked that way; lever returned to center after opening. He took it to another smith where it stayed for seven years. I took it apart and the three pieces were gone. The first gunsmith had forgotten to put them back in there probably because they were lost in his shop. Took about three days to get the parts from Brian Dudley. A little fitting and it works like new. But while I had it apart it was obvious that the gun had been hunted in the rain or had been in water. But other than missing parts, the gun still worked. I would bet the trip's three parts on your gun either had dried grease holding them together or rust. It should work great now but a once every 100 year cleaning would not hurt. When you look at the trip parts one time, you will understand why I and others hold the lever to the right, close the gun, let the lever go and gently push it to the left to lock the action. I grimace every time my cousin slams his shut as if one is closing a bank vault door.

JA, thanks for the advice on closing. I am not a door slammer, but I have been letting the lever snap on closing like your cousin. In the future, I will hold the lever and let it come to center gently.

Also, having the gun cleaned every hundred years is not too anal, so I plan to have that done.