Fishtail Top Levers

[B. Dudley]

I have a P grade with hooked lever. It is a mishmash of parts, but the action is S/N 67266.

[George Blair]

SN 73303 is a BH 1 frame with hooked top lever...no mention of lever in letter .George

[Smoothebore]

At this point I have one hammer gun with a fishtail lever. It does NOT allow the action to be opened with the hammer cocked, so I don't believe that was a consideration at all. If it ever did work this way, I think it was just happenstance. I think the fishtail was for aesthetics only, plus being an easier reach for either right or left thumb on opening.

Above all else, Parker Brothers were innovators. They were not afraid of trying a new idea. If it worked and took off in popularity (and sales), then it was continued. If it didn't make a measurable difference in sales or popularity, then old stock was used up, and they moved on. This was just good business sense. It was then and it is now. And Charles Parker, in the day, was an extremely savvy businesman.

IMHO, Dave

[Wild Skies]

Originally Posted by Dave Purnell

At this point I have one hammer gun with a fishtail lever. It does NOT allow the action to be opened with the hammer cocked, so I don't believe that was a consideration at all. If it ever did work this way, I think it was just happenstance. I think the fishtail was for aesthetics only, plus being an easier reach for either right or left thumb on opening.

Above all else, Parker Brothers were innovators. They were not afraid of trying a new idea. If it worked and took off in popularity (and sales), then it was continued. If it didn't make a measurable difference in sales or popularity, then old stock was used up, and they moved on. This was just good business sense. It was then and it is now. And Charles Parker, in the day, was an extremely savvy businesman.

IMHO, Dave

Well I'll be a sonofagun, right up until the moment I read this I had always been under the assumption that the fishtail toplever was so that one COULD open the action with the hammers cocked...I learn something new everyday around here.

[B. Dudley]

Originally Posted by Dave Purnell

At this point I have one hammer gun with a fishtail lever. It does NOT allow the action to be opened with the hammer cocked, so I don't believe that was a consideration at all. If it ever did work this way, I think it was just happenstance. I think the fishtail was for aesthetics only, plus being an easier reach for either right or left thumb on opening.
IMHO, Dave

TPS does mention that 1 frame Hammer parkers still have interference. Even with the hooked lever. The one hammer gun that I have owned with the hooked lever was able to open when cocked. And with how close that lever was to the hammer, it would surely not have been able to be done with a straight lever.