Fishtail Top Levers

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Ray Masciarella

Of course, I don't know anything about this but it would seem to me that, regardless of grade, Parker just used up old stock. Hammer gun production slowed a lot after 1890 or so. No reason to discard them. Grade was dependent on engraving rather then style of lever. Today, companies just throw old parts out because their lawyers (like me) tell them to do so but back then that didn't happen. Since Parker still offered a hammer gun after hammerless came out, they were probably not just used up in all early hammerless production because they still needed them for hammer guns.

We share similar opinions and I think that, due to lack of any evidence, the authors correctly state "it cannot be said" that a common assumption be the last word.