Pinfire Parker??

[B. Dudley]

Not a Parker Bros. And not a pin fire.

[Southpaw]

Black powder percussion cap shotgun. Probably made in England between late 1830's thru 1850's, just a guess though. It being in Kansas is very fitting. That gun is great piece of American History and probably someone of means owned that gun since it appears to have decent wood in the stock from what I could see in photos.

Some say Winchester won the West, but that was after Civil War West. Some say Sam Colt won the west with invention of percussion cap and ball revolver which was almost specifically designed to put settlers on equal footing with the Commanche. All that is debatable but I think settlers armed with shotguns to put meat on the table and guard the front door had more to do with winning the West.

[Dean Romig]

Parker Bros. Never made a production muzzle loader nor a percussion gun, much less a pin fire. And we are taught to “never say never” regarding things “Parker Bros.” but in this case I will say it.





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[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Parker Bros. Never made a production muzzle loader nor a percussion gun, much less a pin fire. And we are taught to “never say never” but in this case I will say it.





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Actually saw one of these several years ago as well that said Parker on the receiver or the sidelock. It was in decent shape and someone had really personalized and modified the stock for a left handed shooter. Kicking myself that did not buy it, but it was more then likely a wall hanger and not in need of one.

Best I could tell it was from England based on some proof marks but did not dig into as much, but it was definitely from Europe. I think Greener also made black powder muzzleloading percussion cap shotguns and a lot of them made their way to the states and frontier.

Wish I knew more about it but as understand shotgun use became very prevalent starting in the 1850's but they were all muzzleloaders. Obviously the advent of breech loading cartridges transformed it in late 1860's. I don't think there were a whole bunch of US manufactuers that made muzzeloading shotguns but Europeans did and a lot of them made their way here. Hence you don't hear a lot about them and I think most of them were pretty inexpensive and used and abused up.

Think it safe to say we all love double barreled shotgun sports and it started with with these black powder muzzleloaders that started popularity of design and use that transformed into what we enjoy today.

[Merv Boyd]

Thank you all for your thoughts and comments!

[bpOutdoors]

You might search: W. Parker (not a Parker Bros)


https://www.gunsamerica.com/98442397...ER-SHOTGUN.htm

[OH Osthaus]

there were Parkers making guns in England since the days of flintlocks -

[Mike Franzen]

Mervyn if you look closely at the engraving on the side plates it says T Parker. I believe these were cheap imposters made in Belgium. It would still be interesting to hear what you know of the history of the gun 8-)