What Parker am I looking at?

[ArtS]

Originally Posted by Brian Dudley

The gun is simply a factory oddity. I doubt there is anything “special order” about it. More than likely the shoe filer working on that gun was not paying attention and started doing the wrong operation and decided to just finish the job vs throw it out.

The gun would actually be more interesting to me if it had a dollshead and maybe even a patent forend latch.

This would be my guess. It mayt be a lunchbox special, but would have requird more work to make a plain shooting gun, so a guy trying to save money would probably not put oyut the extra effort.

[Morgan Blanchard]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

I would value gun at 750 to 1000....make a fine shooter if barrels are ok....charlie

Thats the price range I was thinking. The interior of the gun, including the bores are in nice shape. I have tried 2 3/4 shells and they seem to fit well. I don't know enough to know if this is chambered for shorter shells or if it will shoot modern shells without an issue. I assume that the Trojan steel would handle sensible modern loads, which is one of things that I like about it. I have a British John Shaw and sons Damascus hammer double that I load BP shells for, but it would be nice to have a double that would shoot modern shells.

[Researcher]

The chambers of 203330 most likely left Meriden 2 5/8-inch intended for 2 3/4-inch shells. No one can tell you over the internet what ammunition may be safe in a given gun. A 2-frame Parker Bros. 12-gauge gun in sound condition should handle any SAAMI Spec lead loads. By serial number this is a 1923 gun, the year after our ammunition factories began producing progressive burning powder, high velocity, 1 1/4-ounce, 12-gauge loads. The gun has probably digested lots of them. Whether one wants to subject the 99 year old wood to the recoil of high velocity 1 1/4-ounce loads is another question.

[Morgan Blanchard]

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

The chambers of 203330 most likely left Meriden 2 5/8-inch intended for 2 3/4-inch shells. No one can tell you over the internet what ammunition may be safe in a given gun. A 2-frame Parker Bros. 12-gauge gun in sound condition should handle any SAAMI Spec lead loads. By serial number this is a 1923 gun, the year after our ammunition factories began producing progressive burning powder, high velocity, 1 1/4-ounce, 12-gauge loads. The gun has probably digested lots of them. Whether one wants to subject the 99 year old wood to the recoil of high velocity 1 1/4-ounce loads is another question.

I made a deal for the gun. I will address the stock crack and measure the chambers before I get too far down the road. It's a nice old gun that should be fun to shoot with lighter loads. I have plenty of modern shotguns to handle anything stouter. I think I'll take it out to a cowboy shoot along with a couple of 1st gen SAAs and a nice Winchester and blow some people's minds...

[Researcher]

What length are the barrels? The mention of "Cowboy Action Shooting" sends shivers through the membership here for all the perfectly good shotguns that have been ruined by barrel whacking for CAS!!

[Morgan Blanchard]

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

What length are the barrels? The mention of "Cowboy Action Shooting" sends shivers through the membership here for all the perfectly good shotguns that have been ruined by barrel whacking for CAS!!

Yeah, some of those people are idiots. I have been shooting SASS for 30+ years, but I have too much respect for old guns to cut them down. It’s a fun game and extra fun to shoot with old stuff. A few years back a friend and I were at a shoot using BP loads in real cavalry and artillery models. It kind of freaked people out. With a couple of notable exceptions, I don't own anything I would not shoot and, in my experience, more guns are destroyed by neglect than use. So I use them.

The barrels are 28 inch and when hung and tapped they ring with no buzz (once I taped the extractor). I like a 26 in better, but 28 is fine.