New Member Old Parker and Old owner

[FREDERICK H RUGE]

I recently acquired a Parker side by side and so far have found out a few things about it. Serial number is 17246. It is a Lifter action, 10 gauge, 30 inch barrels, 2 frame size, M Grade =1, and all matching numbers. It is quite used and looks it. I will try to attach pictures to this thread. It has plain twist barrels. I plan to mail in a letter request for a factory history. I am anxious to see how it left the factory in 1879.

[Harold Pickens]

well, I hope I look that good when I am 141 yrs old. How are the bores? Is it shootable?

[Jay Oliver]

Thanks for sharing. I have lifter #17633...a 12 gauge not too far apart from yours. That 10 gauge may have the 2 5/8" chambers vs. 2 7/8". Hopefully you can get her back in the field.

Track of the Wolf sells brass shells in both chamber lengths and you can get low pressure smokeless loads in both chamber lengths from RST shells(assuming the gun is safe to shoot). Good luck and let us know what you find out in the letter.

[FREDERICK H RUGE]

Thank you gentlemen for your kind words of welcome. The bores on my Parker are pitted to some extent and since I am new to SxS shotguns I am not sure how safe this gun is to shoot. I will be needing 1 new hammer screw as one on the right hammer is not original. I will be measuring the chamber length next.

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Isn't the ( M 10 ) stamping where unstruck barrel weight should be somewhat unusual ?
I don't think I've seen that marking before.

[FREDERICK H RUGE]

Gentlemen Good News!
I just got my reply to my enquiry on my Parker. It did leave the factory just as you see it. By the way I measured the chamber diameters last week and they appeared to be for a 12 gauge barrel, not a 10 as marked on the barrels. The letter confirmed that it is a 12 gauge with choked 30 inch plain twisted sateel barrels. It was ordered by a gentleman from Toledo Ohio on October 8, 1880 and delivered November 18, 1880. The Order Book No. 7 lists it as a $50 Dollar Grade, Lifter Action Hammer Gun, 12 Gauge.

[Bill Murphy]

If there is a question about the gauge of the gun, maybe you furnished the researcher the "order number" rather than the serial number. Pictures of various areas of your gun will insure that the numbers you furnished are the actual serial numbers and not the order numbers, which are stamped on other areas of the gun. The "10" marking is not a normal gauge marking. If a ten gauge shell will not fit in the chamber, it is not normally a ten gauge gun. Investigation continues.

[Joe D.]

There appears to be a large 4 to the left of the 10 as in 4 lb. 10 oz..

[FREDERICK H RUGE]

Gentlemen: There is the same serial number on the trigger tang, barrel lug, forend and table. It ia all 17246. There very well may be a 4 next to the 10 on the bottom of the barrels. There is still an M there as well.

[wayne goerres]

That is a two frame gun. It is most likely a 12ga.