Looking for Original Sale Info

Charles Johnson · 07-14-2023, 01:38 PM

I am trying to track down a 16 Gauge, probably V Grade that was manfactured around October 1908. The gun is missing and I have the serial #'s for all the 16 Gauges manufactured in 1908 (purchased the Indentification and Serialization Book, 648 16 gauge guns were manufactured). Are the serial numbers by month, ie first number January and last number December. I have the purchasers info, my great great grandfather ordered it for my grandfather's 14 birthday and would like to know if there is a record of the order or sales receipts and would the name be listed and with that info maybe I could get the serial number?
Thanks for any help

Dean Romig · 07-14-2023, 02:45 PM

best of Luck in that noble endeavor Charles.

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Charles Johnson · 07-14-2023, 03:35 PM

Dean,
Thank you! I hope I can get some help, and It would be great to have a Name and Contact # to ask more specific questions

Pa SxS · 07-14-2023, 04:01 PM

The S/N has no correlation to month or year of manufacture. To find out who ordered your gun we need the S/N. Even with your S/N chances are being a low grade gun, it was probably sold to a sporting goods store or a retail store, not to an individual.

winplumber · 07-14-2023, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck Bishop

The S/N has no correlation to month or year of manufacture. To find out who ordered your gun we need the S/N. Even with your S/N chances are being a low grade gun, it was probably sold to a sporting goods store or a retail store, not to an individual.

Chuck I'm confused by the first sentence.

Charles Johnson · 07-14-2023, 05:37 PM

Thanks for the additional info! Unfortunately, I am on a mission. Where are the archives for the Parker Guns, and what I have read there Order Books that listed who the guns where sold to. I was told by my grandfather that this was made for him since he was only age 14. I know that there were 648 16 gauge guns made in 1908, which is not a small number but the pictures of the Order Books lists dates and names, and given when he received the gun in October 1908 could there not be a chance something was listed? I do not know how long it took to make a gun, but my Great Grandfather owned a Feed and Grain Store in Petersburg, VA and they might have had access to Parker Guns?
My recollection was that this was a plain gun "no engraving", and due to his size it would probably even had max barrel length of 28", probably shorter.

Dean Romig · 07-14-2023, 05:45 PM

The only guns with no engraving were the Trojan and they weren't introduced until 1912.

If the gun was actually ordered with "no engraving" it could have been any of the grades from Grade-0 up through Grade-8.

I know this can be frustrating but your best bet is to stay here and get meaningful advice from Chuck Bishop, our Research Chairman, who has access to all available Parker Gun data, and other knowledgable PGCA Members.

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Charles Johnson · 07-14-2023, 08:16 PM

Dean,
Thanks! I am reading everything I can on/about Parker Guns. I know this is going to be a process, but that is OK!

B. Dudley · 07-14-2023, 09:06 PM

Order a letter on it.

Pa SxS · 07-14-2023, 09:14 PM

Brian, from reading his initial post, he doesn't know the serial number. I can only look up information by serial number, nothing else. Even if I had the serial number, chances are that it was sold to a hardware store or large sporting goods stores for resale in their stores.

He asked if the serial number would indicate month and year of manufacture. It would tell us the month and year by looking at the order book or stock book dates but again, I need the serial number. Krieghoff and possibly other gun manufactures would have a code that after looking at the serial number would give you the year of manufacture.

Wish I could help more. Knowing about our ancestors guns is important to many of us.