Serials on Parts
It is highly likely that ...728 and...760 were in the shop at the same time. One must remember that Parker guns were first "soft fitted" and the s/n was then stamped on major parts ( barrel, frame, fore end , stock) to mate those parts after hardening. Minor parts were soft fitted to the major parts, and identified by putting the last three digits of the s/n on the part. This is a common practice in precision assembly, still used on aircraft.
The final fitting was done by a "hard fitter" who touched up a few parts with a file and assembled the gun. During most of Parker's era this person was employed by or was a "contractor" who was paid by the gun, not by the hour. We call that "piecework' today.
Several of us were surprised to find, while preparing the article on hammers and locks, that even high grade guns had hammers that did not match each other, or the number on the frame. I have had the experience of finding ejector and trigger parts with different numbers on guns that did not appear to have been taken apart. The number of guns found with varying numbers is far to large to be accounted for by parts from other guns. In fact some cases of parts substitution were found on guns where the apparent "donor" was also examined.
It is quite probable that Parker hard fitters recieved batches of gun parts and began assembly. If all the hard parts fit, the gun was rapidly assembled. If parts did not fit, the gun was set aside. At the end of the day, parts were swapped among guns that did not fit to quickly produce a few more piecework tickets.
Best, Austin
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10-03-2010, 06:50 AM
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