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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2019 3:45 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

Well I imagine some of you may recall my interest in a damascus barrel Parker 10 ga. I ended up sending a check and received the GH grade 10 on Thursday. Someone butterfingered the barrels during packaging and dinged BOTH ends! The breech end had to be addressed immediately since it affected lock up. Today I rectified the muzzle end and both exits are once again round.

Overall the gun is worth messing with and that's exactly what I intend to do, customize it as a long range gun for Sharptail grouse and other prairie birds. In its condition it is of no collector value, so that should save me from useless chastising and "how could you?".

The action locks up tight. The barrels fit snug and are on face. General exterior metal condition is good. The gun shows slight signs of having been lightly polished with glass beads at sometime. Thankfully whoever did so didn't round things off.

Stock and forearm have been refinished poorly. No concern there. The stock is a tad short and there is some checking/ cracking near the damaged butt plate. I have yet to decide if I will repair this and add a pad or start from scratch. The forearm will be replaced.

And now for the scary part, the bore pitting. I will be having an experienced damascus man look the tubes over. He insists that pits generally look deeper than they are. I do have the option of ultrasonic x-ray and may have to go that route. The good news is that bores measure .777" and the thinnest exterior measurement is .878-.880". This leaves a lot of wall thickness (to be expected with a 10) to work with. The two options on the table are either rebore and polish the bores then send them off to be chrome lined (preventing future issues) or if need be, sleeve in a new set of tubes. Either way, the gun will be proof tested remotely before put into use.
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skeettx
PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2019 3:58 pm  Reply with quote
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NEAT!!

Sounds like an adventure to me Smile
Please keep us informed on progress

Thank you
Mike

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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2019 5:03 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

Gentlemen,

Looks like some restoration work to me big time!

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man


Last edited by Pine Creek/Dave on Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:40 pm; edited 1 time in total

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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2019 5:13 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

First stage of project is completed. Check out the muzzle dent repair thread/ topic.

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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Tue Mar 19, 2019 5:17 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

First live ammo testes completed. The Parker passed with flying colors (as opposed to flying parts). I was extra cautious and fired the gun remotely while inside the confines of my truck, parked 25 yards away. 1 3/4 oz. of lead @ 11,000 psi was used for this test. I ran three rounds down each tube.

The barrels were marked in 1" increments. I measured and recorded barrel diameters at these intervals, then once again after returning home: no expansion. It looks like I will be reaming the pits out, polishing the bores, and testing again. If all goes well, the bores will likely get chrome lined if I can still find someone who does such things. The thing about pitting, is that it gathers crud and moisture then rusts even quicker. Pits also serve as stress risers. Pits got to go.

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canvasback
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 4:42 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 684
Location: Ontario

What’s the weight of the gun. I have had my eye out fir a number of years for the right lighter 10 gauge for prairie birds.

Fun project.

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1921 Pieper 29" 6 lbs 10 oz
2003 Citori White Lightning 26" 6 lbs 10 oz
1932 Husqvarna 310AS 29.5" 6 lbs 7 oz
1925 Ferlach 29" 6 lbs 7 oz
1923 Greifelt 29" 6 lbs 1 oz
1928 Simson 29.5" 6 lbs
1893 Lindner Daly FW 28” 5 lb 11oz
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double vision
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 6:01 am  Reply with quote
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canvasback wrote:
What’s the weight of the gun. I have had my eye out fir a number of years for the right lighter 10 gauge for prairie birds.

Fun project.


Canvasback, you brute! I could extort the price of a Purdey out of you by not telling the smallbore mob you just said that. Wink
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double vision
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 6:03 am  Reply with quote
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Looks like a worthy project, WyoChukar. Parkers have loads of character and it's easy to like them.
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UncleDanFan
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 6:53 am  Reply with quote
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I understand your reticence about the pits, but with that much wall thickness, they should hone nicely. I just picked up an 8lb Lefever F grade Damascus 12 for duck duty. Engraved with the typical snipe and a mallard. Thankfully, it has very good bores, and I plan on shooting the heck out of it.

Enjoy!

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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 9:37 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
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Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

WyoChukar,

I agree with Dave, a worthy project for sure. It looks like you have a good start on cleaning the gun up for hunting with it.

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:15 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

The gun weighs between 8 1/2 and 9 lbs.I haven't put it on a sensitive scale yet.

There is one for sale on GB that weighs only 7lbs. 2.5 oz. However, that gun looks to have been buffed hard once upon a time, the edges look a tad rounded. It also is cylinder bored at the chokes. For the asking price of that one I am not willing to hand stone the action, chase the engraving, and then spend even more money having Briley choke the barrels. It is a #2 frame gun instead of a #3. Of course frame size has little bearing on weight; there is also a #2 frame 10 ga. that weighs 10 lbs. for sale right now. How the barrels are struck determines most of the weight and balance issue. I did see some other vintage 10's (American and British) that were sort of light, but the asking price was out of my reach.

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canvasback
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:16 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 684
Location: Ontario

Dave Erickson wrote:
canvasback wrote:
What’s the weight of the gun. I have had my eye out fir a number of years for the right lighter 10 gauge for prairie birds.

Fun project.


Canvasback, you brute! I could extort the price of a Purdey out of you by not telling the smallbore mob you just said that. Wink



Haha! With two in the safe and three specific 16 gauges I have my eye on, I think they can handle sharing the safe with a 10 gauge. Besides, I've developed VERY specific requirements from thinking on it for 10 years. There is only going to be one so it has to be just right. My guess is it will remain elusive for now.

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1921 Pieper 29" 6 lbs 10 oz
2003 Citori White Lightning 26" 6 lbs 10 oz
1932 Husqvarna 310AS 29.5" 6 lbs 7 oz
1925 Ferlach 29" 6 lbs 7 oz
1923 Greifelt 29" 6 lbs 1 oz
1928 Simson 29.5" 6 lbs
1893 Lindner Daly FW 28” 5 lb 11oz
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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:28 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

canvasback, I suspect we have similar "needs". Namely Sharp-tail grouse that don't cooperate once they get grouped up mid season, and huns once the snow gets a noisy crust on it.

I love using a light 16. That said, carrying a nice 10 sure beats a day that turns into bird watching. Go online and search out those 10 ga. doubles. There are some nice short chamber guns around, just not many of them. A couple of the Lefever guns were around 8 lbs.or so and I recall a Westly Richards (or was a Webley and Scott?) that fell in that weight range as well. Most were more than I could spend right now and I am happy with the Parker I did buy.

It is amazing how much the weight varies on the old 10's, even of the same make, model, and grade. Individual guns vary by as much as 3+ lbs. If weight isn't listed, ask the seller.

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canvasback
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:21 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 684
Location: Ontario

WyoChukar, it's always later season (post mid October) that I'm hunting them in Nebraska. They are too wild for a dog by then and they are all long shots. I started using my Heym 16 gauge but the last couple years I have alternated between my MF Ideal and my Lovena, both light-ish 12 gauge guns.

There is a lot of walking around but it would be nice to send out a decent sized swarm of shot for some of those longish shots, even if the gun is just a bit under 8 pounds. At least fun to see if it works.

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1921 Pieper 29" 6 lbs 10 oz
2003 Citori White Lightning 26" 6 lbs 10 oz
1932 Husqvarna 310AS 29.5" 6 lbs 7 oz
1925 Ferlach 29" 6 lbs 7 oz
1923 Greifelt 29" 6 lbs 1 oz
1928 Simson 29.5" 6 lbs
1893 Lindner Daly FW 28” 5 lb 11oz
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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2019 5:09 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

1 1/2 oz. or 1 5/8 oz. of buffered magnum lead or plated magnum lead (warning: the BPI nickel plate is NOT magnum lead- kind of soft) in the neighborhood of 1200 fps (don't obsess if it's a tad slower) from a 10 will deliver the most efficient long range patterns I have seen. I've tried heavier in a modern 3 1/2" 10 as well, but it didn't really gain anything. The good news about these loadings is that they can be achieved at reasonable pressure and recoil levels.

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