I was posting this in the other guys Parker Hale thread and decided I didn't want to hijack it as this does go off in it's own direction.

Has anyone seen the very late Parker Hales made by Gibbs? They built a gun around a USGI surplus M1903/03-A3 bolt. Cast Springfield receiver with M98 mauser thread pitch. Old Val Forgett knew how to make a buck didn't he? Almost as good as Bannerman in his day!

I bought one of those actions when they first came out. Kept it about a month & sold it.

Quite a few of these were flogged off in Australia.

They are considered what they are: a cobbled together bastard of a thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Code4:
Quite a few of these were flogged off in Australia.

They are considered what they are: a cobbled together bastard of a thing.

Exactly what I thought and traded mine off.

Okay, now that we have calling it names out of the way, can we have a bit more useful info on it?

For instance, what quality of casting was the receiver? Ruger-quality casting, or Japanese training rifle quality casting (they which were never intended to be fired)?

How well was the casting machined (finished dimension and surface-wise)?

Were there any reports of them failing during service?

Could a good tinker using common tools finish them up as a decent hunting rifle?

Lots of world leaders have been bastards, literally. For that matter, the Springfield '03 itself was a bit of one, but it served well (and still does) for many shooters.

So, with careful, knowledgeable work what was their potential in your judgement?

I will not go so far to say that they are Ruger casting quality, butg they were definitely shootable. Probably along the lines of National or Federal Ordnance Co. in El Monte, CA 03-A3 receivers.

They were very nicely finished the few I have seen or built on. I was more or less reminiscing about old Val Forgett.

Bannerman guns shot too, but they were true mixmasters!!!

Airgun-

Let me apologize if you thought I was criticising you or your post. I was not. I just wanted other contributors to toss in any useful information they may have about them.

I was really pleased to see your post, as I had never heard about them and I like learning all the factual information I can about all rifles.

And, YEH! Val Forgett was the real deal, and a real asset to American shooters and shooting history, North America and South America both, but most particularly the USA. Nice to see some remember both him and the Bannermans.

Thanks very much for your added info.

After more thought the Parker Hales from Gibbs had horrible looking and functioning bolt releases. They were very odd and truly looked out of place. The actions were available separately or in finished guns. The stocks were very nice but plain grain. There were regular forend models and schnabel style forends. The metal finish was a deep blue on the complete guns as well as separate receivers.