I inherited a 20 ga. Parker double that has seen better days. Mechanically, the lockup is tight and triggers work fine, but almost all the finish is gone and there are two small dents in one barrel that should be ironed out. This is a standard grade gun (I think), just a little border scroll and fairly plain wood. I know that Parkers have a good value, but would like to talk to someone intimately familiar with them to decide if I should restore it. I am not a collector and I want every thing I own to be functional, while looking nice.

So, any recommendations for a smith who can iron out the dents and tell me if refinishing it would turn it from a $5000 gun into a $500 gun?
Greg

Doug Turnbull restoration can give you the info
requested and do the work you need.

I would call Dennis Potter at 414-425-4830

or Dave Norin at 847-782-9126

Lots of good folks out there, but those are two very good ones in your area. For other ideas look here:

Guild Home Page

As a matter of fact, I just raised three dents and re-blacked the barrels on a Parker. I did it for a local gun shop and that gun is now being offered for sale at $6500. Now, I personaly think that's about 3x what it's worth, but nonetheless that's what they're asking for it.

Thank you for the leads, especially the local ones. If there are any other suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

I guess I should have said that I believe in shipping a gun to "the best," regardless of where you or they live. Thankfully we live in a one-world society today, and that has opened all kinds of doors for each of us.

I reccomended two of the guys I consider in the stratta of "the best" at the work you need. As an added benefit, they both live sorta near you. But even if you lived across the country, I would have reccoemnded those guys. You can add Pete Mazur to that list, along with many others. You can find Pete's contact info on the link I gave you in the first post.

Also-here is a link to a web site devoted to double barrelled shotguns. Lots of good folks and good info over there:

Doublegunshop.com

Briley! They can fix it so you can't tell it isn't new.

Plus they can add some full length Titanium Tubes which allow you to shoot .410ga with any constriction choke you desire. The Tubes are maybe 1.5oz, so by the time you subtract the weight of the 20ga shell, it is about a wash. Now you have both a 20ga double and a .410ga double.

Not sure if they can get a 28ga set to work in a 20ga or not.

And of course if you want screw-in chokes for the Parker they can do that. Even regulate the Point-of-Impact to where "you" want it.

Oh yes, they can tell you about the Refinishing and what it will do to the value, once they have it and can look it over.

Best of luck to you.

Have you seen this thread?

Caveat -- I have not had any work done by these gentlemen myself.

I would not reccomend Briley for your shotgun. They are very good at making choke tubes and such. When it coems to other double gun work, as you have mentioend, they are not as proficient. By your descirption, it sounds like a knowledgable person needs to thoroughly go over your gun. An old double is a lot different than amodern pump or auto and needs special care.

I reccomend sticking with double gun experts. Dennis, Dave, and Pete are at the top of the list. Bill is a dear friend of mine and has made a very nice LC Smith. I will let him chime in and say if he feels qualified for this action/barrel work, and would very much trust his answer to be a good one either way. I will not reccomend myself, even though i have worked on several doubles, doing both action and barrel work. The 3 I mentioned above are much better at it than I am and all have literally forgotten more than I know. Just as an old double is different than pumps and autos, they are worlds different than rifles that most folks in this country work on day in, day out.

BTW-Pete's number is 530-268-2412

Hey Mark, Have you had Briley work on a shotgun for you?

quote:

Originally posted by Marc_Stokeld:
...I reccomend sticking with double gun experts. ...

That is the exact reason I recommended Briley.

I know of a couple of shotguns that went out to them with excellent results. Neither the other Owners nor I could be happier.

Even had Briley call one guy to ask him if his gun had ever had a small problem with Extraction or Ejection(I don't remember which it was) and he said only a couple of times. And they mentioned noticing some portion of the Extractor appeared to be worn, cut at the wrong angle, or slightly over-cut.

No part available for his older Shadow, so they offered to Rebuild the existing Extractor. He gave them the go ahead and it has never given him a problem since. Not sure how many shells he shoots each week, but his Shadow goes through a lot.
-----

The people Mark is recommending may even be better, I don't know. But our experience with Briley has been First Rate.

Best of luck to your buddys Mark.

Briley does do some things well, but a Parker restoration is definitely not a good fit.

J. J. Perodeau in Enid, Oklahoma, or Kirk Merrington in Kerrville, TX, would both be competent choices.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

gzig5,

Ahlman's in Morristown, MN does good work at very reasonable prices. They restored a 20 gauge LeFever for me and it looked great.

http://www.ahlmans.com/

Thanks...Bill.

The work done on the LC Smith was not what I consider to be a restoration. That term means to me to bring it back to look like it just came out of the factory. Which is something I am certainly NOT qualified to do. I do not have the knowledge of what finish, stains, bluing procedures that Parker used.

I could certainly make your Parker look very nice but I suspect my work would lower the collector value.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Whoever I go with, I'll be sure to take before and after pics.

Bill, That is a really nice piece of work on the LC Smith.

Greg

Might be a little personal bias here but I would wholeheartedly recommend Dave Norin, now a good friend after Chic WOrthing introduced us. I go to his shop at Waukegan often to look at his work and take friends, especially gunsmiths visiting from the UK or Europe along. A wonderful master of the craft and a bloody nice man to know!

I have a CD of several shotguns restired by Dave including Parkers, Purdeys, Greeners and L C Smiths. I have no idea how to post the pictures or I would.

quote:

Originally posted by mehulkamdar:
I have a CD of several shotguns restired by Dave including Parkers, Purdeys, Greeners and L C Smiths. I have no idea how to post the pictures or I would.

He does good work on American guns, and would be a good choice for a Parker. Not for a Purdey though, as the one on his site indicates.
------------------------------------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

quote:

Originally posted by 400 Nitro Express:

He does good work on American guns, and would be a good choice for a Parker. Not for a Purdey though, as the one on his site indicates.

What is wrong with the work on the Purdey?

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Soverns:

quote:

Originally posted by 400 Nitro Express:

He does good work on American guns, and would be a good choice for a Parker. Not for a Purdey though, as the one on his site indicates.

What is wrong with the work on the Purdey?

With "restorations" of high-end guns, the devil is in the details - that's what it's all about. If you were conducting a $100,000 Concours level restoration of a '59 Rolls Silver Cloud and found that you needed a quarter panel, would you use a finned one from a '59 Caddy?

With "restorations" or restocks of vintage British guns like that Purdey, a reliable quick and dirty way of determining if the woodwork has been diddled with by somebody that didn't know what they were doing - a quick glance at the chequering is usually all that's needed. If what you see is checkering instead, like that on the 1897 Purdey there, then there you are.

American smiths checker, the British chequer, and they're clean different things. The diamonds on vintage British guns were left flat, and never pointed up. 'Smiths inexperienced and unfamiliar with British guns assume that the chequering is worn, when it often isn't at all, and proceed to ruin it by pointing it up. It's a common boner, and one that American 'smiths almost always make on British guns. They almost never get it right. There's a photo of a .500 Jeffery Mauser take-down that Duane Wiebe is building posted over on Nitro Express. He DID get it right.

The other major mistake that American 'smiths often make when restocking a British gun is the shape of the comb, which is very different in shape, and function, from typical American. With so many restocks of British guns by top American 'smiths that I see, it strikes me that the old wood must go into the pot-bellied stove without so much as a glance.

The checkering is grossly out of place on that gun.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

Perhaps the intent on the Purdey was not restoration? Basically what you are saying is if I take a purdey shotgun, restock it to a customers specs or my own and its not flat top checkering that I commit a "common boner"?

Yeah okay.....if you say so.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Soverns:
Perhaps the intent on the Purdey was not restoration?

In addition to the need to broaden your professional horizons a little, perhaps some remedial work on your reading comprehension is in order?

From Norin's web site:
"Both the butt stock and matching fore-end were done to duplicate the factory style and finish."

quote:

Basically what you are saying is if I take a purdey shotgun, restock it to a customers specs or my own and its not flat top checkering that I commit a "common boner"?

Yeah okay.....if you say so.

I see. So because you're ignorant of designs and techniques used on fine guns made abroad (or perhaps incapable of executing them), the issue is automatically unimportant? Or is it that because they're not American, the original makers were automatically incompetent idiots whose work can only be "improved" by American style modifications? Sadly, that attitude is common, which is why I don't use Americans for stockwork on my British guns.

Sure, I'm a perfectionist. Most folks who spend the kind of money that fine pre-war British double guns cost are. A top quality restock doesn't compromise value much, but an incorrect one does. I guess such folks aren't well represented in your clientele, and I'm not surprised. Your statement is among the most asinine I've ever read from an American 'smith on AR.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

I see. Im not going to spend the time to swap insults. I've got a Holland & Holland to checker. And yes, its "American" checkering because thats what Im being paid to do.

Mr. Bill, When a person uses one of those British guns, is it OK to wear Rustler Jeans, or do I need to get a pair of Designer Label Jeans?

Can't help but giggle at "opinions" being traded forth and back. From the stock standpoint, I've seen a BUNCH of English shotguns by top makers. Fit is usually superb....checkering or chequering is not always the forte of English makers. Plenty have sharp diamonds in the field of the pattern, but "convert" to flat top near the borders...I realy think the emphasis on embellishment for the English...well, the priority is metal engraving...I'm not critisizing, just making observation. In the US, we tend to make checkering an art form

Rumor has it that if you particularly want a "British" shotgun with the Butt Stock that drops off a foot or so, there is an easy way to get them. Just go to one of their shoots "when it is raining". Apparently a lot of them drown from having their Noses a bit tooooo high in the air. Then you just walk along and rake up which ever guns you want to restock - correctly.

Just a Rumor, so don't blame the messenger!