doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Parker Hammer Gun with Lifter

An old buddy of mine has a Parker Hammer Gun with the Lifter opening mechanism and is thinking of selling it. The gun is 12 ga and has what looks to be 30" twist steel barrels, light border engraving around the locks, etc. English stock (with lot's of drop), and a steel butt plate.

Overall condition is very good - Bores are shiny with no pitting, wood is not chipped or cracked, checkering is slightly worn, but not bad, some case color in the protected areas, and the action is tight and on face. The last patent date on the gun looks to be 1876.

What would be a fair price to offer him - you don't see a gun like this often so I have no idea of the value. Is the lifter action strong? How about the twist steel barrels - are they similar in strength to Damascus barrels? Any issues with shooting this gun with light loads or using 20ga tubes?

One more shot - anyone have an opinion?

Lifter actions are as strong as top levers in my opinion.
And I shoot the same low pressure loads in my Twist barrel guns as my Damascus guns. I can not make a recommendation as to your gun being safe to shoot, without seeing it and measuring the barrel wall thickness. Gun is worth $500.00 to $1500.00 depending on condition.

Even with pictures it is impossible to tell if a gun is safe to shoot. You need to bring it to a gunsmith who is familiar with SxS's. He needs to be experienced.

Dave M has it right. From the description without pictures that is about as close as someone can get to its value. It is a lower grade gun from your description. Condition and how much it is original will be the factors that set its value.

Twist steel can be safe to shoot but not without being checked by a competent gunsmith.

In my opinion, the lifter action is far more user friendly than a top lever. The last ones built were probably in the early 1880's. I don't know if they are as strong as a top lever. Others may chime in. I love mine and prefer the underlifter to top lever.

You may be interested in some of this.

This is a circa 1898 price list from the Belgian maker Ferdinand Drissen.


In 1888 the British conducted destructive testing on various barrel materials.
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...df792#Post55796

Your friend may want to hold on to that old lifter for a bit:
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...8e33647660df792

In any case, if anyone intends to shoot this gun, you are getting excellent advice. Have it checked 1st.

Pete

Winter edition of Parker Pages, journal of the respected Parker Gun Collectors Association, has an ad for a Parker 12ga Serial 66941 (which puts it in the 1890 lifter era) "restored to 100% as new condition, 32" Twist steel barrels, $1, 250 plus actual shipping cost."

When selecting a lifter gun for long term shooting, you should probably look for one with a radiused junction between the water table and the breech face. The earlier square joint is more prone to breakage at that point. However, I don't recall seeing a lot of broken lifter actions of the earlier type. This is probably because lifter guns don't get a lot of action today. A reasonable caveat would be "Don't shoot any heavy loads in square joint actions."

Bill: I'm starting to question the urban legend about square cut standing breeches being subject to cracking. This may be an engineering solution looking for a problem. Parker made guns square cut till about s/n 13000, which tells me it wasn't a problem in the 1870s, otherwise the gun works would have radised the joint sooner. Possibly there was a problem related to the early water tables narrowing toward the standing breech because this was changed quite early in the production run.

Documentation of failed/cracked actions would seem impossible, as any defect was fatal and the action would have been scrapped. I found one reference to Parker guns circa 1871/72 having "broken backs" made by a letters-to-the-editor writer named "Hazel" (nom de fusil), who was complaining about Capt. Bogardus's Parker being "shakey at the joint." but Bogardus wrote a letter saying it wasn't, and praised the Parker. Then he shipped out for England and started shoting English guns. EDM

I agree with Ed. The square joint action is probably quite durable. I, in fact, would shoot a square joint gun with normal composite barrel type loads without any fear that breakage would occur. Like I said, I haven't seen many broken ones. I actually haven't seen any and don't expect to. What I should have said was "The radiused joint is an improvement in durability but was probably not a neccesary improvement in normal use."

Thanks Gentlemen,

I'm mostly into Remington SxSs, but this gun caught my attention because the condition is so good. Most of the old double you see are beaters.

I'll post pics if I decide to purchase it.