doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Parker bbl. flat marking?

Could this be a case of original condition? Was out scouting around the other day when only to find a Parker SxS of minty condition in the neighborhood market. The merchant obviously wasn't giving it away as the price reflected. The gun was a G grade apparently made in Meridan, not a Remington Parker, the bbl. flat has stamped "P.S." and not the "ps" inside a circle which of course denotes "special parker steel", has anyone ever seen this before? Everything else looked original with the exception of the "P.S." Thanks in advance, G.

Suggest you post your question on the Parker forum. Those guys are the experts.
http://www.parkergun.org/forums/forum1/

One or two are for sure- Ed Mulderlak is to Parkers what the Holy Father is to our Church-want to hear a good one? He is a member, possibly a former BOD of that most elite gruppen, yet he can't post or reply (I believe that is right) on the PGCA forum. Dean Romig, a Stutz Bearcat car dealer in the hometown of Skeet (that being Andover, MA- William Hardon Foster Jr.- also a small gauge "Parkerista" of some renown until he died in 1941) is a real gentleman of the olde school (and Andover has plenty of those) and is very well informed on both the "real Parkers" and the Jap "knock-offs" as well- And Louis Rotelli in nearby CT. has a fine reputation for Parker work, as does Dewey Vicknair of Liditz PA. RWTF

The top rib of a Meriden built Parker GH/GHE with fluid steel barrels should have a barrel stamp that contains exactly the following "Parker Brothers Makers Meriden Conn. Parker Special Steel". I have seen some Remington era Ilion guns that had no stamping at all on the rib.

I would be suspicious of any Meriden era gun without that rib stamping as it may have been a rebarreled (non Parker barrels) damascus gun.

I'm not sure that the PS in a circle is the only stamp that was used to designate Parker Special Steel. I think in some eras, PS in large letters without the circle was used to designate Parker Special Steel. I'm sure someone will tell us.

After about 1918 they changed to "...CT. U.S.A." and as often as not Special is abreviated SPEC.

On page 275 of The Parker Story they show the rib marking on GHE serial number 237134 -- "PARKER BROS. MAKERS. MERIDEN. CT. U.S.A. PARKER SPEC. STEEL"

On page 276 they show the rib marking for GH-Grade serial number 174013 -- "PARKER BROTHERS MAKERS,MERIDEN,CONN.PARKER SPECIAL STEEL"

Please Francis....
I am no expert and I work at a car dealer, But thank you, I do consider myself a gentleman.

Dean

Thanks for the info, Dave. Have you seen the PS without the circle marking on the barrel flat, or is the PS in a circle the only way that Parker Special Steel is identified on the flat? I looked at two later guns and both have the PS in the circle.

I'd swear I've seen the PS without the circle, but I wasn't able to find a picture this morning. I don't care quite bad enough to thumb thru every issue of Parker Pages!!!

That's OK Dean-o. You are a gentleman, and I appreciate all you tried to do for me with the "elitist" Gruppen. What da hey- if a gent. who knows Parkers like Bill Clinton knows where to get the best deals on roofer's knee pads and dry cleaning at a "team" discount, and he can't participate there, whom be moi to complain- My Parkers are what they are: future college educations for my two grandsons, and I could give a big rat's ass how they are stamped or marked as to serial numbers (the one with the Whitworth Steel barrels has individual serial numbers on each tube, albiet consecutive-

I had a friend who did some volunteer work for the Habitat 4 Humanity Little Jimmy-Boy Carter build programs, and once he "mis-read" a BP and set the jacks for a hipped roof with a 6 on 12 pitch as for an 8 on 12 pitch- common rafters use whatever the pitch is denoted (6) to the base mark of 12 on your framing square, but jacks use a base mark of 17- so, he had to re-cut, no biggie- the "Boss Man" was also a volunteer, and they kidded about "How do you fire someone who shows up for work sober and with his tools in good shape, and is paid NADA??" Two weeks later the Habitat numbnutz at the Home Office in Georgia "fired" the founder and his wife- not Carter- but Millard Fuller, a multi-buck dude who chucked it all to help others less fortunate, and was rewarded for 25 years of service (at $1.00 token salary per annum, by the by) with a good swift kick in the ballz-- Go figure-- Loved those Stutz Bearcats- although the Auburn and the Deusenberg were the "great ones from the 1930's" IMO- keep on truckin' out there in Andover-RWTF