L. Brown- you are correct my friend. I went to the back issue of F&S and what you observed is correct- it was a std. 12 Sterlingworth with DT and extractors, and when he added the purchase price (not $1800- my mistake) and the "restoration" he could most likely fetch the restoration but not much more. Back in 1989 Mike McIntosh, another "Hawkeye Stater" of note, wrote in Best Guns about a fellow who bought a 12 VH Parker DT- had it "Restored" didn't say if it was DelGrego, Turnbull- LeFever & Son- and found when he went to trade up for a higher grade Parker, he was at a "Mexican Standoff"--
This exactly why my 12 bore Smiths and my 12 GHE project Parker will stay "as is": if the action, safety, ejectors, trigger pulls are right, the barrels true and shoot to POA and the stock fits me (like a field grade Model 12 stock does) then I just shoot 'em and clean 'em-- besides, when you send one away for "restoration" you lose contact with that gun for a long time-and the more you handle and shoot a shotgun (or shotguns) the more they feel a part of you, and the better you may well perform on game birds- Clays, that's a whole 'nother ballgame-RWTF
Last edited by Run With The Fox; 08/12/09 07:06 PM.
