wyo: good news, re: parker reassembly. now comes the critical part. once you get your gun back together, it is most important for your personal safety, that you test fire it with heavy field loads to insure that the receiver metal has been correctly re tempered. ed, this is a Parker and Parkers were made with low carbon steel actions that were case hardened and no temper was involved. One tempers through hardening steels, not case hardened plain carbon steels. if not, the receiver may be as brittle as glass and may in fact blow up in your hands like a letter bomb. No, I don't think so. How do you propose to have a "brittle as glass" piece of steel that has no capacity for through hardening. the old tried and true method of test firing a questionable firearm is to tie it securely to an old tire. then, attach a 50 foot or so lanyard to the trigger; get behind a barrier such as a tree or stone wall and then, touch her off a few times and see what happens...good luck and of course let us all know what happens... If you wish to test as per the foregoing, use ammo that produces pressure suitable for sustained use in the gun in question. Do not use high pressue loads unless you have the tools and skills to perform a Proof House type post firing inspection. Generally, if you are so unsure of the gun as to feel the need for the above test, I'd recommend you not fire the gun at all and refer it to a knowledgable gunsmith. The foregoing "test" produces very, very, very little useful information.
ed, basic steel metalurgey is not complex and it has clearly defined words. If there is anything I wrote above that you disagree with, post back and we can discuss - civily. I have no intention of doing "put downs," only to get at truth.
