doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Parker-Non-Automatic Safety

Question regarding Parker safeties. Have a gun with a non-automatic safety. Don't know if this is original or not.If original can it be converted to auto. If converted can it be be put back to auto. Don't care for non-auto, have enough to think about when loading/shooting instead of checking whether safety is on or off. Please excuse elementary questions re American doubles but I have had tunnel vision re British guns for over 40 years
and am not familiar with the innards of these guns....

Terry, you and I share the same philosophy about safeties. I wouldn't have one without the automatic feature. You have hope though--Parkers were made with identical parts and I am quite sure it can be easily converted to auto by a good gunsmith. Could be that everything needed is already in the gun but just disabled. E-mail me if you'd like a couple pointers on removing the stock. It's easy but there are steps that must be followed.

Joe is correct. It can be converted either way in less than 1/2 hour. If it is missing the safety 'push rod' you will need to find one or make one.

I had unrelated work (stock removal for refinishing) done on a Parker VHE with an auto safety one time, and when given back to me the safety was no-longer automatic. He'd put it back together wrong. The 'smith went back in and adjusted the mechanism to get the auto feature to work again, and it still works properly to this day. Hopefully there is a similar situation with your gun.

Thanks for the info. I think I will defer to my gunsmith once again.

Chances are about 99% that your gun doesn't have a safety "push rod". It was probably removed in the past. These are easy to make from round stock. But the top pin ferrule in the stock head must be removed to install it. Make sure your gunsmith is, as they say, "competent." Which means if he isn't familiar with Parker internals, find someone else.

I'm just the oppisite - if I want the safty on, I'll put it on. That said, if it didn't come with one you'll defintiely want someone who's done it before. The small U channel that houses the arm going from the safty lever to the triggers must be inletted to an exact spot at the right angle. Brad Bachelder in Mi does such work. 1-616-459-3636 if you want to call. Paul

I'm with bladesmith on this one: I like trap, skeet, and sporting clays,and don't want to have to "check" on a safety to see if it's on or not. That being said, I realize it's a no-brainer to push the safety to fire each time, and I humbly allow those fellows who insist on an auto safety to have their gun "their way," and I'll have my gun mine, thanks.
The feature that makes it "Auto," is as the fellows have described, a "rod" that pushes the safety on when you push the opening top lever to the right. I have a competent gunsmith take it out. (It's out of my VH 12 gauge now)
It's still in my 28 gauge repro, because I don't want to mess with any screws........yet.

Sam Ogle, Lincoln, NE

If it is a simple project and you want it, do it. However, I'm of the opinion it is no big deal. Like many hunters I spent much of my life shooting 870's and 1100's---they all have "non-automatic" safty and no big deal. I bought an SKB some years back and found thier non automatic safty disconcerting for a day or two. Once I got it through my thick skull that it really isn't a big deal I came to like the feature. Hunting, the saftey is on, sporting clays, trap and skeet not so much.

I can assure you that this is not 1/2 hour job, it requires the stock be removed from the reciever, ie. trigger guard, floorplate, sear pin and sears. Those floorplate screws are not hard to bugger if you don't have a properly fitting screwdriver.
This is experience talking. FWIW