doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Nice Parker

Surprisingly 1/2 frame guns are not all that lighter than 1 frame guns.

I have one in the shop right now with splinter forend and 28� barrels that weighs 7 lbs 4 oz.

Only about 300 1/2 frame guns were made and all were made under Remington�s ownership of Parker.

And as to the uninformed comment about the wood being too nice for a V grade... it was very common for V grade guns to have highly figured wood during the Remington era of manufacture. And even lage Meriden for that matter.

And, the wood on the subject gun has at least had finish added, if not refinished.

After looking at a few VH skeet guns from the Remington era on other sites, I think I was probably wrong about the stock having been replaced. I was not familiar with this particular checkering pattern on a VH, but it was certainly used. I do think the stock has been refinished, and the checkerer may not have been having his best day. Or perhaps the checkering was refreshed. Same for the inletting around the forend release. I also saw some with very nicely figured wood, certainly a lot nicer than my VH, but not nearly as nice as this example. However, I do have several Lefevers that have wood far exceeding what was "typical" for the grade. And I have a 7 m/m Spanish Mauser military rifle that has wood that belongs on a several thousand dollar custom rifle.

As noted by Mr. Dudley, I'm not a Parker guy, and needed to educate myself a bit before commenting. At least I know he isn't really IGNORING my posts. And obviously, I'm not a beavertail forearm guy, but that is a matter of personal taste. As for John's comment about being able to tell this stock was never removed from the gun... I do have a D.M. Lefever crossbolt gun that I would have sworn never had a screw turned anywhere. Screw heads are timed and perfect. But when I was reading an article about D.M. Lefever crossbolts in DGJ by Oregon gunsmith Keith Kearcher, I saw one disassembled with stock removed to show the innards. The serial number seemed familiar. I checked, and found that it was my gun. A good gunsmith can indeed disassemble a gun without any sign that it has been worked on.

I'll let the originality experts quibble the wood questions on this gun. But I know one thing; I'd love to have it in my gun safe...Geo

Looks like a beavertail without the through bolt. Wonder about the reinforced splinter forend iron. I am sitting here looking at several original splinters and beavertails and that is NOT an original splinter.
bill

Never a screw turned? How did they get them in the gun at the factory?

As a sidebar...
Funny you mention that �good� Oregon gunsmith. I am currently restocking an early Lefever Optimus 10g that was done by him not too long ago. Every bit of the inletting was cut with a dremel tool and in the many places that it was over-cut, glass bedding was used. Heck, it was coming off stuck to the Sideplates. I won�t even get into how bad the checkering was.
Oh well, with a lot of bondo, it made a good pattern stock.

I didn't coin the term "Never a screw turned" when referring to a gun in pristine condition with mint condition screw heads. But I'd bet that whoever coined the term wasn't an anal nit-picker who thought that meant that the gun was originally assembled at the factory without turning screws.

As another sidebar...
Funny that you mention the Lefever Optimus that was supposedly restocked by Keith Kearcher "not too long ago". He's been retired since around 2009. His business was taken over by his nephew, and there have been a number of complaints about his nephew's work right here on this BBS. Many considered Keith Kearcher a master gunsmith, and he was one of a very few gunsmith's who were always highly recommended on the old Lefever forum. He never did any work for me, but I know he was able to substantially disassemble my D.M. Lefever crossbolt without any sign of it being worked on. But maybe tarnishing his star will make yours shine a bit brighter. You may remember the so-called "Clunker Optimus" that was restored by him in 2008. The gun was in horrible condition when purchased, with metal straps screwed onto the shattered wrist which had pieces of wood missing.





The intent of this partial restoration was not to make the gun look like new, but to do a conservative partial restoration to save a rusty pitted total basket case Optimus from the scrap heap. It sure doesn't look like Dremel Tool work to me or people who examined it at the Las Vegas Antique Arms Show. I wish I had a "Before" photo. It was so bad, a lot of Lefever experts initially thought the buyer was nuts to spend $6900 (including buyers premium) on this Optimus.

Definitely agree on the wood refinish, so I stand corrected about the wood being never removed.
JR

Bill Schodlatz says it is a beavertail without the screw. I don't see any evidence of that from the pictures, although another poster says he can see a screw in the pictures. The original poster says his friend questioned the screw first thing when he was considering the gun. What was the verdict of this questioning? You will never see a picture of my guns on this forum for you guys to criticize. There should be some kind of test given to those who wish to comment on guns pictured on this forum.

By the way, a half frame is nothing but a #1 frame contoured to #0 frame dimensions at the forend fastening. I have put #1/2 frame guns together with #1 frame barrels and they come out right nice. It is one way to end up with a 16 gauge half frame.

I nominate eightbore to author a test for each and every poster wishing to reply with a followup comment to any gun(s) pictured. And then monitor same.