The unbubbafication of a Parker Pigeon gun
Hello all, here is a brief description (illustrated of course) of how my good friend, and member of this board C J Opacak corrected the past customization of the tang on my straight gripped Parker Bros. DH Live Bird gun, and stabilized an old repair of cracked/broken wrist.
This gun has been discussed here before, someone had crudely installed a safety at some time in the last 106 years, and I hope the owner at the time was pleased with the work, I was not. The poor placement, extra holes and rough slide are illustrated below; I apologize for the quality of this photo.
C J disassembled the gun, took a print/rub of the tang in its current condition.
The unwanted holes were addressed.
Based on a study of similar guns, combined with the experienced extrapolation of the remaining engraving pattern, CJ prepared a scaled up template of the planned engraving.
The engraving was re-cut.
While the gun was disassembled, CJ addressed an old repair at the wrist, which had become unstable. Material was milled from the wrist, between the tangs, centering the old repair in the slot. A fillet of marine plywood was fitted to the slot, and fixed there with acra-glass, which was also used as a bedding agent prior to final reassembly.
CJ felt it necessary to recolour the trigger guard, and SSBP, as well as judiciously touch-up the checkering at the repair & refinish the stock to make the project a success. I’m certain I have made it sound much simpler than it was, but I wanted to share the process & finished product with some of you whom I know will appreciate it.
The finished product exceeds my expectations, thanks Claudio!
Mark
