My only reason to consider sleeving is sentimental. I was close to my father in law and he left me two family heirloom guns, a nice Savage model 99 300 savage that he bought in 1952, and his grandfathers Parker GH 12 ga that by serial number is the earliest year Parker did hammerless. Both guns had been wrapped in canvas and stored in Rustys Santa Cruz California crawlspace for 30-40 years as Rustys wife didnt like guns in the house. The Parker was in such bad shape that the stock was totally grayed out, I couldnt see any grain at all.
My neighbor for 20 years until he passed was Larry Baer (sp?), a pretty good expert on Parker guns. The Damascus barrel were very pitted, funny in that Rusty was shooting ducks and pheasants with it thru the 60s into the 70s, using store bought high base loads without a thought. Anyway, I refinished the stock myself, the walnut was spectacular for a G grade gun. Larry re-engraved and color case hardened the receiver, but as yet I havent done a thing to the barrels.
I dont care about collector value as the gun was so shot to begin with and I plan on giving it to Rustys grandson to keep it in the family. It would be nice to make it shootable again, hence my interest in sleeving.
Last edited by Glacierjohn; 01/26/20 08:13 PM.
