We've seen photos of exactly one Parker repro that had the barrel lug braze joint separate. We have not heard any information about how it happened.
After all of the hysterical misinformation posted on this and other internet sites concerning a frame cracking problem with small bore Ithaca Flues guns, I need more to make a sound judgement about these "Problem Parkers".
One failure could mean an isolated case of using the wrong method and/or materials. Several failures confined to a very narrow serial number range could mean the same. A bunch of scattered random failures (with evidence) could actually mean something significant. A properly done braze joint can approach the tensile strength of the parent metal.
I'd like to see a lot more photographic evidence, along with serial numbers of the guns that failed... and details of the circumstances leading up to the failure.
I don't care to hear rumors or hearsay. You might as well tell me you saw Bigfoot on water-skis and the Loch Ness Monster flying a UFO.
Keith,
I’ve seen three broken exactly the same way. Details were few. I got a picture of exactly one. Startling to me is, to a one, they were basically brand new guns. I’ve seen broken guns over the years, but, those guns tended to be old, and used hard. On Parker repop gun number 2 that was broken, you could say I started to pay more attention.
I posted the picture above. It isn’t rumor or hearsay. The f-er was broke, bad, and, it was going to take someone of considerable skill to make it right, that, or another set of barrels. I’ve asked right here, a few times, what does it take to repair a gun with brazed ribs that come loose, and I’ve never gotten a satisfactory answer. Repairing a gun with a separated brazed lump would be at least as tough.
The people that run the state of Minnesota have made it far, far tougher to have a gun show, and along with an aging population, they are a shadow of what they once were, and an hour or two gets me through the typical gun show, now. They used to be two or three day events, and you got to see more things, more guns, more friends than you do today. The last broken Parker repop I saw was a solid decade ago. Again, I was never interested in owning one, but, seeing one in the condition of the picture I put up was a bit like seeing a bad wreck I wasn’t involved in. Interesting, in a “Thank God that isn’t my gun” kind of way. Considering the change in the gun show landscape, I don’t know if it is fair to say we are seeing, or have seen every gun that had the problem.
I have no dog in this fight.
Best,
Ted
