After completing our last shoot of the dove season this morning I took the forend and barrels off my VHE 20 to put it in it's break down case. Then one of the guys wanted to try it but I couldn't put the forend back on the gun. The photos below show the issue I believe. The left ejector hammer seems jammed. Before I get myself in even more trouble I would like to hear from those who know these guns about how to handle this. I have been shooting this gun for about 33 years without any malfunctions so I was surprised to have a problem this morning.

The right ejector hammer is in the fired position. Lay out a piece of wood you don't mind scaring and push the fired (right) ejector hammer against to cock it again. The left ejector is in the position you want the right one to match.

Not saying it did but this could happen if you dry fired the right barrel and then took the gun apart without opening it and recocking the right ejector beforehand.

Best,


Mike

It looks like the right barrel ejector is tripped; it needs to be cocked before the forend can be refitted.
On an English gun (such as a Southgate ejector), this can be reset by pushing the ejector hammer back on the edge of a bench or something.
My guess is that a Parker is similar, but no doubt a Parker expert will be able to confirm this.

Mike and John,

Thank you - cocked the right hammer and all is well again. I don't know how I managed to get it screwed up as I don't dry fire the gun. Possible I suppose that I failed to fully open the gun after I last fired it on the right barrel for Dove #10 this morning.

Thanks again.

Yep, that would do it too. And you are very welcome.

Always happy to help where I can. This problem does occasionally occur, and in my (limited) experience, exactly how it has happened always seems uncertain. It can happen easily, and does no harm. I've met a few people who have arrived to shoot and have been unable to assemble their gun. Unless someone 'in the know' is present, they have a problem ........