doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Opinions on who best replicates case colors

If only Dr. Gaddy were still with us I wouldn't need to ask.

But, the fact is that he isn't and I would like to know who, in your opinions, can best replicate original Parker colors without being too dark, or too 'muddy', or too patchy... you know what I mean - just not quite right?

I'm grateful for all suggestions.

Suggest you post this over on the Parker website, but, for my money it is Brad Bachelder in Grand Rapids.

http://www.mastergunmakers.com/

My experience is: Turnbull.

My experience is Turnbull too!

I have a Parker 16 bore VH Doug did, my Simson ball & shot gun receiver, plus a Colt SAA...they are all beautiful.

Amen to that. Brad is the best, when I spoke with him last week, he alluded to a 2 year backlog of such restoration work. Will be hunting with Brad and his son Parker this Sat. with "Max" his aging yellow Lab. Pheasants at the Fruitridge Farms Club. I believe it was the late Paul A. Curtis who once said: "The field is the touchstone of the man" and that applies to Brad 100%.

I forgot to ask - would you be kind enough to post pictures of guns that were color case hardened for you?

But even if you can't share your pictures I would still like to know your opinions.

Is the question "Who does the most historically accurate by BRAND or MFG color case hardening in the US currently?"

There is an ocean of colorists these days.
Every brand seems to have niche practitioners.

DT finished a long time Parker VH project with a case color job and minor reengraving. It was a great job but very expensive. Disassembly, case color, blue trigger guard, deepen engraving of serial number, no other work, reassemble, $900 plus, about five years ago.

I'll second Brad. It's been hinted he does work for Turnbull. Brad has done Parkers and Remingtons for me. Fox, please don't say 2 years - he's doing three guns right now for me and said awhile back a one year back log. Of course, with good gunsmiths, a year usually turns into a year and a half and that's ok with me.

Rephrasing the question.... Who does the most accurate representation of Parker Bros. original case colors without them being too muddy, or too dark, or too mottled, etc.

To me the price isn't really an object if I get the quality and accuracy I'm looking for.

I recently had the opportunity to examine a Parker Trojan (no engraving to obfuscate the color) that had been redone by Doug about twenty years ago and I honestly thought it was an original 99% gun. It was practically indistinguishable from the dozens of true original very high condition Parkers I have examined. This is the kind of work I'm looking for but I don't know if Doug's people still use that identical formula/process. I guess I'll have to talk with them/him to find out.