Parker Hale or not?

karthus · November 05, 2009, 09:42:12 PM

Hello all. I am a new member. I have recently purchased what I believe is a Parker Hale 270. I am familiar with the 1200 Supers but this is a little different. See by the pictures. There are no import marks on it. It is engraved and badly needs a new recoil pad (in the works). Can anyone help?

Thanks.
Mark

Brithunter · November 06, 2009, 12:54:37 AM

Hi There and welcome :) .

QuoteI have recently purchased what I believe is a Parker Hale 270

It should have Parker-Hale Birmingham on top of the barrel.

QuoteI am familiar with the 1200 Supers but this is a little different.

Ahhh well it would be as you have an earlier( Circa 1967-1970 at a guess) Safari Supreme

.

Hope that helps!

karthus · November 06, 2009, 05:16:58 AM

Hello Brithunter. I was hoping you would see this one. It does have Parker-Hale Birmingham on top of the barrell. I usually see import marks too but this has none. Missing the diamond at the bottom of the pistol grip kind of threw me too. Do you think the stock has been refinished or is it the original finish and color? The others I have are lighter. I was considering refinishing the stock to take care of the few dings it has on it. Do you have any suggestions on that or would you keep it original, if it is. I am concerned about the white plastic spacers if I strip the finish. Thank you.

Brithunter · November 06, 2009, 05:54:48 AM

Hmmm hard to say about the finish being original or not but your going to be replacing the recoil pad so your very likely to scratch or mark the finish when sanding the pad to fit so if it was me I would strip the finish off back to bare wood and steam the minor compression marks out. I have done several and used a commercially available DIY paint stripper to remove the finish.

Once it's smoothed down again ( water raisie the grain, I bone the wood by rubbing it briskly with an old smooth toothbrush handle then wipe it over with 400 wet and dry paper to de-whisker any that are left proud) then I normally apply several coats of Red oil (Alkanet Root oil) which helps slightly darken the wood and brings out the grain, then an traditional oiled finish is hand rubbed in and allowed to harden off. Any fisnih that adheres to the white spacers is then carefully scraped off with a razor edge or sharp knife.

As for the colour of the wood ....................... well as wood varies there will be diferences. I do agree that it would be dark for a 1200 as they seem to have been fitted with honey coloured wood but if you look at the P-H thread you will find my 1100 Deluxe which is a darker brown wood.

karthus · November 06, 2009, 10:29:35 AM

Thanks for the info. Did you ever have a problem with the finish stripper damaging the white plastic spacers? I have used a product called Citristrip, an orange based stripper, with good results but have never tried it on plastic. I am sending off for the recoil pad today from that company in Canada that I found earlier in another thread. I wanted to make sure I had a P-H instead of a clone. A Safari Supreme. Great. I was told it was a Model 1100 lightweight. I had no idea and bought it anyway.

Brithunter · November 06, 2009, 02:56:10 PM

Welcome to the world of P-H mis-information

it was things like that that started me on my quest of finding out more about the P-H models. This is an 1100 Lwt:-

Notice the different curve of the pistol grip.

As for the white spacers this stock on this 1200 Super had to be stripped even though it was new. It had been in stock somewhere and the storage must have been damp as it had mildew on the butt so i ahd to remove the factory finish to treat the mildew:-

Now this one is the rifle straight out of the box and you can see the mildew speckles near the bottom of the recoil pad:-

and you can see the hang tag on the trigger guard.

The stripper I use is a caustic type which burns if it gets on your skin yet is has not damaged these plastic white line spacers. I suppose if I left it on enough it would have done.

karthus · November 06, 2009, 05:43:23 PM

It would appear to me that your quest has been successfull in getting P-H information. These rifles are in fine shape. Did you have any problems with the rosewood in the front? I have heard this is an oily type of wood and it may be diffucult in the refinishing process getting something to hold on it. Just what I've heard. I wanted to refinish the stocks on the 1200 Supers I have but wasn't sure if it was better to try and keep them with the original factory finish. They are not bad but could use a little work. Not that I plan to sell them at all but would it depreciate the value by removing the original finish? Boy, I like the way yours turned out.... Didn't your 1200's come with the poly something finish?

Brithunter · November 07, 2009, 03:36:32 AM

Nope no problems with the Rose Wood on either fore-tip or pistol grip cap. Point is that the stripper will only take the surface off so the grain is still sealed now if you were to go down some depth then you might have a few problems until you re-seal the surface.

Ahhh now the 1200V had the poly finish and I have tried to varnish it for the high gloss finish....................... I said tried as the varnish seems to be off and has gone splotchy so I have to re-strip it and start over on that one. The 1100 De Luxe and 1200 Super had oiled finishes so you cannot tell the difference from the factory finish. The 1100 Lwt had a very different thin, worn, finish as you can see in the photos and it had worn through in the magazine area from handling it seems. As it does not appear to have been shot much so I just stripped it and applied an oiled finish. The oil does bring the grain out and instead of that real reddish colour it was it's now more honey coloured which makes me thing it might have been a type of French Polish? :undecided: . We don't seem to be able to get the spray varnish which Sakorick uses here otherwise I would have tried that and probably had no problems

I don't know much about collectors value as they have no such here, except to a very few like me, the P-H's you see here are used as range or stalking rifles.

A feller at the Rifle Club picked up what was a nice 1200P in 30-06 and brought it too the range. An expert

as he did his few years of National Service back in the 1960's before it was abolished

he then proceeded to shoot the heck out of firing as quickly as he could then moaning as the groups opened right up. The barrel was virtually smoking

he then asked about muzzle brakes as he thinks it will keep the goup tight even when the barrel is smoking hot and the next time I saw the rifle it was butchered

with the fore sight ramp milled off and a stupid muzzle brake on it. The gunsmith and I used that word lightly didn't even know that you can take the fore sight ramps off as they are screwed in place on some rifles and only soldered on others .

I had even pointed out that the rifle was in some way collectorable but he just said I brought it to shoot and that's what I will do

even though I suggested he could get another more suitable rifle as a collector would buy his off him. He also shoots the cheapest ammo he can find and for some while has been shooting steel cased Russian 30-06 through it.

About every other gunshop will have at least one P-H rifle on the rack and most don't even know what models they are and prices vary wildly. Same goes for BSA's now as they are not fashionable and although there seem to be more that actually collect them here in the UK the later centrefire rifles are mainly seen as stalking or foxing rifles and priced accordingly and often chopped and screwed for a sound moderator.

I have just seen and advert for a BSA Majestic Featherweight in 30-06 that has a bi-pod screwed to the thin schnabel tip fo the fore end. The only reason it has not split yet is that the rifle has the BESA recoil reducer machined into the barrel otherwise the stock would have split and will likely still do so if that bi-pod is left attached and it's shot much. The guy is greedy and wants far too much for all his rifles.

I visited the shop once with a friend and saw he had a BSA LE sporter in 8mm (8x50R) and he also had a BSA Model E in 303 both way over priced. A Monarch was labeled a BSA 5 Star

after the stars impressed on the bolt

I tried pointing out that it was in fact a Monarch but he was not interested. He advertises a lot on Guntrader.UK and that's where I saw the Majestic with the BESA.

karthus · November 07, 2009, 10:58:23 AM

For a high gloss shine have you ever tried a product called Tru Oil by Birchwood Casey? I have used it on a few other rifles and when applied correctly - that took a few stocks to refine my applications - it will bring the grain out, give you a deep protective shine that you can see 12 or better inches deep in. A friend of mine uses it and I was amazed at the results he got.

sakorick · November 07, 2009, 11:46:41 AM

Quote from: karthus;99236For a high gloss shine have you ever tried a product called Tru Oil by Birchwood Casey? I have used it on a few other rifles and when applied correctly - that took a few stocks to refine my applications - it will bring the grain out, give you a deep protective shine that you can see 12 or better inches deep in. A friend of mine uses it and I was amazed at the results he got.

Hello karthus. You need to look up a thread I wrote on refinishing. It was a PH Super that I completely restored. I like Birchwood Casey truoil but recently have been using Gun Sav'r from Brownells as it dries much faster. Since your Super does not have an import mark then either a GI brought it back from Europe or it was imported to Canada where most of the Super Supremes like yours have shown up. OBTW, that Rosewood is very hard to seal once the finish is removed as the oil from the wood immediately starts leaching out....especially into Tru Oil. The secret is clear super glue. Welcome to the forum. Regards, Rick.

karthus · November 07, 2009, 11:57:44 AM

Thanks Rick. Good to hear from you. I will look up that thread since I want to replace the recoil pad in the Safari Supreme and possibly refinish the 1200 supers I have. I want to be prepared as I can be so things go smoothly.

I was told that this 270 (pics above) was owned by a person who came here from Greece thirty years ago, opened and ran a restaraunt and then retired back to Greece. I thought he may have brought it over with him or bought it prior to the import mark requirements?
Thanks. Mark.

sakorick · November 07, 2009, 12:25:51 PM

Yep.....there were no import marks on rifles made for the European market......same thing for Sakos. Regards, Rick.

Brithunter · November 07, 2009, 02:09:51 PM

He He I must have been lucky on all of mine as that has not happened. Perhaps the stripper I used did not strip deeply only removing the surface?

I just searched for your stock finish:-

Gun Sav'R

But it don't look like it's available here in the UK

. So I searched for gloss spray varnish and found out that a DIY chain store ... Wicks... do carry a spray Gloss varnish so I will have to go into town next week and take a look and see how it goes.:-

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Spray-Varnish-Gloss/invt/170617

I wonder if it will do for the P-H 1200V as I am trying to duplicate the factory High gloss finish. We can it seems get Tru-Oil in a spray finish but I honestly don't know much about Tru-Oil

karthus · November 07, 2009, 04:40:46 PM

Brithunter. Try looking up Birchwood Casey in a search. They have tips and stuff for refinishing wood and metal. The Tru Oil is not expensive in the bottle and readily available here. Let me know if you want a bottle to try. It will definately give you a deep, high gloss finish. Mark.

Brithunter · November 07, 2009, 11:37:42 PM

Cheers for the offer but no need as the local gunshops stock it. It's just that I have never used it. Now if I could still get the Purdey's London finish kit by Warthog I would have used that as it gives a tough high gloss finish as you can see here:-

I stripped the factory finish off this ZKK 601 and after some slight modifications around the loading/ejection port, Hmmm don't seem to have a photo of that stored

but this is it just after it was done:-

The Alkanet Root Oil (Red Oil) really brought the grain out :) and what witht he special grain filler in the kit then the Slackum Oil gave this high gloss finish similar to that found on high grade London shotguns. And no the grain has not faded it's just that you need the light to catch it right to really shine through which is why this one was taken at that angle. As this rifle was one I used to take my first deer it holds a special place in my heart

.