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09-04-2017, 09:06 PM
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British conversion of Safety Hammerless
Thought those of you who appreciate Lemon Squeezers might find this entertaining. It's a 4th Model 38 that was shipped to C. Osborn, Birmingham, England, in 1907. It has two sets of proofs, apparently when it arrived, and then after it was converted by A.G. Parker to 22 rimfire. I later got a personal letter from his daughter who verified the time frame.
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09-04-2017, 10:40 PM
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Very cool indeed.
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Oh well, what the hell.
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09-05-2017, 01:26 AM
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Thank you for sharing the photos of your Lemon Squeezer. Does it shoot .22 Long Rifle ? Can you tell what hammer modifications were done to allow for rim fire ? Does it eject the emptys normally when the action is opened ? Do you know if this was a common conversion at this time period ? A very interesting gun.
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09-05-2017, 11:59 AM
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I've had it about 20 years; fired a cylinder full at that time. 22 LR, standard velocity. Worked merrily. A new firing pin bushing was fabricated and installed, overlapping the original one. If you look carefully, you can see the extra cross/retaining pin below the original. Can't tell you how common or uncommon it might have been. Always seemed to me that converting the smaller 32 model would be more logical. This particular model came back to the US via Canada. I'm guessing after WWII.
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09-05-2017, 04:24 PM
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Yes, it shoots.
If this is a duplicate message, pardon me. Still learning the buttons.
While not marked other than "22 Caliber " I did fire standard velocity LRs in it 20 years ago. If I shoot it again, it will be with CB caps. I often wondered why a 32 model wouldn't have made more sense, but I think the cylinder might have been too short.
New firing pin bushing in location for rimfire overlaps the original. It was a lot of work.
Returned to the US via Canada.
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09-05-2017, 05:58 PM
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Did the daughter confirm the conversion was to circumvent the English gun confiscation laws regarding any .38 cal handgun ? Ed
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09-05-2017, 09:00 PM
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British Lemon Squeezer
I'm not sure where my replies are going, but I'll keep at it. I'm also not sure what sort of British confiscation efforts might have been in effect in 1907; I just figured there must have been a demand, real or imagined, for a sturdy, pocket size 22 revolver. Apparently Mr. Parker was doing quite a bit of lining work. Miss Emily Parker was in her nineties when she took the time to respond to my inquiries. She also advised that the Blitz took care of all their records.
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09-05-2017, 09:33 PM
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It may just be the photo or my monitor but the photo of the rear face of the cylinder appears to show hammer strikes on the center most portion of the charge hole. A photo showing the hammer face might be interesting.
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James Redfield
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09-05-2017, 11:27 PM
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If the 2nd set of proofs (Birmingham?) was for the conversion, what time period does the 2nd set reflect ? Is it before when A.G.Parker became part of Parker & Hale? Ed.
Last edited by opoefc; 09-06-2017 at 01:21 PM.
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09-06-2017, 12:30 PM
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You are correct JSR. The poor thing has been around a long time, and, I suspect, played with by children and/or adults. The firing pin was broken when I first obtained it, so I had the opportunity to examine the conversion. Hopefully you can see from the photo how the new fp bushing overlaps the original.
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09-08-2017, 01:38 PM
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That is a very interesting piece indeed, thank you for sharing!!
And excellent background in those last photos......I am envious!
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