Thread: keeping an old parker hale going a little bit longer ].

a fellow forum member here is a GC and hooked me up with an old parker hale safari in .243 for next to nothing due to its condition - but a good few days of getting the mrs to sand it all back - some high temp enamel paint and some boiled linseed oil ive managed to keep an old rifle going just that little bit longer!
if it shoots really well i may strip the paint off and give it a go of blueing.

That looks awesome.i really hope she shoots well for you.will be a real pussy with suppressor.keep us posted how you get on.

looks good so far. Bought my wife one that looks similar except the top of the bolt knob is flat. It shoots ok but still trying to find a load it really likes. all Ive done to this one is bed it

Taking to range on the 20th, really looking forward to it. Not expecting it to shoot amazingly but the barrel does look really good inside.
Only done one layer of oil so far but couldn’t help myself with putting it together. So it’s back apart.
Looking for a trigger with safety for it.
If it does shoot well enough I may get it a timney as they’re sub $250 but will double what the rifle owes me.

There are old hands on here who will KNOW the tricks to make it shoot better if it doesn't. I will be surprised if it's not better than 2" with pretty much any std cup n core sub hundy grain loads.

1:10 Twist? Someone here would know...

The one we have I've got it down to i.5-2" at 100 before bedding it was not very good I guess that's pretty good for one of these tho. All part of the fun with an unknown rifle. It definitely likes pills at the lighter end of the scale

Shot my first Deer many years ago with a Parker Hale .243
It had a Weaver 4 power Scope on it and I was a “ Flash Harry” compared to my Mates with their 303’s with Tasco scopes mounted with all sorts of wild contraptions

PS - In those days ammo choices were very limited , from memory my local shop had Winchester or Remington . I used Winchester because the graphics on the box were better ( I didn’t ever consider which ammo might shoot better in my rifle )

Yea taking an old unknown rifle and seeing how it shoots is always good fun, looking forward to it.
Grabbed a box of 100gr federal blue box.

Have been doing a bit of digging on this forum and there’s some good info on making these shoot better, Trying not to get to carried away right now….

Cobber in Greymouth back in the 80,s had one with the white spacers in the stock, anyway he used to handload Norma 100 grain bullets, great on game and won lots of club competitions with it.

you will need to do at least 6 coats of BLO and 2 coats of danish or tung oil for a relatively good water proof finish

if you do the first two coats 50-50 BLO and Meth's it'll dry quicker.

I think @garyp had parker hale parts although I could be mistaken

If Gary hasn't got what you want, try Mike Collings in Whakatane