I also have an old T.Barker much like yours that I got a year or so back. This is some of the info I found on it. 'Shotguns marked 'T BARKER' were sold by various hardware store and catalog stores in c.1880-1910 (or so).

They were generally imported from Belgium and distributed by the H&D Folsom Co. Look for the telltale Belgian proofmark underneath the barrels and on the water table (flat part of the frame where the barrels meet the frame). The proofmark is the letter 'E' over 'LG' in an oval or variant thereof. These shotguns were designed to be utility shotguns and were low priced when they were new. Nothing has changed today, and their value is strictly whatever somebody will pay to have something hanging on the wall. Under no circumstances should a T BARKER shotgun be fired. The barrel construction is almost certainly a twisted-wire construction and the pressure curve of modern shells,even 'low-brass' can certainly cause the barrels to come apart.

' You can see them priced at $200-300 on some auction sites, but they rarely sell. A more realistic value would be $100-150 in really good condition. I have had mine checked by a good gunsmith and do shoot hand loaded, full length brass shells loaded with light black powder loads.

NEVER shoot smokeless shells in these guns. Hope that helps. The first shot gum I ever fired was a 12 Ga T Barker,side by side. It had a Silver Irish Setter inlaided on the left hand side hammer assembly. Octagon shaped breech down about 6 inches of the barrel. It is bored for 3 inch Brash shells.

May 7, 2010 - Value of PARKER SHOTGUN General Parker Discussions. IT HAS A SERIAL NUMBER OF 2921 AND HAS A LAMINATED BARRELS. Other examples include the Sam Holt, W. Richards, and T. Barker and images may.

Shoot moderm 3 inch just fine. As a boy I use 2 1/2 in it and one of ever 5 or 6 shot the wadding would hang up in the three inch chamber and it would stomp the hell out of you. The barrel had been cut off by my mothers younger brother as he shot it accidentally with the barrel stuck in the ground rupturing about 3 inches of its barrel. So that is the story my grand mother told me. He past away at age 13. My cousin and I hunted rabbits with it before we were big enough to hold it up.

Took turns laying it on each other's shoulder to fire it. We always got our rabbit but our ears would ring for a while after each shot. At six Santa brought me a JC Higgens bolt action 410. The T Barker was more or less retired unless of course my mother went hunting with us.

She could knock a squirrel out of the Tallest tree in Smackover Creek bottom in Union county Arkansas. Because of the way it kicked now and then it became out loaning gun. Didn't bother me as I had earned how to take the jolt Just by letting it buck and let you body take the punch. Ww greener shotguns serial numbers. That trick came in handy when I was firing an M-1 grand as I was drafted into the Army. However one time jolt when borrowed they never came back to borrow the T Barker. It finally got it match when my son was about 13 years old. A idiot friend on my son's slipped him a modern plastic shell with a double load in it as a prank.