Parker Hale 404 Jeffrey Has Arrived

[TOBY458]

Take a look at my newest purchase. New, unfired Parker Hale 404 Jeffrey.
Weight 8lbs 11oz. 24" barrel. Very nice V notch iron sights. Wood and metal are near perfect. One piece bottom metal and magazine box are extremely rugged and the floorplate fits nice and tight. Glass beaded action with barrel mounted additional recoil lug. Trigger is very good for a DG rifle.

60 rounds of Hornady Factory Bonded DGX on the way. Once I get the ammo I can check function and maybe shoot it a few times. Overall a very nice rifle!

 

[Sako AV]

Very nice, good luck with it!

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on the new addition!

 

[Rob404]

Great Looking Rifle

 

[CoElkHunter]

Great looking rifle! Would you or someone here have some historical background on the Parker Hale brand rifle? Thanks!

 

[TOBY458]

Great looking rifle! Would you or someone here have some historical background on the Parker Hale brand rifle? Thanks!

I'm not super familiar myself. It looks to be made on a Zastava action or something very similar. Built in England, much like the Whitworth rifles were. It looks to be very well put together. I'm sure the 404 is way more rare than other calibers. Which is why they come at a premium these days.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I'm not super familiar myself. It looks to be made on a Zastava action or something very similar. Built in England, much like the Whitworth rifles were. It looks to be very well put together. I'm sure the 404 is way more rare than other calibers. Which is why they come at a premium these days.

Well, from the photos, it looks well built and in like new condition. Congrats! Keep us posted after you shoot it. Thanks!

 

[TOBY458]

 

[TOBY458]

From what I've been able to find, it was made in 1967.

 

[sestoppelman]

Action will be Spanish Santa Barbara, not Zastava.

 

[sierraone]

If any of you have friends or relatives that have collected and maintained either Gun Digests or Shooters Bibles from the late 60s and most of the 70s, you will find Parker Hale rifles listed in them. I have no idea when they may have disappeared. I just remember seeing them many years ago in these gun books.

 

[sestoppelman]

Have a catalog from the 80's that shows this rifle. Only thing different is Toby's has a commercial bolt shroud and the one in the book is military, otherwise identical.

 

[TOBY458]

Action will be Spanish Santa Barbara, not Zastava.

From what I've read, some rifles had Zastava actions. From the looks of the safety on mine, it is identical to the Zastava rifles I've owned in the past.

 

[sestoppelman]

Its a Santa Barbara. Pull the action out of the stock and look at the tang on the left side below the wood line. It should say Santa Barbara right there. Other clues are the bolt handle style, the safety is different from Zastava if you look closely. Also though I don't see in your pics the left side of the front receiver ring, there is usually a number there often starting with a C-, that is also Santa Barbara code of some of sort or the SN. To my knowledge PH never used Zastava actions.

 

[TOBY458]

Its a Santa Barbara. Pull the action out of the stock and look at the tang on the left side below the wood line. It should say Santa Barbara right there. Other clues are the bolt handle style, the safety is different from Zastava if you look closely. Also though I don't see in your pics the left side of the front receiver ring, there is usually a number there often starting with a C-, that is also Santa Barbara code of some of sort or the SN. To my knowledge PH never used Zastava actions.

I did pull the action, and it doesn't have Santa Barbara written anywhere on it. The safety has Parker Hale England 9848 written on it, but the action has nothing but the serial number written on it. Begins with an S.

 

[Shootist43]

I agree toby, that is a very classic looking working man's rifle. I owned a Parker Hale 30-06 back in the mid seventies that was a real tack driver. However it seems to me that I had a "slam fire" one time when I closed the bolt rapidly. I never did recall having a finger on the trigger but I may have. I owned the rifle for several years after that incident and it never did it again.

 

[sestoppelman]

I did pull the action, and it doesn't have Santa Barbara written anywhere on it. The safety has Parker Hale England 9848 written on it, but the action has nothing but the serial number written on it. Begins with an S.

Well, you know how it is, there is always something unprovable. PH is notorious for not putting model names or numbers on their rifles. But I promise you, its a Santa Barbara action. Bottom metal is different as well and the trigger too though its similar to the Zastava. I had a P-H 7x57 a few years ago, that I took to be a model 81 though it was also model unmarked. But it did have Santa Barbara on the tang. In my brochure it shows two different models with the same safety as yours, a model 1200 and the 81 African. Believe the brochure is from the early 80's and I would be inclined to date yours pretty close to that.

There is nothing at all wrong the SB action, lots of PH rifles out there with same, perfectly good stuff.

 

[CAustin]

Take a look at my newest purchase. New, unfired Parker Hale 404 Jeffrey.
Weight 8lbs 11oz. 24" barrel. Very nice V notch iron sights. Wood and metal are near perfect. One piece bottom metal and magazine box are extremely rugged and the floorplate fits nice and tight. Glass beaded action with barrel mounted additional recoil lug. Trigger is very good for a DG rifle. View attachment 318177 View attachment 318178 View attachment 318179 View attachment 318180 View attachment 318181 View attachment 318182 View attachment 318183 View attachment 318184 60 rounds of Hornady Factory Bonded DGX on the way. Once I get the ammo I can check function and maybe shoot it a few times. Overall a very nice rifle!

Looks like it still had the tag on it Toby, what’s the story? You buy it at an estate sale from a little old lady?

 

[TOBY458]

Looks like it still had the tag on it Toby, what’s the story? You buy it at an estate sale from a little old lady?

Not really an estate sale. An older gentleman was selling a few guns from his collection, and this was one of them. He had planned to use it at some point, but never fired it. Now he says he's done hunting anything that would require a 404.

 

[RR 314]

Nice looking rifle. .404 is next on my list!