A Parker was never a "hardware-store gun", in the sense that "hardware-store guns" were near the bottom rung in fit/finish/quality. Just because Maxwell Hardware on Broad Street in Augusta, GA sold Parkers does not mean they were "hardware-store guns". It means that Maxwell Hardware saw the market for Parkers and could move them. There were "farmers" who saw the value in a Parker, and spent that hard-earned money for one. So, the term "farmer grade" is just as ambiguous as "entry level", if not actually somewhat condescending. Why not say "clerk grade", "barber grade" or "mill worker grade"?
A Trojan was the entry level Parker, just as a Sterlingworth was the entry level Fox. "Entry level", as James accurately described it, is also used often, in an expanded way, to refer to the lowest grade/cost item for sale in a genre, such as the broad category "shotguns". Entry level for a shotgun would be a single barrel, single shot, break-open exposed hammer shotgun.
SRH
