doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Shooting Flying in America

And I don't take my Foxes apart either. If opening a Parker and making a decision to avoid ownership based on complexity is proper logic, none of us would own a watch or a car, certainly not a DVD player. I have to think that Joe's mentor was referring to "shine". I don't imagine that the inside of a Parker has much of a "shine". Haven't looked lately.

EDM, it 2006 reprint by Stackpole Books. I don't collect rare and expensive books, but just like to read about "hunter-gatherers" of Colonial America.

I examined their lowest grade called the 'Trojan' and it's very well made piece easily equal to WWG E10 or E17. If I don't find 'Long Range' Remi soon I might get one for my wildfowling needs. It's cute and its action reminds me of an anvil. It's built like one too!

I've enjoyed this thread, and as an armchair historian, library owner complete with EDM's Parker book, and 209 primer-popper, I'd like to add a comment or three.
I'm one of those 100+ shooters who "do Sanford", and maybe I'll make the LC Smith team in 2008 (for a change). I'm also a gent with an "enquiring mind" who is intrigued by the internal workings of my various brand smoothbores, and provoked by various books, have gone inside nearly them all to "discover". I have no problem with folks with Brownell's proper screwdriver bits and a bit of book-learning or mentoring, going inside their pieces. My screws haven't been "screwed", no extra parts stood visible after re-assembly, and the pieces all went BANG after the internal examination. I'm not talking here about Fleischman's A1 Special, or an Alabama gentleman's Crown, etc, but rather an LCS 3E, a William Evans (really a W&S treble screw-grip) and down to and including Sterlingworths and Trojans.
I find it interesting to see how different mechanics have looked at different challenges and how they solved them. I've learned, for example, that I'll never buy another Iver Johnson SxS, due to the "cheapness" inside.
Having been "where no man had gone before" with my piece, makes the actual shooting more satisfying and rewarding for me, anyway.
Offered FWIW - and with the added observation that in the autumn, when the leaves have fallen from the Manitoba maple in my front yard, it gets mighty cool and there's not much shade under it.
EDIT: How do I get ridda these "stars"???

Haven't you guys heard the Bob White is gone....I didn't think it was ever in Maryland or Nova Scotia....better look into those "twitches".

EDM sorry I hit a nerve...The fellow meant if it broke and I saw inside it.
I asked him what he meant. He was referring to "all the parts"...not the "shiney'ness".

Didn't Captain Bogardus shoot a W&C Scott gun ?

I shot quite a few wild Bobwhite in Southern Maryland and on the Eastern Shore in my 28 or so years in the D.C. area. Wild Bobs were a lot easier to find in "The Free State" then in "The Old Dominion", and closer to where I lived. After a decade or so of not seeing any in the Shenendoah Valley where I shot Doves, I was seeing coveys again just before I retired and left -- 2001, 2002.

Joe,
No offense to you or anyone in particular, but most shooters wouldn't know what they were looking at if they looked inside a gun of any kind. Parts that may look rough, may not have any contact with another part, while parts that have contact may be hidden and be very smooth for their function. With the exception of some really high end guns, most parts in guns will have only contact surfaces finely finished, if at all. Whether or not you'd want one after looking inside, I couldn't say. But my take as a machinist/toolmaker's perspective is that they are decent inside for their era and the fact that most were production guns, but nothing to write home about.

Bogardus shot and endorsed a Parker in the early 1870s when he was first building his reputation. Bogardus shot out Ira Paine for the wing shot title in 1871--Paine also used and endorsed the Parker Gun in the late-1870s. Paine shot out John Taylor for the wing shot medal in 1870; Taylor used and endorsed the Parker in the Parker Bros 1869 catalog. All were live bird opportunists who moved on to other makers as better deals were offered.

Doc Carver used and endorsed the Parker Gun in 1878, then picked up a Greener when he went to England. Annie Oakley's "first real gun" was a Parker G-grade 16-bore Frank Butler bought for her in the early 1880s. Near as I can determine no top professional guns were wedded to the Parker. Even Capt. du Bray owned a Purdey and a W & C Scott and Son presentation gun with his name on the rib (now owned by a Vet. Dr. in WI). One of the large problems in the conveying provenance info about the old time guns is establishing points along a time line. So, yes, Capt.B shot a W & C Scott at one time, but other makers' guns at other times. Burried in my records I have Bogardus using guns of at least six different makers, sometimes as many as three seemingly interchangably in the same few months. Even Ansley Fox shot a Parker at the 1900 GAH while sponsored by Winchester ammo. My conclusion from all of this is that no conclusions about inherant quality can be drawn. Opinions differ. EDM

I thought I read somewhere his big wins were with a W & C Scott gun...

I looked at a 20 ga. Parker a guy had for sale at the Gun Club...plain gun, realy nice mechanical and metal condition. The stock had been pinned behind the action is this common on Parkers ?

Only if you break the stock!