doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Parkers.....good as gold

Big 10-4 on the condition, Lowell...Be it Parker, Winchester, Colt or any other collectible firearm. If you are a collector vs. just a shooter like me, then it's condition, condition, condition.

Could be, but so is buying the London gun for fit and finish.
I don't see much mentioned about Parkers and their field worthiness.
...but I bet they make a good hobby.

I own a medium size gun shop in ohio....the parkers and all the good american SXS will be a strong holdings in the future. We will see it harder and harder to keep hand guns and sniper rifles and anything that shoots several rounds fast. In the not so distant future. (hope im wrong) The SXS shotgun will be the last stronghold firearm. This will drive demand for the quality guns, and prices will rise with that demand! A lowly savage 311 will also have demand. You may need 20K to buy a Parker repro that is ANIB. Yes thay are a sollid commodity, sollid investment. MY advice...only buy hi original condition guns! Better to have a few good ones than a big bunch of so-so guns. thanks All Kenny Graft in Ohio..(-: stay warm...stay Happy!

I think you're right-on, Kenny. Your observation re handguns and sniper rifles may be why they're in such high US demand now--- but not shotguns.

You are right Lowell. It's very common to read accounts from 100 years ago where Parkers were taken into the field and failed to bring home the game. In fact, for a period of time PETA considered endorsing the Parker gun given that they are the only gun that is completely unable to hurt an animal.

My opinion of GregSY is getting a bit of a boost here. To add to Greg's post, 100 years later, Parkers are still failing to perform in the field, and, yes, also on the clay target field and pigeon ring. PETA would be proud.

Using a Parker afield or at the traps is like fly fishing with bamboo, strictly a personal preference and a connection to the past. Emotion. A more rational gun (or tool) for reducing birds to possession would be a Remington 870, cheap, reliable, disposable, and more shots. Condition is nothing. Destry used to joke that our duck hunting guides in Dalacroix LA would just toss their 870s in the back of their truck with a few fist-fulls of sand and let them slide around on the way home to get rid of the rust. Different strokes! They admired our Parkers but wouldn't own one for free. They wanted a "tool" to kill ducks.

As to condition, condition is everything but slightly subject to availability. If you want a common VH(E) 12-bore the pecking order is pretty clear and the Blue Book somewhat instructive. But scarcity sometimes trumps outright condition, especially in the early lifter guns; in other words, don't hold out for a high condition T-Latch or a 16- or 20-bore lifter gun.

As to buying Parkers as an investment, I think selected stocks blue chip stocks are the better deal now. ATT at today's price pays a 7.2% dividend, it's making money, and just raised the dividend. The market IMHO is over-sold and panic sellers are not rational. It takes some guts to buy low when everyone is selling, but in retrospect is the best way to buy. Parkers are pretty high now and might go higher, but they don't pay any dividend unless you shoot them, and if you shoot them they aren't "investment" grade. EDM

Hunting and shooting clays with an ugly gun is like dating an ugly woman. I do admit to using a ugly plastic stocked autoloader in very adverse weather conditions but I prefer a nice handling SxS, be it old or new!

I must be getting really old. I use fairly nice side by sides even in bad weather. Many years of collecting have blessed me with a few beaters of high quality. I guess everyone realizes that Greg's and my statements about PETA and Parkers were tongue in cheek, but I'm not entirely sure of that.

You're not old if you want elegance and endurance on your arm. Bill. Rain or shine, to have a Parker is to have a prisoner in your heart.