doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Parkers are they truely...............?

I like them all, have killed birds and won money with most of them. Shotguns are only overpriced when you agree to write the check. Otherwise you have no earthly idea how much any individual gun will sell for, until someone writes the check. These comments remind me of the idiots who attend a gun show and complain about the high prices. How can they possibly know what the "prices" are until something changes hands.

A gun is overpriced if you can buy lots of better guns for significantly less. People are characteristically overly influenced by fame & fashion. I once bought an absolute top-grade London best hammer gun for $900, because nobody had heard the maker's name.

Comparing manufactured guns to trade made guns is much like comparing boxlocks to sidelocks. All four catagories can produce a "best work" gun. Manufactured is for high production numbers and trade made is for versatility. Parker sold a high percent of a large number of relatively pedestrian guns. Purdey sold a high percent of a relatively small number of "best work" guns.

Is Purdey's the Parker of the UK?

DDA

Good question, Don. A neophyte compared to so many others---and I have your list---maybe Boss compares favourably with Purdey today.

You might recall, in your comparison of the UK and the Purdey, and the USA with the Parker- that Parker, until they sold the gun mfg. rights to Remington in the Depression era- also had the backing of a financially sound mfg. company- hardware, silverware, etc.

You can also make that case for the Win M21- as the other more profitable Winchester rifles and shotguns was a buffer to the high mfg. cost of the M21- at least from 1931 to 1959-- The nub of this "wind in the willows" might be- which firm employed the most highly skilled craftsmen, how were they paid- what was the "mark-up" on a bespoke Purdey- what was the financial base of customers of Parker Bros- who had the $$ to order a high grade "Old Reliable" made to their order, as were most of the customers of J. Purdey & Sons-- "back in the day" RWTF

You stopped too short for me, Fox. Are you saying price has unwarranted influence on ranking quality---Purdey more expensive so the best?

Interesting raison d'etre for the different types of companies. Sure makes sense for Parker.

I'm not sure, however, that I would ever describe Purdey or Boss as being "versatile" companies or as having a versatile product line. They had/have extremely narrow product lines, appealing to an extremely narrow segment of the potential market. The only way they can survive today is to market that narrow product line to the entire world. That's almost the very definition of "not versatile".

OK- when you pay the going higher price for a "bespoke" luxury item, the expectation of a higher inherent quality goes w/o saying so. You have your H&H Royal 12 bore, and you are hunting pheasant with me and my dog-- I have a 12 bore Parker Trojan- we are both using RST No. 6 pheasant loads, and we both shoot well- what difference does it make to the deceased pheasants which end of the opposite quality and price spectrum killed that bird?? RWTF

That "narrow" product line has widened. The big names are often owned by clothiers. The guns hold their own. The clothes make the real profit.

I'm not going to knock Parkers or Purdeys, since I own and shoot both, don't see any difference in shooting or handling quality. Taking two of them to compare, this is my finding. My Purdey Whitworth barrel bar in iron Purdey hammer pigeon gun weighs about seven pounds, six ounces, handles very well. My #1 frame grade 1 Parker hammer gun also weighs within ounces of seven pounds, six ounces a lightweight for a Parker hammer gun. Both guns are extremely high condition, have modern stock dimensions, and no mechanical problems. I expect both guns will be shooting well more than 100 years from now, like they have for the last 100 years, the Parker maybe 130 years. Even more important, they are both very handsome guns and would be mistaken for one another if examined by someone who knows guns but doesn't know the brand (maker). I guess our discussion should degrade into a debate about why one would sell on the auction market for about $2000 and the other will probably sell for about $30000.