New Member

[John Daniels]

Hello. I'm from Gillette, Wyoming. My plan is to purchase and restore a Parker for the purpose of upland hunting.

[Paul Ehlers]

Welcome John!!

What do you have in mind for a gun? Be careful, just one isn't enough!

[Dean Romig]

There are quite a number of old Parkers out there that need no restoration at all. A lot of us feel that they feel better and look better with the "patina" from a hundred years of use and good care. Sometimes removing that patina also removes the karma.

[calvin humburg]

John, Dean is right I would try to find a good ol honest gun. I got one that i'm restoring very expensive so its a slow process. Hinsight is I wish I would of bought a on face gun to start out with. But I didn't know better win I got into this game. I just wanted a hammer gun to shoot black powder in and the one I bought was a lifter and the picture looked alright on the internet well the forend is loose the wood been sanded metal is way proud. but at least they kept the frame away from the wire wheel. But one day shes going to be feild ready again. If you are going to carry it on long walks you will want to get a small frame gun so its not so heavy. ch

[Mark Ouellette]

John,

Welcome aboard! Like my 10 gauge friend stated, restoration is expensive! From experiance a restoration of a AAH Parker will cost the same as restoring a GH. One will however NEVER be able to sell a restored GH for what they have into it. One could however sell a restored higher grade gun and perhaps even make a small profit.

The preceding stated, I am presently restoring a LC Smith Grade 2 10 gauge with chain Damascus barrels and a AH Fox HE "Super Fox". The cost for both is similar but if I wanted to sell either, the Super Fox being a much more collectable gun would sell very quickly for my total investment in it. The Grade 2 Smith is comparable to a GH parker. I'd have to think long and hard before restoring a GH Parker because the money would be dumped down the barrels never to return. I decided to restore the chain Damascus 10 becasue there are so few of them that survived the abuse of decades of waterfowling.

Okay, one can however find a very nice GH for $1500 or less and have the checkering repointed and stock refinished. Add to that a redo of Damascus barrels or reblue of fluid steel and they will have a very, very nice shooting Parker.

PS: If you join the PGCA you will have access to the for sale and want to buy forums. There you could post what you are looking for and a member may offer to sell you a decent gun.

I hope this helps!
Respectfully,
Mark