Back in the 70s and early 80s if you walked into the average gun show with a Parker you would draw a crowd. People would look at them almost in awe. Everyone thought they were extremely rare,and I guess at the time they were. Now there are over 400 listed on gunsinternational. I still love them but miss the excitement that Parkers and other fine doubles generated to the average shooter.

When I was in my early teens in the early sixties the mention of Parker among shooting and hunting folks would cause everyone within earshot to hush up and listen. The name Parker was revered in the utmost... and they were thought to be "very expensive", but compared to what?





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I wrote a story about this in the Parker Pages. When I first moved to South Carolina I was shooting clays with a group of guys at my club. One gentleman was using a side by side. I was in awe of the fine craftmanship. As the months went on he offered to let me shoot the side by side he was using that day. It was a "C" Grade live bird gun I found out later. I told this gentleman that "you could put $500.00 in my hand and tell me to break a target and I would tell you to keep your money." He persisted and I decided to try it out. Once I took it into my hands it was an amazing feeling. I ended up shooting that gun very, very well to my amazement. That gentleman, a number of you on this forum know him, was David Dwyer. And as they say the rest is history. Thank you David.

Some of that hasnt gone away. I was in one of those black rifle type stores and the guy asked me if he could help find something. I replied, "not unless you have a bunch of Parkers hidden away". He laughed but turns out he had had some, recently. The reverence was there despite appearances.
In another store, the owner keeps all the doubles hidden away in the basement. Hard to get a read on whats for sale but I dont blame him exactly if you dont want people snapping your actions together all day while they wait for the background check to clear.

When I was a kid up to college days I frequented a part time gunsmith who had his shop n the basement of his house. It was a place of reverence for me as guns and hunting were all I thought about. One day he asked that I follow him to his attic. There were long racks of doubles, all Lefevers. There certainly were well over a hundred. I had no idea of his interest as most of the work he did in his shop was on 03 Springfields. I those days if it as not an O/U I had little interest. He passed away while I was in college. How I wish I could go back and relive those days.

Bruce Hunt Atlanta Outfitters had many high grade doubles. Bobby

I still have Bruce Hunt's list of faked up Parkers, some of them small bore A-1 Specials. There are serial numbers listed on all of them. I have never bothered to compare them with the serialization book. I remember Bruce at shows, huddled up with his buddies, in adjoining chairs, like a Mafia business meeting. The guns were wonderful, but unobtainable.

Those were the days.

Bruce Hunt's salesmen at Atlanta Outfitters were Thad Scott and Don Schrum. If you walked in with money in your pocket, you would leave broke. Both of them went on to successful gun careers. I have seen a photo taken on the patio of the Rivera in Vegas at the Beinfeld show. Seated around the table were Bill Jaqua,Don Criswell,Hershel Chadick,Bruce Hunt, Don Schrum, Thad Scott,Mike Weatherby, and several other big time gun dealers. A real all star team.

You forgot to mention yourself. Through the years you have handled and sold some exceptional guns. I knew of all the other gentlemen you mention and dealt with Don Criswell on Winchester model 21's. Randy Shuman had the best selection of guns(all makes) for sale as anybody in the country. He has handled and sold more model 70's than anybody I know. Its nothing for him to have 300+ for sale at one time. Getting back to the original post- I think the gun list was probably the best source to finding good guns for sale. I also liked going to gun shows especially the Ohio Gun Collectors show when it was in Vets Memorial in Columbus,Ohio. It was one of the best shows in the country then and I can remember seeing a Parker VHE 410 in an A+F case(late in 1970's) that the dealer said was brand new. Im thinking it had a $6000.00 price tag. Being only around 21 and not being financially stable yet-I couldn't afford the gun but I told myself that one day I will have some nice Parkers in my collection.