The Parker Reproduction Story
 

The Jan/Feb 2019 issue of SHOOTING SPORTSMAN magazine includes a feature article written by David Trevallion entitled "The Parker Reproduction Story". Trevallion writes: "Parker Reproduction guns were in every respect equal - if not superior - to the originals." He has dedicated this article to the memories of Michael McIntosh and Larry Baer.

If you're a fan of Parkers and Parker Reproductions you're likely to get a warm feeling from reading the article.

Shooting Sportsman
 

Great article on the inception and history of the Parker Reproduction by one of the Masters in the gun world.... David Trevallion! Thanks David. 😊

shootingsportsman.com/parkerrepro.

Look forward to seeing that.

Great article. Very informative on the story.

It's nice to see the article. I don't think DT brought any new information on the repro, but the article summarizes the repro very nicely.

Ken

I certainly hope a copy of this article will find a home in the Parker paper section of the archives.

I will be seeing Dave in the very near term, I'll ask for permission to do just that.

The Parker Reproduction Story
 

I think I may have shared this information in an earlier post some months back but will mention again in case someone missed it. When I was interviewing Jack Skeuse in the mid 1990’s for The Parker Story section on Reproductions he indicated when they lost their production at the soon to be closed Olin-Kodensha factory they began to search for another manufacturer in Europe that would & could build their gun to the same high quality that was done in Japan. They talked to several but found only one that met their standards and was willing to make it. ( As I recall it was in Italy ). The problem was they would have to ask a retail price of approximately ten thousand dollars for it after manufacturing and production costs. Realizing this was not feasible considering that their previously made DHE grade gun was in the three thousand dollar range.

This merely illustrates the measure of high quality of the Japanese Olin-Kodensha made Parker Reproductions. Tom Skeuse (and family) demanded and expected nothing less! 😊

. . . and if you take that $10,000.00 that a Parker Reproduction DHE would have to have retailed for back in 1989 and plug that number into an inflation calculator, a Parker Reproduction DHE would retail for $20,393.95 today! This makes the currently available Repros in today's marketplace look like screaming bargains, eh?

What was done with the making of the Parker Reproductions is truely amazing. They do remain as one of the best guns you can buy for the money.

Many would not know that the guns were actually manufactured for such a short time period. Even though they were available for purchase for longer than that.

One example of mis-information is that I had heard that the manufacturing facility stopped production because they decided they could make more money in manufacturing car parts. But the article states the facility was simply demolished to build a golf driving range. I trust the article as truth.

And this is all the more reason to say "The Parker Reproduction by Winchester is a grossly undervalued 'remanufacture' of a classic American SXS shotgun."






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And now is a great time to buy. With the lowering prices in the market, I am seeing many Reproductions at lower prices than I have ever seen them at.

In some ways I guess the reproduction was better than the original. Modern steel and much better wood generally. But it is in the fit and finish area that I think they fall short of the original, at least the DHE. I bought one when they came out but have sold it. My gun and others I have seen did not generally have as nice a wood to metal fit. Also, the checkering on my gun had run overs and crossed lines. I have seen the same mistakes on other reproductions. The stock finish was some type of poly that was a bear to remove. I re-did the barrels, removing the made in Japan and Winchester logo, took the checkering down and did it right including mullered borders and put an oil finish on the stocks. The engraving might have been finished up by hand but it was clearly done in an automated fashion.

But the real benefit of those guns was that it got a graded “Parker” in the hands of many who could not afford the originals in small bore. All in all a good venture, but for me personally, I’ll stick to the originals.

My first "Parker" was a repo 28ga with a straight grip and sst. I was in my early 20's at the time and couldn't have been happier with my "Parker". The 28 led to adding a 20 and a couple that had such nice wood I never fired them. To me the 20 is a heavy gun but the 28 is fast and lively. If you want a small bore the 28 Parker repo is unbeatable.........unless it's an original Parker:)

The Parker Reproduction Story
 

A good friend of mine that I have hunted with for many years purchased Reproductions in 20, 28, and 12 gauges in the 1980’s as they were first offered. He has pretty much used them exclusively since first acquing each one. He has literally shot several hundreds of rounds through each of them with only one malfunction and that was in the 12 gauge when it doubled on him during a hunt in the rain. Upon returning home he dissasimbaled, dried it out, cleaned, oiled it and put back together. It has never doubled on him since. It has a single trigger as does the 20 and 28 gauges. They have each performed flawlessly. A darn good testament for the durability of the Parker Reproductions. Tom Skeuse delivered on his objective to manufacture an original Parker clone at an affordable price to those sportsmen that could not afford the original “Old Reliable”! 🤗😊

The unengraved A-1s in the recent auction were a screaming buy. Brian picked up some and yesterday, I talked to a neighbor who also bought one in the same auction.

Dad bought a 28 gauge when they first came out. Then, when the clearance sale came at the end, he bought a 20 gauge and Uncle Hugh in Charleston bought a 20 gauge with him. I bought Uncle Hugh's 20 gauge a few years ago from his grandson.

I had a SG DHE in 28 ga. with DT, 26” with IC/MOD chokes and a splinter. Kathy’s is a 28 ga. DHE with PG, DT, BTF, 26” with Q1/Q2 chokes and I used to swap barrels and forends depending on the bird I was hunting, the early or late season or the clays game. A really great combination pair of Repros.






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Dad's 28 gauge is a straight grip with a single trigger. His 20 gauge is a pistol grip with a double trigger. My 20 gauge is a straight grip with a single trigger. A great trio of guns.

i always wanted one of them reproduction parkers even way back when they first came out...still want one but aint made the call yet...maybe someday....charlie

I just reread Mr. Trevallian's story on the repro and realized that one small import piece of the history was missing. John Allen reported that 25 sets of original factory 30" 12 gauge barrels were manufactured. This fact is well worth inclusion in the Parker Reproduction History.
Bob Jurewicz

I can't copy the article to our web area because there is some issue with a photo. Sorry.:crying:

I don't doubt you happened to buy a Parker Reproduction in which the checkering had overruns or crossed lines, but I believe that to be the exception rather than the rule.

I just examined very closely the several Repros that I own and could not find a single overrun or any crossed lines in the checkering, nor do I recall any other Repros I have owned or have examined that have shown these issues. I've also gone through the twenty pages of the "Let's See Some Wood" thread and could not find a single example of a Repro that has overruns or crossed lines.

I wish someone would post a pic of what I've been missing. :corn:

The biggest fault in the Checkering on Parker Reproductions is that on the DHE guns and forends of BHE guns, the point patterns are not true point patterns. They are fill in patterns. The whole pattern was laid out at once and then the checkering filled in. Vs. the borders of the pattern being defined by the checkering like a true point pattern should be. ie: the straight borders of the pattern should be parallel to the lines of the checkering. You will find this situation on nearly all Reproduction guns. It is simply a quicker way to do things in a production setting.

Was the checkering done manually, or was it laser cut?

That I cannot say. I wasn't there. It would be interesting to know.

Parker Reproduction brochures state that they were hand checkered.

The checkering doesn’t look to have been laser cut but the border cuts look like they may have been.






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My comments were not meant to be derogatory of the repro’s, just my personal take on the gun being better than the originals. They were an awful lot of gun for the money when they came out and still are. But the fit and finish of the DHE’s is not the equal of original guns. I don’t see how it could be and keep the price at a point where the gun would be marketable, even being built in Japan. The checkering was not a true point pattern as Brian pointed out and the checkered area of the skeleton butt was glued on. And, of course, the case hardening was not bone charcoal. None of this detracts from a gun at the repro’s price point. If the gun was finished the way Parker did it, it couldn’t be brought to market at a price that put it in reach of the average person.

My gun and the few I have examined were early guns. Perhaps the later repro’s had better checkering. Sometimes I can correct mistakes in checkering if they are not too bad. But on this gun I had to take the checkering down to the wood and do it properly. The checkering on my repro was very poorly done, especially on the forend. Cross overs, depressed areas where a mistake was made and then checkered deeper to cover it up and other imperfections. I’m not saying this was typical. But I did see mistakes on a few other repro’s I examined back when I had an interest in them.

All in all it was a great effort to bring these guns to market and price them within the reach of the average person. They were fine firearms and will last as long or longer than the originals. My hat is off to the folks who made this happen.

I was told that after Mr. Skeuse delivered the original to Japan, he told them to copy it exactly. When he got the first prototype back, he was disappointed in the quality of the finish, particularly on some of the internals. He was mad about some tool marks, until the Japanese showed him that there were tool marks n the original, so they copied them. Anyone else heard that?

No, I haven't heard that one . . . but, I have heard something similar . . . It has been rumored that Parker Reproductions equipped with a SST often doubled as a result from being cloned from a Remington Parker with a SST that doubled. The Repro was so well cloned from the donor gun that it, too; doubled. This rumor was regurgitated repeatedly by a prolific internet poster that thought it was his life's calling to inform the masses, others then followed by spreading this same unfounded rumor and soon virtually all SST Repros had a tainted reputation.

[QUOTE=John Dallas;260355Anyone else heard that?[/QUOTE]

Yes, i’ve heard or read that but I don’t remember who said or wrote it.





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Jack Skuese is often on here.

The Shooting Sportsman story is interesting. I recommend the chapter on the Parker Reproductions in The Parker Story. I have seen a few people have Bachelder do a stock refinish and charcoal case coloring to the Reproductions and I recommend that to people who want a look closer to that of the originals. I also think they are great guns and a bargain, particularly to those desiring a 28 ga.

There is a heck of a lot of great material (interviews, reviews, and brochures) in Robin's Modern Parker Paper album http://parkerguns.org/forums/album.p...pictureid=9948. This is one of the reasons I said the article was nice, but it resurrected or reaffirmed what has already been put out in print.

Ken

Yes, the article rehashes some of the material already in print but the importance of the article is the author, David Trevallion. A well respected and authoritative individual to say the least. What does it hurt to add another piece of paper. I bet most of the Meriden gun collectors wish for more paper, not less.

What the article does nicely is summarize everything very well in one writing.

In a follow up to this previous post . . . I neglected to mention that this same prolific internet poster that bashed SST Repros at every opportunity presented him, currently owns two Parker Reproductions. Ironically, wouldn't you know it -- both are single trigger guns.

I have owned a half dozen reproductions over the years and currently have several original Parkers with SST. I have never had an issue with any of them doubling.

Now THAT’S funny!





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