New Member from Seattle
 

Hi there,

New user from Seattle! Over Christmas I read the story in Shooting Sportsman about the Parker Reproductions which kicked off my search. My father has an old Parker that he never shoots as its too small for him but we both always loved the history of the company. For me, hunting is an emotional experience and that connection to history certainly adds some romanticism to the entire process.

After reading the Repro article I immediately began searching for one. I wanted a 20, to use as a field gun, with 28" barrels as I tend to be a taller guy. I was open on the foreend, split vs beavertail, as one looks more classic and one is more practical for my comfort.

I recently picked one up while at a tournament in Reno, this sleepy little gunshop happened to have almost the exact one I wanted and at what seemed to be a fair price. I had only about 20 minutes to decide to pull the trigger or leave it and I hope I made the right decision.

I've just returned from my trip to find my new gun awaiting me patiently. I'm thrilled with it and will hopefully have a chance to inspect it more closely and test it out.

Pictures! We need pictures.

Michael, You are so right about the "emotional experience" of hunting with a double the design of which has proven itself for many years. Enjoy that new gun(!) and welcome.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! As a young-ish (30) man, an original Parker in huntable condition is far beyond my financial reach so I feel very fortunate to have found these Parker Repros and, from information I've read online, they seem to be every bit as reliable as the older Parkers albeit missing a certain je ne sais quoi. Hopefully I'll be able to add that after years of hunting in the field.

I'll try to take some pictures tonight of the gun. A few things I noticed in my initial inspection, good and bad.

Good - The serial number on the gun starts with a 'P' which, in the shop, I assumed meant Parker but I have since learned here that it stands for Prototype. Not necessarily any additional value, but cool to me nonetheless.

Bad - On further inspection, the bore of the barrel marked as Full visually appears more open than the barrel marked as Modified and slightly lopsided in thickness (left barrel in photo). This has me concerned that someone may have altered this gun in the past. I don't have a quality gunsmith in Seattle so I'll be shipping my barrels to a gunsmith I trust to get an accurate measurement and review of them. Crossing my fingers this gun hasn't been wrecked by an amateur in the past otherwise I'll have to return it to the shop. I was strongly considering opening up the Full to IC to accomodate steel shot anyway so, if it was done well, it wont be the end of the world, bit it seems off just looking at it.


Additionally, the gun seems to have sat for a very, very long time. The oil is dried to the point that the single trigger selector mechanism is stuck on the L barrel and is immovable. I'll need to have a competent gunsmith give it a good cleaning, anyone have any recommendations beyond the ones in this thread?

Welcome Michael! Congrats on the gun! I hope you can get it out to a gunsmith and back in good working order soon. I too am on the young-ish side (32), and just getting into it all as well. I'm sure you'll be able to add an original Parker or two (or more) to your collection at some point. There are good finds waiting out there.

Sara

Here she be.

Very nice!! From an old Seattle boy who now lives east of Spokane.

You should pattern it to see where that non-concentric barrel shoots.

I plan to. Took it to a range today but, on arrival, discovered that they only allow members to pattern. I have plans next sunday to venture further out and pattern at an appropriate range.

Didn't shoot overly well on the 5 stand with her, but may be just getting used to my first SxS too.

I was able to pattern it and the barrel marked 'Full' is far from it, almost looks like Skeet or Cylinder but hard to tell for certain unless I get it measured. Certainly wider pattern than the 'Mod' barrel. This isn't the worst thing in the world, but I was hoping to be able to be able to make it IC or IM to compliment the Mod barrel on wild Pheasant.

Has anyone put thin wall Briley choked in their Repros? Seems a bit of a sacrilege, but if this thing is shooting cylinder I might have trouble taking down a wild pheasant and don't want to leave cripples in the field.