Byron, they are great guns! There are no serial numbers that are better than others, and as has already been said, single trigger (and sticky safety) problems are most likely due to the gun needing a good cleaning. I've owned 8 of them and have never had a single problem. The only thing wrong with getting a 3" chambered 20 or 12 ga gun is that nearly all will be Mod/Full choke. That's too tight for quail, and Full choke is too tight for steel. The 12 ga "Steel Shot Specials" had 28" bbls, 3" chambered, IC/Mod (few were made), and it is also possible to find non-"Steel Shot Specials" in that configuration (I know because I own one) but they are rare. Any Parker Repro with chokes more open than Full can be used with steel shot. Maybe your best bet would be a 12 ga with 26" bbls and IC/Mod chokes. They tend to be the least expensive combination, and would be good for quail and doves, plus you could still shoot 2 3/4" steel loads for ducks (plenty of shell in my opinion). Broken stocks can happen with any shotgun; I broke the wrist of my pistol grip 28 ga Repro (it's not just straight grip guns that break). However, I fell down pretty hard on the gun, and I'm not sure that any gun wouldn't have broken in 2! The figure in the wrist was fine; there is just not much wood in the wrist, especially on the 28 ga guns, and it broke behind the tangs where there is deep inletting for the tangs plus a hole from top to bottom for the rear tang screw. It was not too hard to fix though. Good luck and let us know what you buy!
Joe
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