New Member From Upstate NY

[Hixie]

I posted this to another thread and thought I would it would be appropriate to add it to this one. I've been around parkers all my life because my father collected them. I never actually owned my own but hunted with them often. About a year ago I became an owner/collector when my father passed away and left two (of his six) GHs to me. Both were originally 12 ga, 1 frame, 26 inch Damascus barrels.

One is a family heirloom that was my grandfather's. His name was Edwin Hicks and he left it (in a round-about way) to my father who was also Edwin Hicks. Now I have it, my name is Edwin Hicks, and I hope to leave it to my son, you guessed it...Edwin Hicks. It is in fair shape, a little loose at the hinge pin, a repaired crack through the wrist of the stock, and Dad replaced the Damascus barrels with steel; a Del Grego job I believe. But I will get the barrels back on face and hunt with it.

The other GH is a resurrection project that my father started and I finished. It was a disaster when he acquired it but he saw something in it and now it is pretty nice. Dad was a dyed in the wool grouse and woodcock hunter and he favored the shorter barrels and open chokes while hunting over his English Setters. This gun and a 0 frame 20 bore were his bird hunting guns.

I consider myself an upland bird hunter as well so my interest is in Parkers that are suited for that, and I like the simple elegance of the G grade. To expand my collection, I would love to acquire a 16 and/or 20 ga CH (who wouldn't?) but I may be priced out of that market. I would settle for a DH though.