What mistakes have you made buying Parkers?

[Andy]

I searched for titles related to "mistakes" and "mistakes made" and didn't find much. This is prompted by a recent thread which I found instructive as many of them are. I have 4 Parkers including a repro. I guess I could say my biggest mistake so far is buying a 26" VHE 12g choked M/F. It doesn't handle all that great and I've been bitten by the 16 bug anyways. The 12 is in decent
and mostly original condition from what I can tell, and at my price point I don't think I'll have much downside if any at all. I usually specialize in losing money on guns. I hope to avoid a big mistake in the future as I feel another purchase coming on. So far I feel blessed that folks here helped me avoid the big loser.

Anyone care to share a mistake they've made for purely educational purposes? Of course : )

[OH Osthaus]

i bought the first one

[Joe from MO]

Not made a mistake on a Parker.....

Did make a minor mistake on an Ithaca 16ga, but it all worked out really well, when someone traded me a very nice Browning Citori 12ga Super Lightning for it. I came out well ahead at that point. The Ithaca was my first sxs pickup, and although the gun was mechanically fine, I paid too much for it. Luckily, someone traded me something that was worth more than I had paid for it originally.

[Jeff K.]

I can't remember them all.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Rick Losey

i bought the first one

Now that is funny as hell Rick

[Gary Laudermilch]

A long time ago, probably 35+ years now I was in a phase where I was convinced the answer to the ideal grouse gun was light weight. I purchased a GH 20 with 26" barrels primarily because it weighed only 6 pounds. It was a miserable gun to shoot for many reasons and was about as far from an ideal grouse gun as I could get. It went down the road after 1 season. Still believing that light was the answer I put out a pile of money for a Purdey 20 thinking that surely anything that costs that much must be good. That Purdey turned out to be one of the worst I ever had. Fortunately, both were sold for more that I paid for them so my lessons were not expensive, just time consuming. Eventually I got somewhat smarter.

[Dean Romig]

I've made 2 1/2 mistakes on Parkers -

The first was on the first Damascus gun I had ever bought, a GHE sixteen gauge on the 0-frame. It had 26" barrels that I learned after I took delivery that they had been cut from 28" but that didn't bother me too much because I bought it for close work. The worst thing about it was that some kid had got ahold of it and tried to make a POW grip with no cap out of a capped pistol grip. What a butcher job! it had a very nice DHBP and real pretty grain in the stock but it was "butt ugly" and Tony cut me a deal on it,,, yeah right...
But it was the first SXS I ever killed a grouse with and it kept on killing grouse and woodcock until I retired it ten years ago or more. By the way, I sent it to Oscar Gaddy and he measured the chambers and barrels and pronounced it safe to shoot with low pressure shells.

The second mistake was a beautifully refinished GH 12 gauge with 30" Damascus barrels on the 1-frame. It was a gorgeous gun but I didn't realize it but I believe the barrels had been honed. I shot it to try to qualify for Team Parker back in '06 or '07 and almost made the team with a score of 18 smashing some clays just before they hit the ground out about 50 yards. Problem with that gun was it came off face too soon and I figured somebody had tightened it up somehow but the fix wore out prematurely. I learned the barrels were thin by the way the right tube flattened along its length when I fell with it on my brick walkway when I got home from my trap/Skeet club. My grandson had left a toy on the walkway and in the dim light I didn't see it and went down but I sure didn't think it was hard enough to do that to the barrel.

My 1/2 mistake was on a 16 gauge, lightened 0-frame Grade 1 hammer gun I bought at Hausmann's about eleven or twelve years ago. Turns out it was the only one made in this configuration. It had Laminated Steel barrels with a length of 26" and it was a pretty little thing. Problem was that I didn't notice the ring bulges (of only .007") at both cones. The seller wouldn't take it back but gave me $2,000 off the price, I wrote about this gun in Parker Pages "Shot To Destruction." I had Brad repair it and he blessed it with "It's fine to shoot to your heart's content." and I still have it and have killed a lot of birds with it.





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[Pa SxS]

My mistake didn't involve a Parker but a Westley Richards SBT. I learned a big lesson. When I bought my first Parker from Ken Waite iii at Pintail Point, I had Dewey Vicknair and Craig Libhart check it out before purchasing. I try not to make emotional and snap decisions thinking you know more than you do. Knowledge is power.

[Robert Brooks]

I bought a 20 ga DHE way back with 26 inch barrels that i learned had been cut 4 inches! Bobby

[GH-16]

My number 1 Parker misfire was a big one, but it wasn't the guns fault. I bought a sweet little VHE-20 ST vent rib gun off Gunbroker from a seller in Maine. "Dean Knows the gun" After I had the gun in my possession for a least six months a cop showed up at my door asking about the gun. He told me it had been reported stolen & had the paperwork from the Maine court system showing he was to take possession of the gun and send it back to Maine. The last I saw of the gun was the cop walking down my driveway with it & putting it in the trunk of his cruiser.

The pawnshop seller in Maine said he checked if the gun was stolen before he listed it on GB and basically said it look's like you have a fight on your hands, it not my problem now and refused to refund any money on it. I did get named as a restitution person from the criminal case involving the thief for what ever that was good for. Bottom line is I lost close to $5000.00 on that deal!! I do have a Eastern insurance policy on my collection, but they deigned my claim due to the clause about not being covered for government confiscation.

This one still stings to this day!!