To answer the original question of why small bore guns were not as popular in the old days, any gauge under 16 was considered suitable only for ladies or kids. Serious hunters and shooters used 12s and 16s. I have owned a few small gauge guns that according to family history were bought as first guns for children. That was just the mind set at the time. That is why Parker,LC Smith,and Ithaca made so few small gauge guns. Remember that AH Fox did not make anything smaller than 20 gauge.

Maybe that's still the case, John, that .410s are for kids. That makes me a 74 year old kid. I'm okay with that thought.

This shotgun was my inspiration for this thread. I wanted to bid on this one but got blown out of the water. It’s safe to say that the winning bid of $110,000 which, when you add in buyers premium, was about 6 figures higher than I could afford. I would have bid $25k, maybe a little more to outbid someone on it.

I don’t see how this is a $132,000 shotgun?

To someone it was worth that. To me no way. To each their own. I think at that price it’s whether you’re a shooter or collector. That’s how I boil it down some people pee that kind of money away. I don’t judge or begrudge in the end it’s good for the brand. My guns see rain snow branches and mud so I can’t justify it but I’m happy the buyer got what they wanted!

It's all about condition and rarity. Not many .410s were produced, very very few .410s in the skeet configuration. And then to find one in this condition. All these add to investor quality Parker. An individual investing in that niche with the net worth to fund the investments can pay the price. It's the same with those that collect muscle cars, art, decoys, or any other collecting circle. I applaud those who can and do invest in whatever commodity that they choose. The very same risks are involved say investing in the stock market.

John you can bet if I’d have owned the J Cliff Green two gun four barrel set then I’d have shot it , but I seriously doubt I’d have done as well as I did with the Kolar tubed K-32 . It’s worth noting that K-32 had a K-80 Monte Carlo stock and I shot it with two other barrels at trap as well . It’s as close as I’ve ever come to the one gun concept . 28” skeet barrels with Kolar insert tubes , 32” barrels for trap doubles and a 34” unsingle barrel for 16 yards and handicap .

When I bought my .410 skeet, the owner told me that the gun had never seen a skeet field or a clay target, but it had killed a bucket load of quail. It was owned by Warren Woolf of Atoka, Virginia. It is pictured on the cover of the August 2004 Skeet Shooting Review. Yes, I do post pictures. My 20 skeet was owned by Virginia skeet shooter Bob Hess, the fellow who outed the famous 24 gauge Parker. My 12 and 28 skeets also came out of Virginia. I don't know how Craig Thompson let them slip by. Craig has probably shot on the same skeet fields as Bob Hess.

I grew up shooting my grandfather's/dad's 16 ga vh but have owned and shot all the parker gages. I like the 16 ga the most. It's a historical new england favorite on grouse and woodcock.

The sold for price does reflect the Buyers Premium.

Yup, the $132,000 figure includes the buyer's premium. The bid was $110,000.