Does your Repro have soul?

[Greg Baehman]

Mine does. Some have it worse than others. The keen observer will actually see it oozing out. :glug:

[ron belanger]

I see it! I see it! :rotf:

Mine is just superficially, beautiful...like a Victoria's Secret model...:rolleyes:

[ForrestArmstrong]

Honest wear is the only thing that separates originals from repros.

[Joe Bernfeld]

Not as far as I can tell :rolleyes:! My wife's 20 gauge Browning Diana Superposed might though.

[Dean Romig]

This one has soul.... I know, I put some of it there myself.




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[Bob Hardison]

Dean: Very nice leather covered pad. Did you do it yourself. Bob

[Dean Romig]

No Bob - in fact, it's not even a Repro. My repros have a lot of 'catching up' to do to have that kind of soul though.

[Mike Franzen]

Dean, when I saw that I thought that's the most original looking repro I've ever seen. Beautiful original

[Dean Romig]

Thanks Mike. Sorry to Greg and others to have cluttered up a Repro thread with an original 20 ga. DH. I wasn't paying close enough attention and didn't realize it was a on a Parker Reproductions page. :o

[Eric Eis]

Dean, when I saw that I thought that's the most original looking repro I've ever seen. Beautiful original

I was thinking the same thing.....

[Greg Baehman]

Dean, no apologies whatsoever are needed, it's good to learn that original Parkers are capable of having soul, too. :cheers: (wink!)

[Greg Baehman]

Soul Emissions (wink!)

[Bill Murphy]

I just looked at my Repro yesterday. It has soul. It is everyone's dream Repro. 28 gauge, two barrel set, double triggers, beavertail, original snap caps and oil bottle, and now, two forends. Unfortunately, the long barrels are about useless with .039 of choke in the left barrel. I have a 28 gauge Arrizabalaga with identical chokes that is just as useless.

[Dean Romig]

Bill, you should take up prarie dog shootin'

[Greg Baehman]

Bill, you should take up prarie dog shootin'
I think he should high-tail it down to his local library and enroll in their two minute intensive training course entitled "How to Post Pics on the Internet". :dh:

[Bill Murphy]

Greg, great idea. However, my lovely Repro would not be first in line for picture posting. I should probably look for another Repro with "Soul", but there are so many originals out there. Buying three great original keepers at one auction last month has kind of kept me out of the Repro business.

[Greg Baehman]

Greg, great idea. However, my lovely Repro would not be first in line for picture posting. I should probably look for another Repro with "Soul", but there are so many originals out there. Buying three great original keepers at one auction last month has kind of kept me out of the Repro business.
We're not fussy, you can start posting pics of whatever suits your fancy. :corn:

[Michael Murphy]

My Repros have that elusive soul. They are all light enough for game work and have very good swing dynamics. That is not the case with all of my original Parkers. Some are well balanced while others are somewhat ponderous. A #2 weight Trojan with 30" barrels comes to mind.

[Mark Ouellette]

However, my lovely Repro would not be first in line for picture posting.

Bill,

We are not fussy. We will be happy to see any photos of any of your guns! I'll even come and shoot the photos at no charge.

Mark

[Bob Jurewicz]

Here is a little Repro soul. 16 gauge repro with Q1/Q2.
Bob Jurewicz

[Kenny Graft]

Look at the wood on that repro with two trigger to boot....Bob, you some nice stuff! SXS ohio.....

[Bob Jurewicz]

It is a prototype three (3) barrel set with 16G 28" Q1/Q2, 16G 28" M/F and 20G 26" Ic/M.
Its my "go to" gun!!!
Bob Jurewicz

[Scot Cardillo]

Now that's a dream set - very nice!

[Kenny Graft]

This shotgun has been to Kansas for wild roosters and quail 4 times...it works! Its the hardest shooting 16 gauge I ever owned. The barrels or not factory barrels...they are Merkel barrels added by CSMC. They are choked better/tighter than the original M/F Kreghoff barrels. They are a death ray with fiochi HV 5# The gun still looks pretty good for the miles I have carried it. 6lbs-4oz and is very lively in the hands. It also has a 26" ic/mod barrel set. It would be the last gun I would part with. It has soul and is part of me. SXS ohio

[Gary Laudermilch]

I cannot remember when I got my first repro but it is many years ago. I have had the pleasure, and in some cases, displeasure of using many different guns for grouse and clay targets. It was not until I acquired the repro that I felt I had reached the end of the search for perfection. Very few guns elicit the same emotion when picked up. This gun is special and I have struggled for the word that describes that emotion adequately. Perhaps you have nailed it - soul indeed!

I have had the good fortune to carry this shotgun across many states, different kinds of cover, and behind some of the very best grouse dogs. I've used it to push briars out of the way, fallen with it more times than I care to admit, and even dunked it in a Maine swamp one time. Despite my mishandling it has come through in fine shape. There is still some case color present, the blueing is still quite good, and the stock is in quite good shape considering where it has been.

Yes, this repro has soul. So much so that it is the only gun I have ever given a name - Sweet Pea. I get laughed at by my shooting buddies but until they acquire a gun with soul they will never understand. Go ahead and laugh because I'll have the last one.

[Dean Romig]

One of my Repros. 26", twenty-eight gauge. Actually, Kathy's BTFE and Q1/Q2 barrels on my SG back half. What a great combination!!




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[Chad Hefflinger]

Starting to get some...

[Sandy Moffett]

I've got a guitar and a mandolin that I've had fro 25 and 15 years that had no soul when I first got them but every time I play music on them, especially when others are playing too, they get a little more soul. They've got quite a bit now. Same with my repros. They hate staying in the safe and with each pheasant that drops or rabbit that tumbles they get a little more soul. That's the way doubles get it. The stocks ding and the colors wear away but the soul accumulates.

[Mike Franzen]

MY repro has no soul. It's only seen the insides of factory work rooms, shipping containers, storerooms, gun vaults and it's ever protective case. I don't believe the sun has ever shone it's rays upon it. Certainly no powder has ever fouled it's barrels or no hull was ever kicked out by its ejectors. It's checkering has never been worn smooth by a gloved hand and it's wood has never been marred by a briar or barbed wire. No fur or feather has ever felt it's touch. It is a thing of beauty that has not yet been brought to life.

[Greg Baehman]

MY repro has no soul. It's only seen the insides of factory work rooms, shipping containers, storerooms, gun vaults and it's ever protective case. I don't believe the sun has ever shone it's rays upon it. Certainly no powder has ever fouled it's barrels or no hull was ever kicked out by its ejectors. It's checkering has never been worn smooth by a gloved hand and it's wood has never been marred by a briar or barbed wire. No fur or feather has ever felt it's touch. It is a thing of beauty that has not yet been brought to life.
At least it's got something to look forward to.

[Kenny Graft]

I could tarnish her for you!!!......(-: I could take her to the club and show her all the traps!.....she will never be the same. SXS ohio

[Mike Franzen]

She doesn't even have a name. Perhaps I'll call her Cleopatra ... Queen of the safe

[John Allen]

Here is 12-26.It has broken clays and killed all kinds of gamebirds for me for over 34 years.If that ain't soulfull,I don't know what is.This gun has had over 15,000 rounds through it without a hitch.

[Dean Romig]

It seems that 12 - 26 has earned the title of "Old Reliable".

[Steve Kleist]

My guys attached. (I hope)
Steve Kleist
Ely, MN

[Marc Retallack]

Steve,

When I saw the title of your reply, "Soul Mates", I thought for sure it was going to be a pic of Teresa and you. :whistle:

Marc

[Steve Kleist]

Marc.
She is #1, Tober is #2.
Good thing this post wasn't on Valentines Day. UFDA!
Steve

[Marc Retallack]

You're amongst friends, Steve. You can tell the truth about your rankings;)

[Steve Kleist]

When Teresa and I first met back in the late 1960’s I had just graduated from beaver pond wood duck hunting school and moved to the big water leagues of the Mississippi River near Buffalo City, Wisconsin. My little ten - foot jon boat with a three horse weedless Evenrude outboard was too small and just unsafe for the big water. That problem was solved with a handful of overtime paychecks from my graveyard shift job at an Eau Claire, Wisconsin tire factory. I was filthy payday rich. I bought a wide and deep fourteen-foot flat bottom boat and a brand new Johnson 9 1/2 horse outboard which resembled a Maytag washer with a prop. Teresa and I named the boat Sweet Blindness after a 60’s era song and we spent every free moment watching sunrises and sunsets, and the clouds of divers funnel down the Great River valley.
The River can be tough on boats especially traveling in the dark. One late October night in a hurry, headed for a special spot, a memorable thing happened….. We left home for the river on a Friday after work, negotiated the winding river valley roads that led to the Mississippi, landed the boat, and made our way by boat thought the black maze of shifting sandbar channels. In the darkness at full throttle, as if a 9 ½ has any other speed, we smacked an elm stump that had washed into our path nearly tipping the boat. We survived, shaken, with only an odd dent in the bow of the boat. Saturday brought a cold still duckless day. It was mid afternoon on the Mississippi. Suddenly, out of nowhere about a dozen canvasbacks slipped silently past our cedar decoys heading for Spring Lake downriver. To our amazement, they turned in a long line and coasted back into the decoys. Teresa stood with her little 20 gauge pump and shot once. Four canvasbacks tumbled from the flock!
Unbelieveable!
Stunned, surprised, delighted, and very proud, I proposed marriage to her right then and there. (The smartest thing I have ever done.) She promptly accepted and we have been hunting pals ever since.
Later we moved to Ely, MN where canoes are standard water transportation. Sweet Blindness saw less and less use. Finally, unneeded, I sold her to some guy in the Twin Cities. That was the last we saw of Sweet Blindness.
Fast forward about 40 years. On the very day we arrived to purchase our dream of a duck camp in Canada, the camp partners converged in Manitoba. One partner from Wisconsin arrived towing a trailer with a jon boat, a wide fourteen footer with a 25 Merc. That boat was nearly a twin to ol’ Sweet Blindness. This one was in much better shape, it had a nice camo paint job, a new trailer, a new boat cover, and it was clean and well kept. I told him nostalgically about Sweet Blindness and the wonderful and memorable times we had had in our boat. I told him about the night we hit the stump in the back channel, the dent, and the canvasback proposition. The look on his face told it all. He showed me where the big dent had been repaired, and the boat sandblasted and repainted. Our old boat, Sweet Blindness, had returned!
An unbelieveable story, but true!
The boat now lives in the Manitoba boathouse. Teresa and I take her for a ride every October and reflect on our nearly fifty years together...shoulder to shoulder in the blind, watching sunrises and sunsets, introducing our children and new puppies to the duck blinds for waterfowl fun. Now there are grandkids and grandpuppies. We still reminisce in the old boat, cherish the spectacle of migrating waterfowl every fall, and realize how unbelievably lucky we really are.
The circles of life continue.

[Steve Kleist]

Sorry, I did not mean to hijack this thread. Boats have soul too.
Let's get back to Parker Reproductions.
SK

[Dean Romig]

Sure, right after I compliment you one more time on your writing. Your stories are inspirational and that one reminds me of my early days with Kathy starting in the early sixties... 1961 in fact, is when we first decided to be exclusive to each other.

[Marc Retallack]

Well now, don't I feel like a lump Tober left behind. Great story Steve. My best to Teresa (and Tober too).


Marcus

[Steve Kleist]

Marcus,
Don't feel bad. It was a great opportunity to tell a story. However, our "pint" is still on the table.
Thanks, Steve
Tober says "Anytime!"

[Sandy Moffett]

Don't worry about hijacking, Steve. That's a great story.