Parker Trojan Model

[Charles McCallion]

Looking for general info on Trojan model. I’m aware it’s the lowest model sold by Parker. Looking for dates of manufacture. TIA

[Brian Dudley]

Charlie,

The Trojan was introduced in 1912. It was a result of work to try and introduce a $25 gun as a new field/base model. All other makers at that time had a gun priced at $25 and Parkers lowest prices offering was $37.50 (for the VH).

It was made until 1939 when Remington dropped it from the line after the move to Ilion, NY.

The gun featured plain wood stock with simpler checkering. A plain serrated buttplate with no spur. The frond fastening was a coil spring loaded snap on type. The frame had minimal sculpting/filing. And no engraving embellishments. The barrels did not have a patent dolls head rib extension. they originally just had a straight extension which was later eliminated completely. The metal finishes on the gun were the same as any other grade of Parker gun.

Though some exceptions exist, the Trojan was not able to be specially ordered. It was limited to 12, 16 and 20g. In specific frame sizes (2, 1 and 0 respectively). Barrel lengths were pretty fixed to two different lengths per gauge. Extras such as Ejectors and single triggers were not available.

[todd allen]

Despite the plain exterior, the quality is quite good, and they carry, and swing nicely in the field.
My little 20 handles like a wand, and is truly a pleasure to carry.

[Charles McCallion]

Charlie,

The Trojan was introduced in 1912. It was a result of work to try and introduce a $25 gun as a new field/base model. All other makers at that time had a gun priced at $25 and Parkers lowest prices offering was $37.50 (for the VH).

It was made until 1939 when Remington dropped it from the line after the move to Ilion, NY.

The gun featured plain wood stock with simpler checkering. A plain serrated buttplate with no spur. The frond fastening was a coil spring loaded snap on type. The frame had minimal sculpting/filing. And no engraving embellishments. The barrels did not have a patent dolls head rib extension. they originally just had a straight extension which was later eliminated completely. The metal finishes on the gun were the same as any other grade of Parker gun.

Though some exceptions exist, the Trojan was not able to be specially ordered. It was limited to 12, 16 and 20g. In specific frame sizes (2, 1 and 0 respectively). Barrel lengths were pretty fixed to two different lengths per gauge. Extras such as Ejectors and single triggers were not available.


Wow. This is Charlie’s wife trying to help him out on the computer. Would like to print these replies for him but don’t see any way to send to printer. I’ll kerp trying but thanks for any help. I know he has a Trojan in his collection.

[Joe Dreisch]

then select print from the options which appear!

[Robin Lewis]

Wow. This is Charlie’s wife trying to help him out on the computer. Would like to print these replies for him but don’t see any way to send to printer. I’ll kerp trying but thanks for any help. I know he has a Trojan in his collection.
Hello Charlie's wife. It's nice to see you collecting information on a Trojan for him. I think I can help you with printing and further Parker knowledge.

First, printing. I will assume you are on a computer that is running MicroSoft? That's how I tried the following process.

While reading the page of interest, you should be able to "right click" the mouse on what you want to print and a "drop down box list" should appear with a "print" option to select.

OR, if that gives you unacceptable results; "left click" the mouse at a point where you want to have printed, then (keep the mouse button pressed) move the mouse to the end of where you want to print. The text background will change color for that selection. Now let up on the mouse left button but keep the mouse "aimed" at the selected text and then press the "right mouse" button and select "copy" on the drop down list. You now have it available to drop into a email, word processor or whatever computer tool you use to type in text. Just go there and click the right mouse button and select "paste" from the drop down list. The rest is up to you.... send an email and print it when it comes in or .... BTW. you can "cut & paste" several times to build up what you want to save into one text area.

I hope that wasn't too much or ..... assumptive of me to explain this to you.

If you and he are interested in learning more about Parker Bros shotguns I would suggest first going to the main web page www.parkerguns.org (http://www.parkerguns.org) and looking through the web links listed along it's left side. There is a lot of information gathered up there for easy access. Later, if/when you require more and more knowledge I would recommend a purchase of "The Parker Story" (2 volume set).

[Brian Dudley]

If charlie wants to buy a copy of the parker story, I will gladly sell him one. Have him ask me about it next time he calls me.

[Tom Flanigan]

The very first Trojans had a plain black finish on the frame and the barrels. I have only seen two such guns. Parker then color case hardened the frames and rust blued the barrels like any other Parker. The fit of the metal to metal and wood to metal was usually on a par with the higher grade guns. They were every bit a Parker and handle well. In my opinion, it was the finest field grade gun offered in America. I have a fond spot for them.

[Brian Dudley]

I have never heard that Trojans were ever intended to be factory finished in all blue. What documentation do you have to support this?

[Tom Flanigan]

Brian.....I have no documentation except for Peter Johnson mentioning it in his book. A lot of what Johnson wrote is not totally correct. But he interviewed Charlie Parker and he might have misinterpreted things or just got them wrong. I thought he was wrong about the plain black finish also. But many years ago a bar owner showed me his Parker that his father bought new from the factory in Meriden. The gun was little used and still had all of the original finish. The barrels were plain black and rather dull. The frame had the same black finish. I know a refinished gun when I see one and this gun did not appear to be refinished in any way and the owner said it had never been touched. I could be wrong, but after seeing that gun and one other, I became convinced that at least a few of the very earliest Trojans had a plain black finish. They might have been prototypes but I don't know. Peter Johnson didn't invent his notion of plain black finished early Trojans. He might have heard that from Charlie Parker. It's a mystery.

[Brian Dudley]

Well, it being in Johnson’s book is just as good as there being no documentation.

And how many guns do we see today in families that are 2-3 generations down the line that are completely wrong though the owners refute that they are original and not refinished.

The only two Trojan grade guns that I have ever seen that were factory original blued were both prototypes. One built by hayes in 1928 for a proposed redesign and the other was the Trojan Skeet model intended to be offered by remington. Both hang in the Remington Museum.

[Dave Noreen]

When the When the A.H. Fox Gun Co.’s Sterlingworth came out in 1910 it had a net selling price of $25. The price stayed at $25 into 1916, then climbed quickly to $55 by 1919. War time inflation. A.H. Fox Gun Co. reduced the price to $48 in 1922 and again to $36.50 in 1926. Workmanship of course declined. Parker Bros. introduced their Trojan Grade at $25.50 in 1912, but jumped to $27.50 for 1913. The Trojan’s price climbed like the Sterlingworth to $55. Parker Bros. kept the price and the quality of the Trojan high and sold about 33000 total. Fox began cutting the price of the Sterlingworth and sold well over 100000.

Fox offered a greater selection of barrel lengths on the Sterlingworth and the extra cost options of ejectors, twin ivory sights, a recoil pad, from 1914 onwards a Fox-Kautzky Single Selective Trigger, and from 1936 onwards a beavertail forearm.

Twenty-five dollars was the price point a lot of the companies seemed to shoot for. Hunter Arms Co., 00-Grade L.C. Smith had a net price of $25. Remington Arms Co.'s K-grade had a net price of $25 until they saw the light and moved forward with their John M. Browning designed Remington Autoloading Shotgun and their John D. Pedersen designed Remington Repeating Shotgun. Lefever Arms Co.'s Durston Special had a net price of $25.

[Tom Flanigan]

I don't know for sure one way or the other. But I do know refinished Parkers and neither of those two guns appeared to be refinished. The finish was the same on the barrels as on the frame and it was somewhat dull. The gun owned by the Connecticut bar owner had checkering that was not worn or recut and the stock finish was the typical Parker shellac and oil. I believe I would have known if the checkering had been recut or the stock refinished. I have been restoring Parkers since I was 16 years old (52 years) and so I'm confident in my ability to spot a restored gun no matter how well done. But, as I said, I could be wrong. It's possible but I would be very surprised. In any event, its all a mystery to me. I wish there was something definitive one way or the other.

[Tom Flanigan]

A quick word about Peter Johnson and his book Parker, America’s Finest Shotgun…….I bought the book a couple of years after it came out. I saw it on the shelf of a gun store and was enthralled that a book about Parkers had been written. I loved reading it because he said many things about the Parker that my grandfather had been telling me since I was old enough to know what they were. Johnson was an enthusiast and not a researcher. But his work was the first and he had access to Charlie Parker. I still enjoy reading the book today. It did spark a resurgence in interest of vintage American shotguns, most notably the Parker. I can forgive him for what we now know were mistakes. He was the first to write a book about Parkers long before the others and subsequent research. He and his book are to be commended. I will always hold Peter Johnson in high esteem.

[Charles McCallion]

[QUOTE=Robin Lewis;258921]Hello Charlie's wife. It's nice to see you collecting information on a Trojan for him. I think I can help you with printing and further Parker knowledge.

First, printing. I will assume you are on a computer that is running MicroSoft? That's how I tried the following process.

While reading the page of interest, you should be able to "right click" the mouse on what you want to print and a "drop down box list" should appear with a "print" option to select.

OR, if that gives you unacceptable results; "left click" the mouse at a point where you want to have printed, then (keep the mouse button pressed) move the mouse to the end of where you want to print. The text background will change color for that selection. Now let up on the mouse left button but keep the mouse "aimed" at the selected text and then press the "right mouse" button and select "copy" on the drop down list. You now have it available to drop into a email, word processor or whatever computer tool you use to type in text. Just go there and click the right mouse button and select "paste" from the drop down list. The rest is up to you.... send an email and print it when it comes in or .... BTW. you can "cut & paste" several times to build up what you want to save into one text area.


Thanks for taking the time to help me. I’m doing this on my iPhone and did end up copying and pasting info to a note and printing that. I guess I’ll switch to my laptop to make it easier.

Charlie has been collecting Parker’s and other shotguns such as l c Smith etc for a number of years. He switched to collectible handguns for the past 20 years or so but now is back to shotguns. You guys have been great with this blog. Thanks again.

[King Brown]

Bless Mr. Johnson. He was among the first to get Parkers into print. Not a definitive source but at the time he was valuable for my needs.

[Richard Flanders]

Charles. you can always just copy/paste the selected text into Word, one reply at a time then save it as a word document and print it when you have all the info you want.

[Bill Murphy]

Give me a little time and I will be selling a few of those rare and valuable black frame Trojans. I think about $2200 would be a fair price for a 12 gauge.

[Tom Flanigan]

Give me a little time and I will be selling a few of those rare and valuable black frame Trojans. I think about $2200 would be a fair price for a 12 gauge.

I know you are kidding Bill but have you ever come across a plain black finish Trojan, that you don't believe was refinished. Or is it just me and Peter Johnson?

[Tom Flanigan]

Bless Mr. Johnson. He was among the first to get Parkers into print. Not a definitive source but at the time he was valuable for my needs.

I believe I was 10 years old when I spotted the book in a gun store. Too young to hunt but I was very interested in Parkers and hunting. I had a subscription to the three popular sporting magazines of that day. I had never seen a grade higher than DHE and the pictures of the higher grades in the book enthralled me. I actually wore that book out and the pages started coming out so I bought another copy years later. I am on my third copy of that book.

[Tom Flanigan]

I just came across this gun. Brian please take a look and tell me what you think about the finish. I am not interested in buying it but would be interested in your take on the finish.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/shotguns/parker-shotguns/parker-trojan-20-ga.cfm?gun_id=101121683

[Brian Dudley]

I just came across this gun. Brian please take a look and tell me what you think about the finish. I am not interested in buying it but would be interested in your take on the finish.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/shotguns/parker-shotguns/parker-trojan-20-ga.cfm?gun_id=101121683

Used like hell, Cold Blued, then used like hell some more.

But... the seller says it is original metal finish. So it must be. right?

[Brian Dudley]

Also note that in the period, frames had to be case hardened in order to make them operable. Alloys for gun frames not requiring hardening, like used today, were not used.

So, if frames were to be blued, they would still have to be case hardened first and then blued. An additional step, incurring more manufacturing cost, would not have been utilized on an economy grade gun designed to cut costs.

[Tom Flanigan]

So the question is settled. But, the guns I saw were definitely not cold blued. I don't know what it was but it wasn't shiny like hot blue, so who knows. I've had the plain black finish in my head since I first read it in Johnson's book back when I was a kid and believed everything I read. I really did believe I saw two of them. But memories can be faulty. I saw both guns back in the 60's. My face is red.

[Brian Dudley]

The factory advertisements for the Trojan mention “plain black finish” in regards to the barrels.

[Tom Flanigan]

That's interesting. That would explain the finish I saw on those two barrels, if true. But it doesn't explain the frame being the same color. I think a faulty memory accounts for that. My recollection was that the frames were the same finish, but that was a long time ago. Also, I wasn't as Parker savvy in the 1960's as I am now. I'm going to do some grouse shooting tomorrow to clear my brain.