For all you big bore fans

[Dave Suponski]

Taken from the March 1937 issue of Hunter,Trader,Trapper magazine. Read to the botton of the Winchester 32 Caliber Automatic column. Happy Easter!

[calvin humburg]

Dave, Now if you will just get that time machine done...

[scott kittredge]

seem like a high price for 1937. wonder what grade it is and who has it now? scott

[Mark Landskov]

Cool! That outfit was in Minnesota. I wonder if that Parker was used for 'Market Hunting' on the Mississippi Flyway? Ja, that was a lot of ducats in 1937, you betcha! Thanks for sharing.

[Bill Murphy]

Frayseth's was a major dealer in big bore shotguns. They advertised that they were buying big bores all the time and they offered many big bores in their classified ads. I get the impression that their customers were shooting big guns long after they were outlawed for waterfowl.

[charlie cleveland]

im gonna go to the bank and barrow that 250.00 dollars in the morning and get that parker 8 gauge...thanks for the heads up and a good EASTER SUNDAY to all also....ps may get that 3 doolar 12 ga single to if they will loan me 3 more dollars....yep times are still hard.... charlie

[Bill Zachow]

The $250 in 1935 would approximate what an 8 gauge Parker in fine condition would go for today--$8,000 to $12,000. Nothing really gets much more valuable after youconsider the effects of accumulated inflation.

[Dean Romig]

seem like a high price for 1937. wonder what grade it is and who has it now? scott

I agree completely... very high price for that time.

This one is also from the same time period.



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[Pete Lester]

I always wanted a big one. :)

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I think most folks would be surprised at how few Parker 8 gauge guns were used by market hunters. If you hunted ducks for the market you couldn't have afforded one, there wasn't really a lot of money in that sort of work.

Legal market hunting ended in 1918, it was still going on in 1937 but nobody was using a $250 shotgun to do it.


Destry

[Bill Murphy]

I can't imagine what grade the Fraseth's Parker 8 gauge was. In those days, eight gauge guns were relics to be used only as wallhangers.

[Fred Preston]

I would guess that market hunters at the turn of the last century were into Browning's autos and Winchester's repeaters.

[Bill Murphy]

You are right. However, I have read the Fraseth's ads since I was a child, and never understood where his market was. Does anyone have one of Fraseth's lists?

[Larry Frayseth]

Bill, glad you enjoyed reading my grandfather's gun lists. Regarding his market, in addition to his regional Minnesota and Dakota customer base he ran ads promoting his gun lists in major hunting and trapping publications which created a world wide market. Yes, lists still exist in the family anyway and I'm sure in some private collections. Guess we didn't know better as you say 8 gauges were only wall hangers in the 30's, heck we used them along with 410's in the 60's and 70's shooting hand trapped clays just for the fun of it and it was an absolute hoot. Thanks for tweaking memories of a great time long past.

[George M. Purtill]

Bill, glad you enjoyed reading my grandfather's gun lists. Regarding his market, in addition to his regional Minnesota and Dakota customer base he ran ads promoting his gun lists in major hunting and trapping publications which created a world wide market. Yes, lists still exist in the family anyway and I'm sure in some private collections. Guess we didn't know better as you say 8 gauges were only wall hangers in the 30's, heck we used them along with 410's in the 60's and 70's shooting hand trapped clays just for the fun of it and it was an absolute hoot. Thanks for tweaking memories of a great time long past.

Holy smoke its a darn small world.

[Bill Murphy]

Thanks for the reply, Larry. In my research files, I have hundreds of Frayseth's ads, still attached to the magazines.

[charlie cleveland]

i really like to read and talk about the prices of old...in the early 60 s i use to read the ads in the gun journals prices for these old 4 s and 8 s...they usally run from 400 to 600 dollars... i wore those adds out reading them....today i still read the for sell ads and watch the internet for these big guns and little ones but now its like then all i can do is read and want only differance now i can see pictures of them sometimes...well i guess id better say i did buy a few on the way.... sure would like to get a ride on that time machine when you boys get it fixed...will set the dial for 1937 and buy that 250 dollar parker... charlie

[Larry Frayseth]

Just reading from my grandfathers gun list that he mailed out on Oct 28, 1929. Has a 8 guage double for $35, 36" barrels and "is a dandy for long range fox and wolf". Guess that resolves the question on what to use big bore shotguns for after the waterfowl issue ;-). Was an earlier question on his pricing of a 8 guage Parker in 1937 at $250, as I see it, if he had something that was dear to his heart his price reflected that and both Parkers and big bores were dear to his heart.