The thing about research letters isn't really a good indicator of how many Parkers have "come to light". I have requested letters on only about 25% of the Parkers I own. Some people don't have a letter on their only Parker or in the case of multiples of Parkers owned, don't have a letter on any of them.

"I have a feeling that there is a 16 gauge AA hammer gun hiding somewhere"

I know where there might be sort of a AA 16 gauge hammer gun,it's not really hiding ...just waiting ,and waiting , and waiting to come together

I'll believe it when I see it.... :corn:

I think the numbers of surviving Parkers might be surprising if we could actually get a true count. I live on Vancouver Island in B.C. and between myself, my gunsmith and a select few other locals we have approx 150 Parkers here on the southern end of VI. Most of those are still shooters! The Old Reliable is a survivor. I know i would let all my pots and pans go LONG before my Parker :)

I think at one point or another, during the operating years, Parker shipped a gun to just about every state and territory. Many one owner Parkers are doubtless still out there. Even though Gramps died, and Dad didn't shoot, plenty of grandchildren hang onto, but rarely remember to look at, their family heirloom.
Now in the stewardship of our esteemed editor, I was the 2nd to own a little 16 gauge lifter. It lived, for over 125 years, about 40 miles down the road from Meriden.
I often find myself daydreaming about them as I drive by old houses, out in the boonies. I wonder how many have been standing in a dark corner and I drive right by, a few hundred feet away.

I believe that more than half of all Parker shotguns have survived the test of time, and of that number, half have yet to be discovered by the collecting community.

I personally believe that way more than half of the Parkers produced, still exist. They are not scarce. Almost every gun shop within an hours drive of my home has at least one. Using letters as a gauge for quantity will not provide any meaningfull statistic because so few people are members of the PGCA and know that letters exist. When I was more active in collecting 8 gauges, I kept track of every one I came across. I easily located over 40 (10 percent of total production) in a period before the internet.

Parkers were always considered a high quality gun and, in general, were well taken care of. The people who purchased them knew they cost a lot more than other guns and tended to take rather good care of them. Unless they were lost in a house fire or into the lake on a duck hunt, they would last and last. Considering that there are numerous high quality gunsmiths in the US with loads of new parts (check out Larry DelGrego's bins of hammers, triggers, sears, ejector springs, etc .) and the capability of CNC machining, it is hard to believe that any of these guns will be trashed for lack of parts.

By the way, the approximate 40 8 gauges did not include either one of Charlie's.

You said a mouthful there Dean.

I stop at a lot of Pawn shops and gun shops here in the south and the answer I get with a laugh is "we do not ever see Parker guns"I believe They are not as plentiful in the South as they are in New England, maybe more in coastal areas, Gary

A significant number of Parkers went to Missouri, California, the Upper Midwest and other areas as evidenced by the records in the Order Books.