I don't believe I've ever read a better reply to such a dumb question! John Madole must have been a very impressive man.






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I just realized I thanked most every post on this thread. Must be a lotta soul here!

Well now after the assanine responses I got to the REM/Krieghoff 32/K-80 I suppose you'll just have to live with my personal feelings on the Jap knockoff' and with that being said you can throw Galazan's stuff in there as well .

Well ... Ya know how it goes with opinions. I thought some responces were very well thought out. A great thread....

Soul is like beauty - in the eye of the beholder

Several years ago I made a comment in a post how some guns had a 'warm feeling' and others did not. The responses I got varied but generally I got the feeling many thought I was an idiot from that comment. I will grant you, I am an idiot, but that single post could not have given you that much insight.
I became aware of this feeling many many years ago, when I was able to wander around with other peoples Purdeys and Hollands. I distinctly recall almost every Holland had something that the Purdey did not.
I've long since given up my fascination with things Anglophile, except possible good Ale. My senses haven't numbed simply because I now can pick up most nice, original Parkers, and sense this warmness. I'd die from exposure trying to keep warm with a repro.

Kinda my feeling about people as well .

Ya... Thats funny mine too....

Soul
 

Well, while I have perished this thread with great interest, I have found a great variation in what some will define soul as. One comment by Fishtail caused me to pause and reflect. That was his comment on the Winchester model 24. While not a classic, and not the canoe Oates model 21 that so many hold in such high esteem, I have a model 24 that has more soul than Gladys Knight, her Pips, The Four Tops, the Temptations and James Brown all rolled up into one.
That little 16 ga 24, bought by a young man, age 24 in the midst of the Great Depression with money earned working in the WPA and used until he gave up hunting in 2001 at age 86 brought more game home than most guns ever saw. From native pheasant on Staten Island, when the population was less than 45K to ducks and geese along the now lost NE Atlantis flyway, to grouse [ partridge] as the old man called them and woodcock in the high Catskill mountains and the Poconoes. There were many buck harvested in the shotgun only counties of NY and NJ. The first time I was allowed24 on the outsid to go to deer camp with him was 1960 and although rifle country, he carried the e chance a shot presented itself for me. Well, in 1961, on a very cold late November morning, sitting with my Father atop a mountain, freezing but afraid to shiver, he quietly pointed towards a stand of mountain laurel and there, making its way towards us was a black bear at @ 150 yards. We watched in a statue like pose in what seemed like an eternity and when that bruin was at about 50 yards, that model 24 let loose with both barrels, one after another. That sound crackled forever it seemed until the silence was deafening. And the bear laid dead. Taken with a gun more suited to rabbits and birds. That gun hunted the northeast for six plus decades always the go to gun. There were others he used including a beautiful GHE 12 ga. but the 24 was always present either in hand or waiting in the wings as the pro always did. The most amazing thing I have ever witnessed was a shot Dad made on a real nice Dutchess County whitetail buck sporting a 9 point rack. As we were walking to position ourselves as standees on a drive, walking a small overgrown tote road, a driver yelled "buck coming your way". Looking towards the voice, that buck was hell bent to get away and flew over the slate walls bordering the road. In full flight about forty yards in front of the old man. Without hesitation, he shouldered that old, worn out 24 and swung through the shot like any good wing shooter would and that buck fell dead smack dab in the middle of the tote road, killed with a single pumpkin ball. Dad was 81 at the time.
To this day, no matter how many fine Parkers pass through my hands and how well sime handle and shoot, for some unknown reason, that old Winchester model 24 16 ga. outperforms them all. I'll call it SOUL but it is rather uncanny but some might call it his soul.

Pleas excuse that damn auto spell etc. thanks Jim

Very nicely told Jim. I'll bet that ol' 24 holds a coveted position in your gun rack... and in your heart.






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Dean, more than you know. As Dad got older, like many of his generation, shot shells were never separated, just returned to any empty box. Well hunting pheasants in Rhinebeck NY, with his 3 Brittanies, who were as odd as he was at times, pointed and flushed two cockbirds at once. That old 24 emitted an odd sound and one rooster literally blew apart. Dad loaded the right barrel with "00" buck and that pheasant never stood a chance. His words of wisdom were " don't have to gut that one, just put him in the soup"

Well, as some might say, That has to be the defining answer that any gun can have soul! That story is why some men will be buried with a favorite shotgun or rifle and a box of their favorite shells, a fifth of their favorite beverage to fight off the cold and no doubt wearing their finest L L Bean boots under a hand sewn suit chosen by their wife. The gentlemen should be carried to his final resting place in a solid walnut coffin in the back of his favorite 1948 Ford F-100. The head stone should note that such a gentleman will rest in peace until the final Hunter's horn is blown to call us all to the great hunting lodge in the sky where all old dogs and hunting buddies will be waiting.

Christ Jim ,you sure spit that out! ...off all the stories you ever told ,that one is still the best

I know which one I'm taking

Hilarious ,Edgar ...how long did it take you to do that ?,the kids up here usually just rearrange the message into something similar with swear words ,always good for a head shake and a chuckle on the way to work ....but you sir,show real ingenuity !

I know which one is going in the box with me too Egger

Oh NO! Not the 16 gauge lifter...:shock:

Oh NO! Not the SBT with gold inlays...:shock:

Oh NO! Not the 20 gauge Trojan...:shock:

Oh NO! Not the 30" 16 gauge GHE...:shock:

Hey - Wait a minute..... Which Parker is going to the crematorium with your sorry ass???.....:eek:


.......cause I want the others!! :bigbye:





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Just for that Mr Roming I ain't tellin

Actually it's Murphys gun but I don't have any pictures of it.

I have a Parker repro with added Merkel 16ga. barrels. This gun shoots hard! I have dumped wild roosters way beyond what a normal 16 should and I stood looking in disbelief! I don't know why but its a hammer in my hands....(-: It is the best rooster gun I own period, its been to Kansas on every trip. It is a young shotgun in the realm of things but truly is a special shotgun. Too me it has soul it must have stolen from a 10ga.....(-: SXS ohio

If you're suggesting it will be that 16GHE, Don't waste your time Dave, You ain't going to Heaven anyway.

Now THAT hurt my feeling. LOL ........

I'll say it has soul - I rubbed those barrels like a budda's belly and recited several incantations over them just before I sent them to you :)






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You lucked out Kenny

Becoming quite the computer whiz now, are'nt we?

:shock:I just bought a Repro:whistle:

Well Mark - start imbuing some soul to it - :cool:






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I am working on it:)

I just had a 28 ga repro monoblocked from a 26" barrel to a 34" 410 with nice tight chokes.

She patterns extremely well. Nice beavertail, nice weight to the barrels/ etc.

For me she has the potential to develop soul. For others I am sure they would call her some names. To each his own. :)

This would make a great little article for Parker Pages. :cool:

That would make a great article and give the gun some soul.

Patton or Doc Lehew told me about that gun and I had thought they said it was an original, I'm glad it was a repro !

Did Merrington do the barrels ?

john thats got to be a really special gun...them long barrels and tight chokes would be one fine squirl gun in tall timber...if santa would give me a wish it would be for him to bring me a gun just like yours....charlie