Is a CSMC-built Remington Parker AAHE considered a real Parker or is it a reproduction?

Commissioned by Remington Arms to original Parker standards, in my opinion it is as real a new Parker as you can get today... only it is produced in a different, modern plant by, of course, different employees (nobody lives forever - even in earlier Parker days).

Perfectly acceptable 28 gauge and .410 bore guns can be reproduced using either the 000 or the 00 frame for either gauge. The factory produced both gauges of gun on both sizes of frame, so Tony could do the same. With the proliferation of Parker Repro 20 gauges for $3000 to $4000, the market for the expensive Galazan version would be nonexistent.

You could say the same thing about Parker Reproductions, except they were commissioned by Tom Skeuse, Sr. instead of Remington, eh?

Here are my thoughts as a Parker shooter, collector and enthusiast.

I don't use the term "real Parker". There are various Parkers and all are interesting, desirable and have their own merits depending upon personal preference details, availability and costs.

These include Parker Bros ( Meriden), Remington Parker transition guns ( Meriden), Remington Parker ( Ilion), Parker Reproduction ( I use this term because that is what the maker called them) and the new Remington CSMC Parkers. I have or have had them all except the new Remington CSMC Parker and I would be very interested in that gun.....only if. I only exclude the 1980's Remington Parkers because there are just a handful of them.

Great guns, all of them.

As I recall from seeing the Goldenberg gun, it isn't an unadorned production model. How about that, Dean? Right or wrong?

I would say that it is considered a "real" Parker since it is being made under license by the company that owns the rights to the actual brand and design.
And I think they are even carrying on with the serialization as well. But I may be mistaken.

Of course, cost could be saved by going with The Hayes prototype design, but that never got fully off the ground in Meriden, so it could not be called full out Parker today.

.... Right! I was there too when Ken opened the case at Pintail.


You can say that again Bill. What a nice Parker that is.

OK, for use folks that weren't there when Ken opened up the case, please describe the gun for us. I'm assuming it is one of the Remington Parkers made in the 1980's??? Gauge, grade, etc.

I've done a few letters for him, he lives in the next town over from where I grew up. I may need to pay him a visit next time I'm in the area.

It would be very hard to make a case for anyone to produce an 'affordable' Parker in today's world. The best example is circa 1994 when they were practically giving away the Repro's. Who wants to be the guy who steps up to be the next to give away Parkers?

But no, the last real Parker was shipped sometime in the 1940's. The rest are all fine guns, to be sure, but only a person who had never made anything with his own two hands could call them real Parkers. Because if we allow CSMC to produce a 'real' Parker, then there's no further distinction to letting Rong Fu Arms produce one in the middle of China. A Parker is more than the name or the 'rights' to who owns the name. There's the real deal, then there's the followers.