The correct number is right around 400 and the Appendix total is way off. A long time ago, Charlie Price and I gave presentations at the annualPGCA meeting on 8 gauges. We both, at that time, had roughly the same total number, 386. Since then, I have seen a number of Parker 8s that were not in any of the records, so I would guess the number could exceed 400. As far as purchasing an 8 gauge, grade 3, parker for $1300, the transaction would have to be less than on the "up and up". Either someone was grossly taken or the seller was transferring unowned goods.

Id love to be able to own a parker 8 ga . all the ones ive seen though are between 10-20k .
I almost got a davenport 8 gauge but the shop owner wouldn't do a buy it now only auction . If I keep buying all these 10gauges though I could sell a few to buy one 8 gauge .
though selling 3 or 5 guns to buy one just wouldn't seem right . congrats on the purchase you lucky dog

I thought I was going to be looking at a 10 gauge with 32" barrels. I assumed when I spoke to the seller over the phone he was wrong on his measurement of the barrels.The seller insisted the barrels were 36". I was a bit confused and thought the gun might be a special order. So I decided to take a couple of hours off from work the next day to take a short ride to see this gun since it piqued my interest. When I first saw the gun, I noticed the large frame immediately and the long barrels. The seller told me his gunsmith looked the gun over and that's where we got his specs including the price. Not sure who his gunsmith is but I'd never bring a gun to him for sure.
When I got the gun home I looked in my Parker Gun Identification and Serialization book to see if the serial number was listed. Yup, sure is on page 453 under serial number 156,970.
Does anyone know where to get shells from or do you have to reload?

You'll find vintage but sometimes not that vintage ammo at gun shows. I bought one for Destry a few years back off a table that had quite a pile.

Ive heard gamebore will load 8 gauge ammo upon request or made to order . rocky mountain make solid brass cases or you can resize 8 gauge industrial cases. they have a extra step on the brass that has to be removed .

What am I missing? I think I'd feel better about shooting that half-tame deer on a pay ranch.

i do not know what it would take to import, but they still hunt waterfowl with 8 bores in the UK.

so they must have shells or reloading components

I had posted this scrap of a recent article in the Field a while back in a discussion of Tolley 8 bores

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...psfeb61591.jpg

and can ya sue a gunsmith for malpractice :rotf:

Well, obviously (or perhaps not so obvious to some) my comment about screwing widows out of their guns is made tongue-in-cheek. It's my way of bringing to light my distaste for people who feel they are heroes for having made a 'steal' of a deal, which often comes at the expense of others.

I have no idea how the OP bought an 8 gauge for $1300 but I don't mean to imply he took advantage of anyone. Let's suppose he bought it at an auction that wasn't attended by anyone who wanted Parker shotguns - that's one example of how to buy a Parker 8 for $1300 fairly.

But more to the point, even, is my distaste for the idea that some collectors have more righteous collections than others based on how they acquired the gun. But based on the number of likes received by the post that suggests a person who paid market value for a gun has a lesser collection than someone who found a way to 'right price own' the gun.....I can see I am too charitable in my way of thinking.

tom armbrust use to load 8 ga shells may still do...but reloading your self is the way to go..precision reloading and ballistic reloading have all the hulls and wads and so on to load and roll crimp your shells...you can use a old lee 10 ga hand loading tools to deprime and punch the new primer in with and push the wads in with..you can make a tool out of a old set of pliars to make something to resize new indusrial hulls to fit the 8 ga shotgun..in other words about anything can be used to load up the hulls for the 8 ga once you buy them and they are not bad in price 50 cents each at the most..plenty of us fellows have reloading info to share if need be...charlie