I didn't buy any Parker's this year but I recently did feed them. I bought at a local estate sale a Spolar hydrolic with 12/20/28 dies. Quite a big difference from the Mec's.

:corn:

OK Mills what did you get?

That's the spirit Mills! I added a Remington Whitmore on Friday and with a week left in 2018 anything can happen...

Chuck, please let us know how the Spolar compares with the Mec.

I just got a quality 2 lifter around 19,000 serial number range

Mills, you are keeping me busy with letters. Have you received all the letters you requested?
One of your recent posts said you were waiting for a letter in the mail. Did you get it?

There is one outstanding but it could well have been lost in the madness of holiday mail. Don't worry about it now. It is the toplever around 26,000

Just send with the next research letter

OMG Rich. The Remington 700 is a fine gun but selling a pre 64 model 70 in 250 Savage????? Other than 22’s, the only rifles I own are pre 64 Model 70”s, the Parker of rifles. This was as shocking to me as learning that Dean bought an off brand double this year. True, it is a magnificent example of a small bore Sterlingworth, but geez guys, are all the purists gone? I guess I’m one of the last purist hold outs.

Guess I'am not a purist either. Bought an 1896 Ithaca Crass with 32 in barrels and an L.C. Smith grade 2 with chain Damascus barrels. :rotf:

"Strike when the iron is hot"

"A rolling stone gathers no moss"

"Don't deny the giver"

"He who hesitates has lost"

All of the above apply in the case of "an offer that can't be refused" :bigbye:





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Let's not forget a classic "A Fox gets the game":bowdown:

Okay Non Parkers?
very early Ithaca Minier 16 “special” in 90% original condition
Win mod 21 12, dt, splinter 30” very early , nice condition!
Fox Sterly Trap, 12, 32”super original condition
Darne Halifax 16, straight stock
Early LC smith field 20 bore
Belgian Guild .410 hammer with fancy laminated barrels, real nice condition.
Magnum Research 1911 Commander frame .45acp
My Grandads early Colt Match Target .22

I bought a number of graded Parkers this year but my favorite, believe it or not, is a 16 bore Trojan. With its modified and full barrels, it will make a great woodduck gun. It was just the kind of project gun I look for. Untouched and obviously taken care of. Little blue left on the barrels, the checkering almost completely worn and little stock finish remaining. No refinishing errors of the past to deal with. I restored it completely and I look forward to using it next fall when my woodies are again in the beaver ponds and flooded timber.

Tom I have collected pre 64 M70's for decades. The 250 has a 1 in 12 twist rate and even with careful hand loading groups were bigger than I like as it's to slow a twist rate to stabilize 100gr bullets. I also sold two 7MM mausers (7x57) a std rifle and a carbine but I still have a carbine and it's a great deer rifle. Also sold std rifle in 35 Rem but rest easy as this purest still has a dozen or so left. including a 300 Savage, only about 360 built:rotf:

Of all the Model 70’s I had the one I wish I had back was a circa 1961 264 Win Mag with a factory stainless 26” barrel . I killed a BUNCH of deer with that rifle . I had a 56 243 Varmint and a 60 220 Swift Varmint both with factory stainless barrels , I wouldn’t turn either of them down if they came to me again !

Today, Christmas morning, I received a very special gift gun from a very special young man who is mature in his thinking beyond his 13 1/2 years.

When Cameron Leeds, my grandson, was about 5 or 6 years old he started showing a deep interest in my shooting and hunting and asked me all the time to take him shooting and hunting with me. He would pick up a stick and pretend it was a gun and pretend to shoot things, including me, his parents and his kid sister with his stick gun.

I guess he was about 7 when I thought about all the times I asked my Dad to take me to deer camp with him - always being told "Maybe in a few years Dean..." and those few years were so long to come and I had to wait until I was about 13. So, when Cam was 7 I told his parents in October I was taking him to Vermont with me to indoctrinate him in the ways of men, woods, animals and guns. That first year he carried a stick and I began his gun safety training, pretending his stick actually was a gun. I was very strict in where he was pointing the stick and warned him "Hey - watch where you're pointing that gun, that thing might go off and you'll kill your own Grampy!" And so went his first hunting season...

The following spring I made him a "gun" from an old .22 bolt action stock and a piece of 1/2" copper tubing painted black and attached it to the stock. The finishing touches were some international orange tape applied in strategic locations for safety's sake when he pretended to hunt back home in his yard.
It was about 3 1/2 lbs and easy to carry all day long and this new "gun" was a much better training tool. He learned to mount the gun at flushed birds and I was still very strict about where that muzzle was pointing and I told him when he could "load" it and when he needed to break it open. He had a great few years with that pretend gun and he really did learn a lot from how I demanded he handle it.

You may remember my article in the Spring 2017 Issue of Parker Pages "Cameron Leeds' Heirloom Parker" where he was bequeathed with the family Parker 20 gauge VH... and so he graduated from his pretend gun to the real deal - a Parker of his own.

Today Cam may be the youngest PGCA Life Member and his whole family is very proud of him and for several reasons.

Back to my opening sentence...

The special gift gun I received from my grandson, Cam, was his original "pretend Gun" that I had made him a few short years back... but re-purposed as a hat rack / coat rack that he wants me to mount on the wall of turkey/grouse/woodcock/deer camp there in the Vermont hills. I'll put it there and there it will stay for as long as that stone camp stands... it means that much to both Cam and me and to the rest of the family and folks who know of our special relationship.

Today he repaid my efforts of helping to ensure his future as a true sportsman. His gift filled me above the 'full line'.


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I've followed this thread and at times been in awe of some of the guns that our colleagues have acquired this past year. I don't think any of them seems any more "valuable" than what you added to your collection today. It's too bad that as Time has eroded the general public's respect for guns, hunting and the coming of age traditions associated with this way of life, there are so many who would not understand what you shared with us about yourself and your relationship with your grandson. Thanks for sharing your gift with the rest of us.

Thank you Garry - it all means more than words. I'm sure you know that.




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You are a blessed man my friend. Sometimes a gift just exceeds it's physical properties and this sure is one of them.:bowdown:

You’re re right Daryl, thank you.





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PS- Cam has really good form in that second picture.:)

I hope Cam takes it down for his son some day and it continues it's work for many generations to come.

That's awesome Dean!

Absolutely wonderful.

The 250 Savage was not designed for 100 grain bullets, which came much later in factory loadings after the cartridge was introduced. It shoots the original 87 grain bullets just fine. I like the 250 Savage. It’s a classic caliber. I wouldn’t have a problem using the 87 grain bullet on deer. My 243 handloads for deer use an 85 grain bullet. I hope you at least have some seller’s remorse Rich. That was a great rifle and caliber you sold. I wish I owned one.

I have three 99s, two in the .250-3000 load. One is from the late teens and the other from the 40s. Both will handle 100 grain bullets, but I had some 87 grain bullets loaded for them and they are deadly accurate. I've read lots of accounts of this load being effective on deer. I've almost quit deer hunting entirely (the dogs don't like it when they have to stay home), but taking out one of those 99s for deer is still on my "to-do" list.

The early 99s were great guns. Classics for sure. I always wanted one in 300 Savage but never got around to it. Is your other 99 a 300 Savage?

My 3rd 99 is chambered for the Savage .303. It is in nearly new condition and I've only test fired it. I seem to gravitate to loads that are hard to find, and I shoot these rifles so seldom I don't see investing in reloading equipment. My older 250 has a peep sight which I really like. I grew up in Virginia deer hunting in a "poor man's" hunt club and was influenced by an old guy who shot a 99 with a peep sight. He was deadly with that gun (not sure what caliber it was). He wore climbers and would pick his tree when the conditions struck him as "right." I and another younger member went on a squirrel hunt with him one day and using his climbers (and a cut sapling with a notched limb cut in it) we got 6 squirrels and two 'coons without firing a shot. He climbed the trees with the sapling between his teeth while I or my friend held his 99 just in case a buck might wander by. Yep, we were breaking laws pulling squirrels out of den trees and nests, but it was great fun in that long ago time. I can still see that well worn, old 99 of his. They are great rifles in my book, biased as my book is...

I've sold off some nice M70's Tom and someone wanted that 250 Savage in the worst way. The proceeds help fund the Purdey light game gun so it was for a good cause.

My Dad had a 99 chambered in .300 Savage with a peep sight just like Hubert’s deer rifle. I wonder how many 1950’s deer camps could brag of two identical 99’s?
Dad could punch 3” groups with his but Hubert was far more deadly with his taking head shots whenever he could so he wouldn’t waste any meat. My Dad was with Hubert one time when a red fox was on a dead run at just under 150 yards and Hubert took the top of the fox’s head off.





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That’s the way it goes Rich. We sell some of our great guns for the next gun we just have to have. But I have some guns I would never sell and will get passed down someday. My 270 pre-64 is one of them. I grow attached to some of my guns because of all the memories and those are the one’s I would never sell. The wood, fit and checkering done by Johnson of Seattle in the 70's on my 270 is much like the work that Al Biesen used to do and rivals his guns. Plus I have taken many heads of game with it and just plain enjoy shooting the gun. To me, some guns are just like old friends. The other inventory gets rotated from time to time.

I think we all have guns and then there are the go to guns, the ones we enjoy using more than another even if it's the same gauge or caliber. My favorite rifles are a pre 64 M70 7MM carbine and a custom Ruger #1 7MM-08. I've really come to enjoy the Purdey with the 2 inch shell and Gunner's gun is an old friend that evokes smiles and tears at the same time. I have no one to pass these down to with the exception of Gunner's gun which will go to a PGCA/Fox member who also has a son who I believe will be a shooter/hunter and it can be passed to him as well.

Rich, must I keep reminding you that I'm up for adoption?

I’ve gotten in a terrible habit of buying this that or the other and wanting to kill a deer with it before going back to old favorites. And I usually kill 10-15 each year , I’ve been wanting to take my rebarreled 700 that’s now a 26 Nosler out again but I d still got several I’ve not blooded yet :rolleyes:

Join the club:whistle:

Harry I'll keep that in mind:)

I just picked up a Grade 2 lifter in the 20,000 sn range. 12 gauge in great shape. Hope to shoot it this weekend. Have my sights on a few more, but probably not until 2019

I totally forgot about my Fox sterlingworth. A friend put me on to it. It's been restocked to a straight grip with a very nice piece of wood. 16ga 28 inch tubes and open chokes. This was a real bargain.

Just picked an O Frame 28 Gauge yesterday that started life as a D2 ,20 Gauge ! Won't receive the gun until next week ,hoping the letter will say the rebarreling work was done at the factory ! Not sure if this qualifies for a 2018 or 2019 acquisition but I am very pleased to have snabbed it up either way !:rotf:

Snabbing is Good!