So How Strange is Gun Collecting?
 

Why do guns that are on your "buy list" never come up for sale?? Guns you figured you would never see or own in your lifetime hit the market??? I set my sights high for 2020 in terms of must have purchases and figured I would make it through the year with no additions to the collection. But 4 guns that I figured I would never see came up for sale and now reside in my collection, four are on the way to a dealer for sale to keep the count even. So I purchased a AH 10ga, my second AH and I figured I would never own more than one since only 11 were made. Then a Fox DE (104 made) from a pawn shop in Ft. Worth Texas, four months of waiting to make make the deal!! A beautiful AE straight grip for sale on the Parker forum, straight grip single trigger and upgraded to B style stock-----a real deal from James -----keep an eye on his listings---he has great stuff!!! And then a really nice HE Fox 32" 3" chamber nice condition my 2020 shooter on ducks. If I had looked for any of these guns I would still be awaiting, how about you

Interesting how that happens for some while I have been looking and waiting for months/years for one of four guns on my list! You should have listed your four here, one of them could be one of my four!

Where did you find the HE?

It is so hard to plan your buying for that reason. You have to have stuff on your list and then be ready for the stuff that comes from left field that just fits somehow. I now have an official wish list and then one called "not wishlist but would be cool to have" trying to anticipate the stuff from left field

A lot of our members are getting older "me included" and they are thinning their collections, but! low and behold like Craig says the gun you thought you would never have a chance to own shows up. Well you have to try to buy it if it's reasonable and in your budget, I told myself this years resolution was buy no Parkers in 2020, I did good for about 4 days then my resolution which I must say was based on good intentions, went south, so far I have bought 2 Parkers both hammer guns. but heck I could not pass up a 38" 16ga 0 frame gun. Gary

Over the years, when I least expected it, what should appear, but three great HE Foxes, one lettered to Nash's retail store, a pretty nice AHE trap, a wonderful Parker .410 skeet, a Parker try gun, a VHE 20 skeet, a short rack of very high condition Sterlies, the Gold Hearts gun, a couple of 20 gauge Parker singles, a couple of nice 32" Parker smallbores, purchased on this forum, three of John Phillip Sousa's guns, including his Daly Diamond Grade single, and many others. I should not have a "want list", especially at my age, but of course I do. But even I don't know what's on that list.

I usually run across & miss out on the guns of my dreams when I'm low on my gun funds from either recently buying another gun or paying off gunsmithing bills.

I don't consider myself a collector, I'm a "professional accumulator". So I don't really have "a list", but it seems that I'm always stumbling across something that I think I just have to have :).

I missed my chance for my dream shotgun , I managed to save up about 6 grand at the end of November . I really wanted a #6 frame Parkers because I like heavy guns . Pugs had two for 4995$ but I couldnt get in contact with them so I ended up buying a rifle . Then not long after that I seen a #6 frame 10 ga on GI and on here and by that time I had done spent my money . You dont know how hard I wanted to kick myself haha .

a few of us are just gathers collecting anything that comes along from a gun to a rusty tin can...charlie

Charlie, I've bought a few tin cans in my career, but I've spent thousands of dollars converting them into things kind of like shotguns.

Ive accumulated all kinds of things over the years guns , steam engines , cars , women , alcohol, 18th century furniture etc etc etc . And one things for darn sure NONE of them are inexpensive in the long run . Although some are quite a bit more costly than others :rotf:

The bottom gun is the AH 10ga that I just acquired. Funny it has a brownish tint that does not show up in the pictures, The top gun is a AH 10ga also. Both are listed as show guns in The Parker Story.

I never thought I'd own a high grade small bore. I have two CHE 20's and a 32 inch BHE also a 20. Then out of the blue comes an AHE 20 with factoery 28ga barrels:eek:

My custom rifle bug has been getting a lot of attention lately what with the Mannlicher stocked 6.5X55 and the Winchester High Wall in 38-55. I need another rifle like a third mortgage but am contemplating another single shot in 300 H&H:eek:

a good friend i use to trade a lot with once told me it had took him 50 years to acquire all of his collections and now it was gona take 50 more years to get rid of his collections...i am beginning to see the truth of it...charlie

OK, Rich, tell us what action you will use for the .300 H&H single shot. How about a takedown with .300 H&H and .375 H&H barrel sets? Now, that would get my juices flowing. Is the 1885 Winchester action suitable for those two calibers?

Yet another twist is when you spot something good but somewhat unknown to the seller while at gun show. As happened last weekend with a Number 2 (Grade 2) Ithaca NID Super 10 that was hiding at the end of a table. The gent knew it was an old Ithaca 10 gauge but that's about it. I made a shamefully low offer that he declined but when I came back later "ready to go out the door" he relented. First full year of production (1926) gun, all original with hunting wear, no wood cracks, buttplate gun never cut for a pad, 32-inch tubes with factory Mod and Full chokes stamped 2 and 4, perfect bores, unmolested 2-7/8" chambers, lever well right. A good day …… :cool:

you have to love those super tens - looking forward to pictures of this one

once again - nice snag Frank

Bill I can get a new production Frasier action for about $1600. I'll most likely go with a tricked out Ruger #1 if and when I do the build. The Winchester action wouldn't work for either caliber. It's just a thought at the present time, but it's good to be thinking :)

Do you know anyone who can do a takedown conversion on a Ruger #1?

No I don't off hand. I'll ask my smith if he can. Dewey Vicknair comes to mind though

Here you go Rick.

Love the nid 10 s. Frank what is it choked in .000 ?
Nice gun
Scott

Chokes are 21 and 39, full tapered out to the muzzles. That's with my Stan Baker bore mike. JME, it's common for many bore micrometers when calibrated for 12-gauge to "run out" when measuring 10-gauge and give erroneously large numbers for bore diameter and choke constriction.

thanks for the pictures Frank -

nice wood - and great gun

I get a kick out of some of the guns they put upland birds on -

I have a very early 9 lbs 12 ga 32" quality 3 LC with a woodcock on one side and a grouse on the other. hardly the tool for the job