What did Parker Bros do...
 

I have seen several PGCA letters on guns that state the gun was ordered by a company or sporting goods store and shipped out on a certain date. Then a later order book shows the gun was returned for credit and shipped out somewhere else. Sometimes several years may have passed. I have wondered if the guns were used and then shipped back and refurbished by Parker? Or, did the gun sit around in inventory because no one bought and then it was shipped out? Did Parker buy used guns and trade in those?

Yes they did buy some guns back. Chuck will know a lot more about it, and certainly Bill Mullins will know too.





.

I think this is a great question, my understanding is they were very accommodating to their dealers and customers. My understanding is that they might freshen a gun up then re-sell it, possibly at normal pricing. Sometimes it was a matter of up grading, probably happened when the customer was not satisfied, their goal being customer satisfaction.
Others could speak with more authority than me.

More likely- The original dealer didn’t sell the gun and it was removed from inventory and went back to the factory and eventually was used to fill another order

Have a SB grade SBT that letters to Winchester Repeating Arms and later returned for credit...

Trap3

Winchester, Remington, Peters, and other ammo manufacturers often ordered other manufacturer's guns for the purpose of testing new loads.

(Why they didn't simply use guns they manufactured is a mystery.)





.

I believe in Winchester’s case they were trying to prove the superiority of the model 21 design.

Did Winchester make a SBT that they wanted to compare to a Parker SBT?





.

It likely was the simple case of retailers returning guns that were hanging around in inventory and not selling. Then Parker would move them to another outlet or sell directly. I am sure that if the guns needed any sort of cosmetic attention, that they would clean them up to maintain a new appearance.

Those interested may wish to read George Purtill's and Daniel L. Shuey's article "Winchester Repeating Arme Co. Test Bank Parkers" found in Parker Pages 2013 Issue 1 - or Dean Romig's article "Shot to Destruction!" found in Parker Pages 2015, Issue 2 (though this article is only 'circumstantial evidence' supported by a PGCA Research Letter).





.