Shooting Sportsman VH Review
 

So, how many errors can we find in this --

https://shootingsportsman.com/parker...ource=hs_email

I read it when I received my copy in the mail.
I must say I found it to be just a cursory somewhat inaccurate or incomplete “history” of the Parker Gun.
I won’t delve into the mistakes or inaccuracies but will say that it shouldn’t be accepted as completely factual.





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Like Dean, I too read Mr. Buck's feature in the hard copy version. And while it may not be minutely accurate, it does serve to spark renewed public interest in the Parker Gun. For that, I'm willing to trade a few copy glitches for a wider exposure of the classic Parker to potential new enthusiasts.

Others may disagree.

Are the relaxed grips worth more money?

A relaxed grip is the way you're supposed to hold the gun while shooting. As for a grip style, looks like I have a lot of relaxed grip guns!! :rotf:

The article struck me as essentially a mini- "Cliff Notes" version of Peter Johnson's book, condensed into 2 1/2-3 pages for easy reference.

What caught my eye was --

Business went very well until the Depression of 1929, and then it fell off from thousands of shotguns sold each month to just a few hundred.

More like a few hundred each month to no more than single or double digits. Very likely there was never a 1000 gun month in Parker Bros. history. From the chronology in the back of The Parker Story the best year was just over nine thousand in 1883.

When the VH was first introduced, in 1899, it sold for $50.

$50 was the high list price. What they actually sold to the customer for was the $37.50 net price. For some now long lost reason all our manufactures put a very high "List Price" on their products which actually sold for a much lower "Net Price." The practice seems to have died out with the inflationary period that accompanied The Great War. Both prices given in this 1906 Wm. Read & Sons catalog --

Attachment 98465

I prefer the no grip guns.

Not to be overly picky, the Lifter was not the first action design, the T-latch was for the first couple or three years then the Lifter took over.

The year of lowest Parker Brothers shotgun production was 1933 at an arguable 83 guns.
The following year, 1934, was the year that Remington bought the Parker Gun Works and approximately 289 guns were sold.





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The best new articles on Parkers coming out are the ones about individual guns or about some facet of the guns that has not been explored yet. But like said, if it sparks more interest in Parkers, so much the better.