RARITY OF PARKER LIVE PIGEON GRADES
 

I have reviewed a good portion of this site and have not stumbled upon any information or history on Parker Live Pigeon guns. It seems these side by sides were few and far between. Would be appreciative of any guidance on where to look for historical literature on this grade parker less the gun history letter that can be requested through this website.

Paul,

I believe what you are referring to is the AAHE grade introduced in 1895 which is the grade 7 gun and was the highest grade at that time. Initially made in 12ga only and had Parker Pigeon Gun inscribed on the rib. About 10years later it was available in all gauges except 8. Also, later on the Pigeon Gun inscribed on the rib was discontinued. The AAHE was available with Whitworth, Damascus, and Peerless steel. In my opinion, the AAHE is the most beautiful of all guns Parker Bros made.

Some also refer to any Parker sans safety as made for Pigeon shooting but I don't know if this is what you are referring to as "Live Pigeon Gun" grade.

The best source for info on the AAHE is "The Parker Story".

Chuck Bishop

Paul, I searched "pigeon no safety" and got 22 hits on threads that included those words on this forum. You may get similar information over on the doublegunshop.com forum. There is a lot of interest in Parker "no safety" guns, especially ones that are known through the PGCA research files to have belonged to famous shooters. Let us know who your gun is connected with when you get your PGCA letter. Several posters here are experienced researchers of early shooters. Much shooter information is found in the search function of la84foundation.org. The magazine in their research files that includes information on early shooters is "Sporting Life", and to a lesser extent, "Outing".

If you are refering to Parkers ordered without safetys I do not think they are very rare. Why, because I come across them often that being offered for sale. These guns are in grades 3 and higher. Because I like to hunt with my guns I pass them by.

Were the safety-less guns bought for live birds, trap, of perhaps special ordered for the shooter who didn't think that he needed a safety?

In my half a century of playing in American doubles, I've seen more "no safety" Parker Bros. hammerless doubles than all the other American makes combined. In fact I've never seen an Ithaca or a Baker sans safety.

I have owned about 5 "no safety" Parkers, almost all DH grades, a couple of Foxes and one Smith. These are not common but hardly "rare". I suspect most made after WWI were actually trap guns rather than "pigeon" guns. One of my many pet peeves is when sellers describe safetyless small gauge guns as "live bird" or "pigeon guns" (Jay Schachter, he of the interminable, verbose and florid descriptions so often found on GA and GB is a particular offender...) If you see a DHE 20 gauge made without a safety it was almost without question a Southern bobwhite gun...perhaps I am too harsh, the quail were probably "live" when shot at...

I have examined a few Parker orders for "no safety" guns that were clearly not made for pigeons and have never seen an explanation about why they were ordered that way. Nash Buckingham claimed that he didn't need a safety because he never loaded his gun until he was in sight of the ducks. I have not hunted with anyone who subscribed to that technique.

Gents, thanks for all the feed back. Will continue my research to find its origin.

At one time I owned 6 Parkers without safeties.
One 30" straigtht grip known to have been ordered for the ring.
One 34" ordered for a well known trap shooter.
One 32" 20ga I have no idea why or for what she was ordered for and
Three 32" ers with no documentation other than ordered that way.
All were D grades except two VHEs.

If I could walk into the plant at Meriden today and order a new hammerless Parker today I would want one without a safety. One less thing to break or go wrong. I just dont think they are needed on competition guns. As for in the duck blind or in the field thats another story and to each his own.

John

I am in the middle of a 32" VH project right now. It came to me with the safety removed and when finished, the tang will be welded up. No fuss, no muss. The "Gold Hearts" gun is a no safety gun. That is the extent of my no safety collection if we don't include single trap guns.