| Bill Murphy |
08-14-2012 09:10 AM |
Trap guns are scarce and among the best target shooting guns of all Parkers. They are being snapped up by competitive vintage gun shooters who prefer not to create a competition gun through a long term "project". Oddly, Parker trap guns largely don't seem to have suffered the hard use and abuse that later trap guns seem to have suffered. Some have survived in good condition without serious modifications. One advantage is that a Parker trap gun is worth the expense of a restock if the stock in place is not acceptable. Some of us who prefer double triggers will find an original Parker trap gun so equipped to be difficult or impossible to find. A double trigger Parker of other than trap configuration with a vent rib is equally hard to find. If you want to shoot an original long barrel Parker with vent rib, you are pretty much stuck with a single trigger. I know of a couple original double trigger Parker traps, but that is about it in my experience. A trashed out Parker double trap is well worth restoring if you can find one. More than a few years ago, I lost a lot of the sight of my right eye and went searching for a crossover gun for the only competitive games I was shooting at the time, flyers and vintage sporting events. Shortly after my condition was diagnosed, I was at the Allentown Gun Show and spied what looked like a crossover stock on a gun under a table. The owner didn't seem to be willing to show it to me and even said it was not for sale. Not to be denied, I came back later and repeated my desire to examine the gun. It turned out to be a factory original (except stock) PHE 30" vent rib trap with extra set of 26" factory vent rib bird barrels. Talk about some luck, except it wasn't mine. A bit of "meeting of the minds" made a deal happen and the gun has been my go to pigeon and clays gun ever since. By the way, in my experience, about 75 to 85 percent of original Parker traps are 32" guns.
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