Hi edgar. There is a difference between being tight and being broke. And this AM odds were high I'd never return to this site again. The specifics of my circumstance are private and cannot end, so that means that much of my desire to return to the shotgun sports is wishful thinking including comments about searching for a better gun...but one is ever hopeful. So I made some comments on other threads to divert me from my reality a little by giving me a reason to log on. (BTW you never did answer my PM about your Colt bow)
Mr. Dudley, I understand your underlying point and agree generally, but circumstance and the specifics of this gun forced my alteration. (Hiding broken stock repairs and a forend gouge underneath the pattern)
Yes, big difference between the originality concern of the collector and someone buying a Parker to shoot simply because they are good guns.
But understanding when and to whom originality is paramount can also lead to excess. Once upon a long time ago I "restored" bamboo fly rods as a hobby business. I was taken to task by the guy who "wrote the book" on bamboo rod collecting because I had completed a rod using a different brand (but identical style tip guide) as the rod originally used since the company making those tip guides went out of business 100 years ago.
"Unless the rod is ALL original down to the brand of silk used to re-wrap the guides it isn't original at all" was his mantra. We argued that keeping to that degree of original was impossible and illogical, but we never did agree. Even so, if you read anything I've ever written or speak to someone who's rod, bow or gun I worked on, you'll pick up on that I say "rehabilitate" rather than restore and/or "as originalish as practical".
Hope you agree the bamboo guru was overly "anal" as by that standard, replace one screw, even internally on an otherwise minty Parker and it is no longer an original gun with no more value than a refinished specimen.
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