Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Noreen
Does anyone actually have an unmolested Parker Bros. 12-gauge, gun chambered for 3-inch shells, from the period 1923 to 1933 that letters as such?
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Dave has gotten me to reflecting:
I have owned 3 and still hunt with a Long Range 3 inch LC Smith, a Super Fox 3 inch gun of which I have owned two, and retain two M-12 3 in Heavy Duck guns.
I have not actually seen or handled a Parker 3 inch gun. It does beg the question:how many Parker 3 inch or 2 7/8 inch guns were actually made
and sold?
Other manufacturers by the 1930s were surely taking up market share: Winchester, Fox (Sterlingworth), possibly Ithaca, and some British doubles.
Fox later used up the last of the HE grade barrels and frames to market
a waterfowl heavy Sterlingworth. The price of that rarer late Fox was close to the original Super Fox HE price. Not many were offered or sold.
The Depression and new game law restrictions on geese and duck limits played a part in supply and demand. Many hunters bought used Model 12 pump shotguns in the 30s because they could not afford even a used double gun.
An Abercrombie and Fitch NYC 1933 used gun catalog, personally owned- offered a Parker A-1 Special for a bit over $200.