Not too long after I bought my little 28, a fellow named Al Oden attended an ATA shoot at our gun club. He showed me two 28 gauge VH Parkers that he had for sale, both $200 as I recall. One was a 24" gun with beavetail forend and blued frame. Even at 15 years old I knew a trashed out non original gun when I saw it. It was a nice shooter, but not for $200. The other gun was a high condition original gun, 28" barrels, loaded up with color. This was a great gun, even at that price, but I had one just like it, didn't need two, so I passed on that one too. Al said he had lots of guns at his place of business and my Dad and I should come over some time. Al had a rough bar in Glen Burnie, not far from Baltimore. Dad and I went over one Saturday when Al was apparently at a trap shoot. We didn't get to see Al, but we played the slots, Dad had a beer or two, and we looked at the guns that lined the walls of the bar. From the time I was a pup, Dad and I liked to play the slots and play pool in the seedy bars in Southern Maryland when on fishing and hunting trips. That was the first and only time we went to Al's place and I never did get to see the rest of his shotguns.
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