going to pick up a new parker this weekend

[Joe Mason]

im from minnesota i visited puglisis in duluth last fall on my way up to the north woods for a week long grouse hunt,what an expirience that was, first of all john puglisi is a great guy he took me through the whole shop and showed me gun after gun, guns that i will never own, guns that i was afraid to touch because they cost more than my car!!! (now what surprized me the most about this is that i am covered in tattoos from my feet to my chin and am much more used to the sound of a car door locking as i walk by than somebody rolling out the red carpet for me) john really impressed me.. i didnt know a thing about parkers at the time and he gave me a bit of a crash course in parkers and planted a seed... now im not a rich guy, i work for a living but i am resourcefull i wouldnt fit the typical profile of a double gun collector. shortly after i got back from my grouse hunt i started reading about parker guns first in DGJ and then purchased a copy of Parker by peter johnson... at the time i owned a 1919 fox sterlingworth 12gauge as my only hunting gun (and still one of my favorites)ive owned alot of doubles but nothing "vintage"...well that was in october i now own a 1919 sterlingworth 12gauge 28" barrels mod/full, a 1912 sterlingworth 20 gauge 26" barrels ic/mod, a GH Parker from 1896 with 30" damascus barrels full/extra full, and im going to pick up a parker hammer gun this weekend, i plan on taking it out this spring on my first minnesota spring turkey hunt this year, its is a 0 grade (i belive) hammer gun built in 1893 sn 77481 built on a #1 frame 30" plain twist barrels choked full/full 2 3/4 chambers probobly not that impresive of a gun value-wise but feels sleek and light for a 12gauge to me, probobly due to the slim #1 frame....., the gun is in great original shape, ill post some pictures when i get it home!! i get alot of satisfaction from my modest gun collection all of these guns have some kind of spirit to them a bit of "soul" and history.. im hooked