What did Parker Bros do...

[Mike Franzen]

I have seen several PGCA letters on guns that state the gun was ordered by a company or sporting goods store and shipped out on a certain date. Then a later order book shows the gun was returned for credit and shipped out somewhere else. Sometimes several years may have passed. I have wondered if the guns were used and then shipped back and refurbished by Parker? Or, did the gun sit around in inventory because no one bought and then it was shipped out? Did Parker buy used guns and trade in those?

[Dean Romig]

Yes they did buy some guns back. Chuck will know a lot more about it, and certainly Bill Mullins will know too.





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[Mike McKinney]

I think this is a great question, my understanding is they were very accommodating to their dealers and customers. My understanding is that they might freshen a gun up then re-sell it, possibly at normal pricing. Sometimes it was a matter of up grading, probably happened when the customer was not satisfied, their goal being customer satisfaction.
Others could speak with more authority than me.

[OH Osthaus]

More likely- The original dealer didn’t sell the gun and it was removed from inventory and went back to the factory and eventually was used to fill another order

[Trap3]

Have a SB grade SBT that letters to Winchester Repeating Arms and later returned for credit...

Trap3

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Randy Davis

Have a SB grade SBT that letters to Winchester Repeating Arms and later returned for credit...

Trap3

Winchester, Remington, Peters, and other ammo manufacturers often ordered other manufacturer's guns for the purpose of testing new loads.

(Why they didn't simply use guns they manufactured is a mystery.)





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[Mike Franzen]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

(Why they didn't simply use guns they manufactured is a mystery.)


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I believe in Winchester’s case they were trying to prove the superiority of the model 21 design.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Mike Franzen

I believe in Winchester’s case they were trying to prove the superiority of the model 21 design.

well - i think the model 21 was first sold in 1931, so many of the Parkers made during the rush of shotshell development predate it

i agree with Dean that guns were used as testing platforms

off the Parker topic- but in line with this sub tangent -

My Super Fox was one of the early ones - it was shipped to VL&D where a Mr. L. A. Miller ( i have been unable to find any data on him-would love to know why he had a new type of gun for it's first season) picked it up within a couple days of its arrival in October

and then Mr Miller returned the gun to the store at the end of season from where it was sent 2 1/2 blocks down the street to Winchester -

Unfortunately the Winchester records in the Cody Museum do not include the NYC store's data.

[Dean Romig]

Did Winchester make a SBT that they wanted to compare to a Parker SBT?





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[Trap3]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Did Winchester make a SBT that they wanted to compare to a Parker SBT?





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Not to my knowledge... never even aware of a prototype.

Trap3