My 1901 16 gauge Parker

[D. Shane Burton]

I bought these from someone advertising for a friend on a gun forum. The guns had been in the family for years and were the wife's grandfather's guns. They didn't know a whole lot about them and, I guess, neither did I. I just knew that Parkers were the good, old dbl barrels that were hard to find and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to buy them at what I thought was a decent price. I didn't know or realize that morons in the past would cut barrels short. I'd never do that to even a modern gun I own. So that was a surprise to me. I worked the action on the 16 and it seemed to work fine. I was looking over these and two other guns they had and I guess I thought I cracked open the 12 but didn't--my bad. I found out later at home that it wouldn't cock.

I've had other times when someone posted a gun that I wanted on the forum and I lost it because someone else spoke up quicker than I did. I guess the reputation of the old Parkers made me jump before researching them. I had no idea about cut barrels, etc... I thought they looked in fair condition because of the fact they appeared to have some of the original blue and case color, whereas many guns have lost so much of it that they're just silver. I thought this look spoke of originality and not a re-finished gun, which would be a good thing.

It appears I was wrong. I guess hindsight is 20/20.

Shane