How old was you when you bought your first Parkers ?

[J.B. Books]

I was 27 when I bought my first Parker, a 28" Trojan 12ga in 1984. I really didn't know much about them but a good friend had a Trojan that he used for upland bird hunting and it was a pride and joy that he spoke highly of. Whenever he made a good shot on a Grouse or Woodcock he would say he Parkerized it. I was in the USAF at the time and was getting ready to go on a remote assignment to a radar station in Iceland. I had rented my house and I was selling my Jeep because I could not have nor would I need a vehicle on that one year assignment, that gave me a little bit of extra money. I don't remember why I had gone to a local gunsmiths shop but he had two Trojan's for sale on consignment, a 12 and 20. The day I was to fly out of Boston was a Monday in December. I had a lot to do that day including the sale of my Jeep but I decided to go to a farm I hunted since I was teenager, it was a farm that bordered a brakish river and it had a cove where we hunted ducks. It was dead low tide at first light and saw some ducks in a channel that I could sneak up on by walking in the mud and staying below the banking. The channel had a turn and I knew when I came around the corner the ducks would be in range. It worked and as they flushed I pulled the front trigger and dropped a Black duck. I swung to the next target, a Greenhead and pulled the front trigger again, it was my first time shooting a gun with two triggers. I walked over and picked up the Black looking it over when I looked up and saw five mallards cupping in. They were 90 degrees to my position and about 45 yards away. I had a couple of seconds to react. I had not opened the gun and reloaded but the left barrel still had a 1 1/4 ounce of lead #4 in it. I was still holding the Black duck in my left hand and I rested the forearm of the gun on my forearm, picked out a Greenhead and dropped it. I was thrilled, two ducks with the first two shoots from my first Parker. I was convinced that my friend was right and there was something special about a Parker shotgun. I took Peter Johnson's book with me to Iceland and read it a couple of times, that was about the only information I had about Parker's. A lot has changed since then, I still have the gun and I shot a lot of ducks and geese with it over the years. Being a 12 it has taken a back seat to a battery of Short Ten's I use for water fowling for the last 11 years. It's sentimental value far exceeds it's monetary value so it will most likely be part of an estate sale some day as I don't see myself selling it.