What mistakes have you made buying Parkers?

[todd allen]

The biggest Parker mistake I ever made was NOT buying one. At a pigeon shoot somewhere in a super secret not to be named place. A gun dealer offered me a 32" DHE 28 gauge (out of an estate sale) for $3500.00
I figured I didn't really need a 28 gauge, so passed.
My buddy and I still lament that one to this day.

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by todd allen

The biggest Parker mistake I ever made was NOT buying one. At a pigeon shoot somewhere in a super secret not to be named place. A gun dealer offered me a 32" DHE 28 gauge (out of an estate sale) for $3500.00
I figured I didn't really need a 28 gauge, so passed.
My buddy and I still lament that one to this day.

I will say again, in gun collecting (and life in general), regret may be the strongest felt emotion. It's certainly one of the longest felt emotions. Todd, that one must truly haunt you.

[todd allen]

Originally Posted by Garry L Gordon

I will say again, in gun collecting (and life in general), regret may be the strongest felt emotion. It's certainly one of the longest felt emotions. Todd, that one must truly haunt you.

Yes, that one haunts me. Even though it was close to 25 years ago, I should have bought that one. Funny thing is, if it were a 20 gauge, I would have been on it like a duck on a june bug. A 32" 20 gauge would have been a find.
My old friend, and PGCA member Chuck, was there and handled the gun as well, so I have someone to share the shame with.
BTW, I picked up a sweet little 0 Frame 16 hammer gun at the same shoot. 200 bucks.

[Garhart Stephenson]

The only Parker mistake I ever made was trying to buy a GH 16 ga. from Griffin & Howe last year. Barrels measured well below safe minimums. I was the second member here to buy and then send that exact gun back (found out when I posted about the gun here).

I ended up getting soaked for the shipping and insurance both ways, even though I brought it to their attention that they knew full and well it had been returned by the other gentleman and they insisted on passing it off on me anyway.

I know G&H has a gunsmithing department with the tools to measure that barrel set. Not sure what happened to the gun after I returned it. Hopefully they fit another set of barrels to it to render it safe and useable.

This deal soured me on G & H. I skip right past their listings on GI every time. I won't even consider purchasing from them after this ordeal. I however, am not soured on Parkers. I love my EH 10 a good deal and enjoyed taking my last 20 Canada geese with old damascus lady this past season.

[Double Lab]

Looking back more years than I care to remember the only mistake I could admit to was buying too many 12 ga. and not enough smallbores especially in AH Fox. Of course that means 20 ga guns as I don't consider 16 ga a smallbore but I have a few of them also.

[Reggie B]

Originally Posted by todd allen

The biggest Parker mistake I ever made was NOT buying one. At a pigeon shoot somewhere in a super secret not to be named place. A gun dealer offered me a 32" DHE 28 gauge (out of an estate sale) for $3500.00
I figured I didn't really need a 28 gauge, so passed.
My buddy and I still lament that one to this day.

I am speechless.

[Bill Murphy]

"Not buy" or sell to make a few bucks is the most common mistake. Examples in my case are selling a #2 frame 32" factory 3" because I felt that no VH 20 is ever going to be worth $1000. Another potential mistake would have been not buying a wonderful little VH 28 because it was a nice restock with a blued receiver. $2600 sounded like a lot money at the time, but the gun has perfect barrels with all correct bore and choke dimensions. It is also a lightly used seventh 28 gauge made by Parker Brothers. There are thousands of examples of collectors not buying a gun because it is overpriced TODAY. The market price of a class of guns is not the most important factor to consider. Even more important is that the particular variation, not just a class of guns, will disappear from the market because they are all bought up. Then they disappear into collections for decades. In my opinion, long barrel smallbores, even 16s, and Super Foxes are a class of guns that will disappear in the next few years, to be injected into collections for years. Overpaying for such guns today is just something you have to do if you want to own one. If you want to own an AHE trap, and one comes on the market, you have to buy it, even if overpriced. WHY? Because the next time you see it or one like it, it will be in a luxury auction and it will sell for $30000, way more than the first time you saw one. OK, that's my story and my advice.

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

"Not buy" or sell to make a few bucks is the most common mistake. Examples in my case are selling a #2 frame 32" factory 3" because I felt that no VH 20 is ever going to be worth $1000. Another potential mistake would have been not buying a wonderful little VH 28 because it was a nice restock with a blued receiver. $2600 sounded like a lot money at the time, but the gun has perfect barrels with all correct bore and choke dimensions. It is also a lightly used seventh 28 gauge made by Parker Brothers. There are thousands of examples of collectors not buying a gun because it is overpriced TODAY. The market price of a class of guns is not the most important factor to consider. Even more important is that the particular variation, not just a class of guns, will disappear from the market because they are all bought up. Then they disappear into collections for decades. In my opinion, long barrel smallbores, even 16s, and Super Foxes are a class of guns that will disappear in the next few years, to be injected into collections for years. Overpaying for such guns today is just something you have to do if you want to own one. If you want to own an AHE trap, and one comes on the market, you have to buy it, even if overpriced. WHY? Because the next time you see it or one like it, it will be in a luxury auction and it will sell for $30000, way more than the first time you saw one. OK, that's my story and my advice.

Bill, I think there is a great deal of wisdom in what you wrote. Let me ask you (and others), though, since it seems that many of us are, how shall I say, more experienced in life (OK, older), don't you foresee that those guns that are being bought into collections to be held, might not be held for so long and might then become available to younger collectors? Then, there is the seemingly diminishing pool of potential collectors that is often cited in discussions among today's collectors.

Just curious how you or some others might respond.

[C.O.B.]

Unfortunately the younger group of shooters are more orientated to modern guns. If you shoot sporting clays at the local club you will see semi autos and pumps not sxs. Also the younger shooter for the most part doesn't have the disposable income for a say VH/VHE 20 thats $3000 or more, they are raising their families and working just as we did at that stage of our lives.

[Bruce Hering]

Originally Posted by Rich Anderson

Unfortunately the younger group of shooters are more orientated to modern guns. If you shoot sporting clays at the local club you will see semi autos and pumps not sxs. Also the younger shooter for the most part doesn't have the disposable income for a say VH/VHE 20 thats $3000 or more, they are raising their families and working just as we did at that stage of our lives.

This is certainly the truth. In retirement I have more disposable goof around income then I had less then 20 years ago and I am 73 now. Good planning on my part. I managed to "sneak in" a few good ones even then but it was hair razing. Course they were not collectable Parkers et al.

I must say this exact topic of loosing young shooters after they get out of college and off college teams is a real thing. They are out on their own in many cases and as such need to budget $$$ for repayment of school loans, everyday living expenses and for some the onset of a family. Sure there are some who are silver spooned or even manage tp retain some sort of sponsorship but those are few and far between. So from the numbers we looked at back about 8-10 years ago we will not see those shooters again until they are in their 30's having established themselves with enough disposable income and time from family to allow such endeavors.

Just a comment from an old coach.