Your intro to Parkers and your first Parker

[todd allen]

I had already graduated into hunting with SxS guns, 30 plus years back, but my hunting partner had a Parker. With this in the back of my mind, I ran accross a table at a gun show, maybe 25 years ago, a young man was selling off his recently deceased grandfather's collection of assorted and sundry stuff, and lo and behold, there's a Parker on the table. This was mostly a black rifle type show, so the Parker was not getting much attention. I picked it up and noted it was Damascus BBL'd. When I asked the young man if he was aware that it was Damascus, he said "just give me $250.00 and it's yours".
Okay. Now I owned my first Parker, which turned out to be a beautiful, unmolested GH 12 ga from the late 1880s. I was clueless, but my hunting partner told me I did okay.
BTW, I still have that gun.

[Bill Murphy]

Daryl, I know your friend Howard Donohue but I can't quite place him. Is he a member of your gun club? What was the name of his business?

[Craig Larter]

You guys have some wonderful stories thanks for sharing. I came to Parkers very late as I am 64. I have been a Fox man for a very long time as my mentor Bill Towner introduced me to Fox guns and duck hunting in 1965. All my resources went towards my Fox obsession and later Elsie 10 bores. I started thinking about Parkers about 4 or 5 years ago. How nice it would be to display a nice Parker with my "The finest Gun in the World" collection . I purchased The Parker Story and joined the PGCA; I was hooked! I purchased my first Parker at a small country auction about three years ago, a well used but honest CHE with beautiful Bernard barrels. I have added 3 more to my accumulation. Someone please stop me!!

[Double Lab]

. Someone please stop me!![/QUOTE]



Sorry Craig, too late for that. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Bill;
Yes, Howard was a member of Loch Raven for many years and shot at National Capital back in the 60's. His shop was called Donahues Gun Specialties located in Towson. His work on the Kennedy affair drew national attention and he even appeared on Good Morning America. I'm sure if you googled his name and Kennedy you would get a hit.

[charlie cleveland]

thats a mighty nice gun pete has i hope it gets to hunt another 25 seasons..and yes pete takes a good picture...charlie

[Dean Romig]

I've told this story before - in fact, I wrote about it "A Last Trojan Pheasant" in Parker Pages back around 2006 or so, but I can't find which issue it's in. Anyway, that tells the whole story plus a lot more.
I think it was around 1960 or '61 and I was thirteen and I was at my friend Dave's house and as we went down into his cellar one day I discovered this leather-trimmed canvas case tucked in behind the chimney. I pulled it out and opened it and took out a really nice Trojan 12 gauge with 28" barrels and the hang tags were still tied to the handle of the case. It had belonged to Dave's grandfather up in Saco, Maine. Long story made short - I was allowed to keep that Trojan at my house and use it whenever I wanted to until I moved to another town three years later. Then after high school graduation Dave took a job as a lineman out in Boise and brought the gun with him and I haven't seen that Trojan since the day I gave it back.

That three year period in my life instilled in me a desire to have my own Parker someday - a Parker I could really enjoy for grouse and woodcock in Vermont..... and now I can't even decide which one to bring with my when I go there, so I just bring a few along.

[George Lander]

My first Parker, which I still have, was a 10 gauge Grade 3 hammergun. I was eight years old, so that was in 1947, and my Dad bought gas from a local AMACO station. The station owner had taken the Parker for gas along with a box of Super X shells, which I also still have. He wanted a gun for his son so I traded him my H&R 16 gauge single shot even. The wood had been replaced (rather crudely) but it was still a Parker. I've often thought of having new wood made, but then I treasure the memory like it is.

Best Regards, George

[J.B. Books]

Interesting to read how many people started with a Trojan, since their introduction in 1912 to this day it seems they are a gateway for many to the higher grade guns. I still treasure mine as much or more than the others I have for the memories it brings, plus it has always been a good shooter.

[Researcher]

Growing up I heard many stories of Grandpa's Parker, but he lived in Minnesota and we were out in Washington. Grandpa died in 1954 and his Parker went to my Uncle Howard. My Father was a Winchester rifle guy, but a Remington shotgun guy. He had a pair of AE-Grade Model 1894s in 12- and 16-gauge and a 12-gauge 30-inch full "Sportsman" autoloader he bought for $38 with his employee discount at Seattle Hardware in 1938. He always talked about how he would have loved to have bought the Parker that was in a Seattle Hardware window display, but that would have been $100 with his employee discount!! Tough when making $35 a week! In 1959 my Father succumbed to Jack O'Connor's short barrel writings and the "Sportsman" got whacked to 26-inch with a Poly-Choke. By 1960 the "Sportsman" was gone and he had a 12-gauge, 30-inch, 2-frame, VH-Grade, which remained his primary waterfowl gun until he quit hunting after the 1987-88 season when he was 80. According to the Ron Kirby letter I got on my Father's Parker it was shipped to Seattle Hardware on July 2, 1902, five years and one month before he was born.

[Bill Murphy]

Dave's Dad's Parker sounds like the more than a few William Wagner Parkers that Kevin McCormack and I have bought in the Washington, DC area. Sometimes these guns don't get far from "home".