Latest PP and great cover artwork

[Old and Reliable]

And Kudoes galore to our Rich Anderson: His biography of the CHE 20 now in his care was a great peice of writing, and his many years with Cabela's in Rogers MN (not Duluth) and knowledge of shotguns shows- great stuff. Also liked the "Day off with the Boss" and the preserve hunt at Haymarsh (just a click North of the white Hinton's Corners Church North of Lakeview, if memory serves. We hunted that area years before the late Bud Gummer turned it into a fine hunting preserve, used to be some grouse there- used to be I was 30 and had a 20 LeFever and a good Setter- tempis fugits--

Also a nice plug for our supporting dealers, glad Eric talked(?) Rich into buying that fine looking H&H 20 bore- perhaps a follow up history on that fine gun is "in the wings"--

Also, sadly- a fine tribute and foto of our friend Jack P. We never know, do we. I write this with a bit of the "whistle while you walk through a midnight marble orchard (graveyard) as I was born the same year as he was, about 6 weeks earlier-

We are very lucky to have such a fine quarterly magazine as our PP and thanks to all who prepare it for us to read and enjoy, and to those who contribute as well--

[Setter Man]

I am a big fan of Rod Crossman and his paintings. He has an ncanny ability to capture light an coloration with out making his paintings look too contrived. Not bad for a Hoosier who lives hours away from any grouse cover.

Well done!

[John D.]

Francis,

My thanks for your post - and I couldn't have said it better. This issue is really outstanding, and I give my thanks to all who contributed to this excellent issue!

As well, if you are a PGCA Member and have not received your personal copy yet in the mail, I put together and uploaded an on-line version in the PGCA Member Only Forum - Parker Pages Library

You can download and read it on line at:

By Clicking On this link..... (<--- Click there )

My Best Always,

John

[Old and Reliable]

I appreciate that John- we are all indeed fortunate to have such a solid membership base, with so many different backgrounds and experiences to share. I can think of three areas regarding our beloved "Old Reliables" that might merit some research and coverage in future issues. For what it may be worth at this point in time, they are:

(1) An intensive article on the Parker SBT series--in what ways were these "gems" like our Parker side-bys- from a gun design standpoint, mechanical considerations, choke and barrel length options, design changes over time (here I recall the Ithaca SBT's- first the flues, later the Knick)- collectability, how many were made and may still be used today in ATA events, etc.

(2) If I have miss-read Peter Johnson, then I shall stand corrected, but didn't he mention that Parker may have made a few prototype over and under guns? If this is indeed fact, they must be very scarce. Has any research been done on these, if they do exist.

(3) An article covering the move from Meriden to Ilion after the Remington Du Pont "take-over" of America's Finest Shotgun- this might fall into two areas of discussion-- (a) the physical movement of machinery, tooling, gauges and fixtures and the "dove-tailing" of those items to the Remington facility, which was producing a double gun at that time, albiet an Over-under, the Model 32-- and (b) the human interest side of this move- this was during the worst dark days of the Great depression- how many workers left Meriden and re-located to Ilion, if any? Housing, transportation, cost of living, all the 'demographics" that were relevant to our Nation's economy, even the small % that involved firearms and ammunition in the mid- 1930's/

Just a few "ideas". I very much appreciate that you and others involved in the leadership of our PGCA always have an 'open door" to such suggestions.