What exactly is...

[Alfred Greeson]

The real plus to the Runge upgrade is that he worked for Parker so you are getting one possibly done by previously Parker employees. In the early days, DelGrego, the grandfather, and Runge both worked for Parker and when Parker sold to Remington, the elder DelGrego bought a lot of parts and machinery from Parker and set up shop. Runge went to work for DelGrego so you get as close to Parker work as you will find, just my opinion. The last one I saw was really nice and it was signed by Runge on the water table. Lot of opinions on this topic.

[Dave Moore]

I have posted this gun before but this is a nice example of a A1 Special upgrade that was done by Pachmyer gun works in Los Angeles. It started as a V grade. It is a 00 frame 28ga with 30” barrels

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Alfred Greeson

when Parker sold to Remington, the elder DelGrego bought a lot of parts and machinery from Parker and set up shop.

A minor correction: At the outbreak of WW-II, after 7 years of Parker shotgun ownership and production, when Remington Arms terminated the manufacture of sporting arms to go into full production of military arms is actually when Del Grego purchased the remaining Parker stock and machinery.





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[Kevin McCormack]

".... when Parker sold to Remington, the elder DelGrego bought a lot of parts and machinery from Parker and set up shop. "

"A minor correction: At the outbreak of WW-II, after 7 years of Parker shotgun ownership and production, when Remington Arms terminated the manufacture of sporting arms to go into full production of military arms is actually when Del Grego purchased the remaining Parker stock and machinery."

A major correction: Unfortunately, neither of these statements is true. Parker Bros. sold to Remington in 1934 and moved gunmaking operations to Ilion NY in 1937. Larry Del Grego Sr. and Robert Rudolph Runge and son Robert Phoenix Runge were among the very few Meriden employees invited by Remington to make the move to Ilion. All Parker gun parts inventories followed Remington's termination of Meriden manufacture of the gun.

Larry Del Grego Sr. left Remington in 1955 shortly after Remington bigwigs decided to no longer repair or service Parker guns. Specializing in Parkers and Remington Model 32s, Remington referred all maintenance and repair work on these guns to him. Realizing the potential of becoming a specialty shop, he purchased the remaining Parker Gun parts inventory and a few specialized machines (e.g., rib matting and ejector installation jigs and single trigger jigs) in the early 1960s. Remington walked away from the deal with the final severance it had long desired in the repair and servicing of Parker guns, and the Del Gregos acquired the single high-volume parts inventory that Remington would have certainly scrapped in terminating that service.