The old days

[J. Scott Hanes]

Bill,
The ad I remember in SN was brought to my attention by Art Wheaton in about 1990, when he came in to the corporate offices in Wilmington, DE. I had arrived there in 1988 after working for Art in sales in Ohio from 1985-1987. Tim McCormack, the Remington Custom Shop manager was good friends with Rich Wingle, too, and we got Wingle's phone number from him.
I had my eye on a VHE Skeet 20 in the ad. There must have been 50 guns in the ad! We called on it from Art's office but it was already sold. There was also a 12 ga,26", SST, PG, Checkered butt Skeet gun in the ad which I purchased. Probably between $1500-2000 in those days. I hunted Grouse with that gun a few years, killing a few poplar trees by sawing them in half with that "chopper", as we dubbed it, and several grouse. I since sold it to another Remington man who still has it.
That 12 gauge, even with 26" barrels got to be a load in the woods after a few hours! Now I like the 20's much better!

[J. Scott Hanes]

Another source for Parkers, besides the great Herschel Chaddick, was Jaqua's. I have a 1992 paper list from them that is legal size paper and has 16 pages of mostly Trap guns but at least half in hunting and a couple pages of double guns. They mailed monthly in those days.

[Bill Jolliff]

I got a nice Parker from Bill Jaqua in 1974 at the OGCA show in Columbus.

CHE 12-gauge, 28" M and F, SN 198040 with a number 1 frame. Weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces.

[John Allen]

Back in the 70s and early 80s if you walked into the average gun show with a Parker you would draw a crowd. People would look at them almost in awe. Everyone thought they were extremely rare,and I guess at the time they were. Now there are over 400 listed on gunsinternational. I still love them but miss the excitement that Parkers and other fine doubles generated to the average shooter.

[Dean Romig]

When I was in my early teens in the early sixties the mention of Parker among shooting and hunting folks would cause everyone within earshot to hush up and listen. The name Parker was revered in the utmost... and they were thought to be "very expensive", but compared to what?





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[Quigley97]

I wrote a story about this in the Parker Pages. When I first moved to South Carolina I was shooting clays with a group of guys at my club. One gentleman was using a side by side. I was in awe of the fine craftmanship. As the months went on he offered to let me shoot the side by side he was using that day. It was a "C" Grade live bird gun I found out later. I told this gentleman that "you could put $500.00 in my hand and tell me to break a target and I would tell you to keep your money." He persisted and I decided to try it out. Once I took it into my hands it was an amazing feeling. I ended up shooting that gun very, very well to my amazement. That gentleman, a number of you on this forum know him, was David Dwyer. And as they say the rest is history. Thank you David.

[Aaron Beck]

Some of that hasnt gone away. I was in one of those black rifle type stores and the guy asked me if he could help find something. I replied, "not unless you have a bunch of Parkers hidden away". He laughed but turns out he had had some, recently. The reverence was there despite appearances.
In another store, the owner keeps all the doubles hidden away in the basement. Hard to get a read on whats for sale but I dont blame him exactly if you dont want people snapping your actions together all day while they wait for the background check to clear.

[Gary Laudermilch]

When I was a kid up to college days I frequented a part time gunsmith who had his shop n the basement of his house. It was a place of reverence for me as guns and hunting were all I thought about. One day he asked that I follow him to his attic. There were long racks of doubles, all Lefevers. There certainly were well over a hundred. I had no idea of his interest as most of the work he did in his shop was on 03 Springfields. I those days if it as not an O/U I had little interest. He passed away while I was in college. How I wish I could go back and relive those days.

[Robert Brooks]

Bruce Hunt Atlanta Outfitters had many high grade doubles. Bobby

[Bill Murphy]

I still have Bruce Hunt's list of faked up Parkers, some of them small bore A-1 Specials. There are serial numbers listed on all of them. I have never bothered to compare them with the serialization book. I remember Bruce at shows, huddled up with his buddies, in adjoining chairs, like a Mafia business meeting. The guns were wonderful, but unobtainable.