Future of Parker Collection and Double Gun Collecting

[Ed Blake]

At best, most kids view old SxS shotguns as novelties. I am a Scoutmaster with a troop here in Richmond and we take the boys out a couple times a year to shoot clays. This is in addition to the shooting merit badges at scout camp in the summer. I always bring a couple Parkers with low pressure 7/8 oz handloads, as well as blackpowder for a #1 frame hammergun. They LOVE it. However, in the final analysis they opt for the Benelli or some other modern contrivance because these things are convenient, can shoot off the shelf shells, and their friends and fathers have them. Plus, any kid who is serious in the sport wants a O/U. The care and proper feeding of a vintage gun takes time and effort, something their fathers can do but they cannot. Kids have numerous distractions nowadays. We see scout membership falling because of the myriad of sports and other activities dividing their time. These are facts. Sorry to be a downer, but this is my experience. Your mileage may differ. I think the PGCA should support existing efforts like Bruce noted. Special efforts to get kids shooting at events like the Southern are great, but that only happens when fathers/grandfathers are involved. Edward and I will be at the Southern. He's 18 now and first shot at the Southern when he was 12. I don't know how many more he will be able to attend with college, sports, etc. getting in the way. I'm hoping he will stick with it. If you ask him to choose between his Benelli and his 32" #2 frame DH 20 he would have to think about it.

[Double Play]

This thread has been interesting and after over a year of trying to get someone willing to become involved in promoting youth shooting I'm glad to see its being discussed. Even though as one person pointed out we are a Collector Organization, we are all aware that if a person is not introduced to guns and shooting at an early age they likely will never develop an interest in Classic Guns later on. I hunted and shot as a youth but never owned a SxS until about 12 years ago and now should probably be in some sort of therapy group. The point is I didn't need to be shooting a Parker at age 12 or win a free gun at 13 to one day develop a huge interest in the Classics later on in life when I could actually afford such things.

The PGCA as Bruce pointed out has made considerable donations to some very well developed youth shooting programs that already had the infrastructure in place to reach many young people. We felt that this would get us the most bang for our buck and we have continued that effort by donating along with the LCSCA the proceeds from the Challenge Cup the last few years. I believe these efforts should continue but that with the help of our membership our efforts could be expanded.

Like any program there needs to be one person to act as a point of contact. Even if several people elect to work together someone has to step up and be the voice for the group to avoid confusion. I believe we could all work together to come up with some guidelines where by the PGCA could offer some type of support to qualifying existing or new youth events at the local level anywhere in the US. A budget would need to be set and possibly a means to fund it, but that will need to be determined once a plan is in place.

Obviously we've only heard from around 25 of our 1400 members but I believe if we get the right people in place and a good action plan this could be something we could all be proud of.

[William McClintock]

There are several ready made youth shooting groups which could be interesting target marketing groups: the NCAA college level shotgun shooting programs the 4H shotgun shooting programs. I know nothing about 4H shooting, but have been to the NCAA shooting championships at the NSCA/NSSA grounds in San Antonio.
The kids were well coached (coaches, the guys to talk to first,) the kids were very enthusiastic and pretty darn good shooters. These kids are going to be in the gunning world, hopefully for a long time. Get some of them to be Parker Ambassadors to their own age group??

Originally Posted by Ed Blake

At best, most kids view old SxS shotguns as novelties. I am a Scoutmaster with a troop here in Richmond and we take the boys out a couple times a year to shoot clays. This is in addition to the shooting merit badges at scout camp in the summer. I always bring a couple Parkers with low pressure 7/8 oz handloads, as well as blackpowder for a #1 frame hammergun. They LOVE it. However, in the final analysis they opt for the Benelli or some other modern contrivance because these things are convenient, can shoot off the shelf shells, and their friends and fathers have them. Plus, any kid who is serious in the sport wants a O/U. The care and proper feeding of a vintage gun takes time and effort, something their fathers can do but they cannot. Kids have numerous distractions nowadays. We see scout membership falling because of the myriad of sports and other activities dividing their time. These are facts. Sorry to be a downer, but this is my experience. Your mileage may differ. I think the PGCA should support existing efforts like Bruce noted. Special efforts to get kids shooting at events like the Southern are great, but that only happens when fathers/grandfathers are involved. Edward and I will be at the Southern. He's 18 now and first shot at the Southern when he was 12. I don't know how many more he will be able to attend with college, sports, etc. getting in the way. I'm hoping he will stick with it. If you ask him to choose between his Benelli and his 32" #2 frame DH 20 he would have to think about it.

[Bruce Day]

Perhaps people could make contributions to the Parker Gun Foundation, a 501 c 3 organization, the contributions would be tax deductible, and the Foundation could fund the shooting activity.

[C grade]

My goal is to raise $5,000 and challenge the BOD to match it. I have raised 2,500 so far, so If you want to match my initial $500 let me know. Ed, Bruce, I hear you but we can make this work.
David

[Kensal Rise]

To paraphrase Edmund Burke:

"All that is necessary for the double gun to fade is that good men do nothing."

[Bruce Day]

I want tax deductible donations if I am to donate personally.

I also want something with broad scope. Donating personal money for a shoot to help youth who happen to be children of members in ( city), ( state), would not make me comfortable. The NRA and PF have broad scope but they lack classic double gun emphasis.

If we could couple with the NRA or PF at a shotgun shoot to have the kids shoot classic double guns, would that serve our purpose? That is what I do informally with Boy Scouts. We shoot 20ga's and I bring along a little 20 Browning Superposed and/or a Parker DHE 20, fluid steel barrels so we don't get into those issues. The only guns that hold up for us are Rem 870's and the old classic guns get a lot of wows in comparison. The youth and their dads are interested.

[C grade]

Larry
Mike Franzen jumped out and offered his services as "main man". Dave Fjelline has offered to be the coordinator in the west, Robin and Suponski in the NE, John Marscher and myself in the SE etc. I think we have the beginning of a good team.
David

[Jim DiSpagno]

I currently have a Parker Poster in the works that, once approved, will serve as some funding for this. A large portion of the money, after the cost etc. will be donated to this cause. The poster will have a limited run of 150 and if it is received well, I will try to do one every year, or bi-annually.

[Double Play]

Originally Posted by David Dwyer

Larry
Mike Franzen jumped out and offered his services as "main man". Dave Fjelline has offered to be the coordinator in the west, Robin and Suponski in the NE, John Marscher and myself in the SE etc. I think we have the beginning of a good team.
David

David,
That's great, now that the volunteers are in place perhaps your team should develop a plan outlining what you would like to accomplish and how best to achieve that end along with some guidelines to manage the program. Then it can be presented to the Board for discussion and approval at our next meeting at the Southern on April 23rd. I have some ideas that I feel could be useful as I'm sure others do and if you or Mike would like to discuss this further please feel free to give me a call at home any evening. Larry