Larry, it's obvious that you love Parker Repros and I hate them. The reciprocal seems to be true of Ithaca Classic Doubles. This is what makes the world go around and gun interest diverse.
You're not going to win me over. I don't think Repros are a bargain and would never buy another one.
Incidentally, I've been around long enough to send my gun to people who should be able to fix problem guns. I don't want to mention names. However, a well known restoration company had the gun twice. A trigger expert of national reputation had the gun for seven months after which he sent the gun back to me and wouldn't except even the shipping costs on the condition that he never see the gun again. It was the first trigger problem in 24 years that he couldn't fix. Another company (not Reagent but did work for them) had the gun three times @$175 a crack and the gun still fan fired. The trigger couldn't be fixed.
At this point, I turned to Howard Miller. He was 87 and his kid brother 85 at the time. I learned the history of the Miller Single Trigger from Mr. Miller....very interesting.
The 470xxx guns were not the total disaster that you perceive. There are many fine examples of them including some owned by friends of mine. Steve Lamboy had some quality men working for him as you know. They didn't specialize in building junk. Unfortunately, some guns of less than perfect quality did hit the market. The Beschi kits sold by Galazan don't help the situation. They all have #470xxx serial numbers and will, no doubt, be unfairly be laid at ICD's doorstep.
To me, a faulty trigger is a much bigger concern than less than perfect wood fit. With a bad trigger, the gun is useless. There are plenty of examples of Repros with bad single triggers and you know this. In fairness, the early Miller triggers put in ICD's all had problems including mine. The difference is that Ithaca fixed the problem by bringing the work in-house. I have tens of thousands of rounds through my two ICD's with single triggers and they work flawlessly. The wood to metal and metal to metal fit is what you would expect with any custom gun and I have never heard anyone dispute this. I own three others that were not made specifically for me but are of excellent quality, all 4Es, #471xxx,and were NIB.
Dan's business is fixing guns. I don't think he's much into "wellness" visits. He seems to be very knowledgeable and can speak for himself.
Your advise to people wanting Parker Repros is to buy them with double triggers....mine to people wanting an ICD is to buy a #471xxx.
Let's agree to disagree and leave it at that.
