doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Parker 12 ga question

Today, I saw a Parker 12 ga, it looked NEW, I don't know much about Parker's it had a inlaid little area under the stock. Great case colors, serial number was 153100's. The shop was asking $3200. said they had some wiggle room. I did not know if the gun was an orig. Parker or one of the reproductions. It must have been redone because it looked NEW. How do I determine IF it is a reproduction or an orig. Can anyone give me info on this serial number etc. Value Etc.

I don't know what it is, but it is not a reproduction with that serial number.

Your serial # appears to come from 1908.

The serial number on the Parker site seems to be 1910, are these guns safe with modern shells etc. How about the price, does it sound in the area? Thanks

if it was made in 1910 looks new costs $3200 it's not original finish piece. worth is dependent grade of gun it's features and who did refinishing job. this is not brand of gun that should be considered for purchase by someone not familiar
with them. i advise you to forget it.

That serial number isn't in the Parker Serial number book. I'd say go back and take a few digital photo's and post them. Also, go to the parker gun collectors website and you can see all the different models that were made.

PS. If it looks brand new, then its been redone. If its a redone DH (or higher)grade in great shape and redone right by Turnbull, or Del Greco then you need to give it some serious thought, because its worth what they are asking IMO.

Turnbull charges that price to restore one!

It's not in the serial # book because the serial ledger with those numbers is missing.

lets just hope it does not have "tiger stripe" cc or blow torch cc on the action.
boys you are sending guy out to start stamp collection by buying expensive stamp he knows nothing about.
yesterday i looked at beautiful sauer made .300 weatherby with 'imperial' series "dual dial" weatherby marked scope. the guy pulled out pristine model 70 from 40s or 50s (it looked like it just came out of the makers packing crate). i felt comfortable evaluating weatherby chamber, throat, bore condition and making a purchase but with the winchester it was different. the winchester could have too many taps in reciever, wrong butt plate or wrong stock on it. i could not consider it for purchase because i simply know next to nothing about them.

I don't know anything about Parker's, never owned one, do have several field grade Ithaca's but never paid over $400.before. I would like to get a really nice s x s but realize I need to know lots more before spending this much. I think I will look at the gun, take pictures with my phone and send them to someone here to post. It will be a learning experience for me and hopefully with help from those who post here I will in time know enough to make a intelligent decision on a nice gun. Thanks

If you want good advice, use a good camera. The details are important on Parkers.

A not-to-bright journalist asked Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber, why he robbed banks [gun shops]; Willie said, "...cuz that's where the money [Parkers] is."

One of the problems with the Internet is that all the free advice is usually worth what you pay. This is not advice: Just a factual scenerio:

Back in 1995 I decided it was time to own a really nice Parker 12-bore...perhaps a DH, no "E" as I prefer extractors. I mined the prior five years of the Double Gun Journal and came up with 145 D-grade hammerless in all gauges and condition; twenty caught my eye; Herschel Chadick had sold eleven of them. I called HC, got his gun list, which had 44 Parkers listed. I called and asked if he had them all in his shop; he said that they "come and go," but he had at least forty Parkers as we spoke...so I loaded the wife and Lab in the S/W and drove straight-through to Terrell TX and camped out in HC's store for 3 days, sorting through guns...and bought a nice 1927 GH 12-bore, SG, F&F, 30-inch, with a Miller SST. This gun has killed pheasants and quail and turkeys in IL, pigeons in the rings of PA, VA, MD, IN, and NC, and ducks in LA. I still own it.

Just this last weekend I was at the "Yooper" shoot in Iron Mountain MI. Shot the GH, but more important: The dealers had at least 40 to 50 Parkers to choose from...

And a week prior I visited Pug's Gun Emporium in Duluth; he has so many Parkers that it would take at least a full day to go through them...

And in September there will be a Parker feeding frenzy at the Vintage Cup at Pintail Point MD. Or there's Galazans in CT...or Ivory Beads in CA...or Bob's in MI, and Mr. B's in MS...etc... These dealers have inventory; a Parker Gun is simply a tool to accomplish something like shooting at stuff or collecting dust or otherwise. Decent Parkers command decent prices.

A person not up to speed on fine SxS's is not going to get educated by trolling the Internet, phone pictures of one gun in hand, asking for free advice. It took me three days at HC's plus 2,200 miles round trip to get it done right the first time. When I need money I go to the bank: If I want or need a Parker I go where the Parkers is...dealers with inventory. This is not advice, just factual. Judge accordingly. EDM