doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Unusual Trojan?

The topic on the short barrel (skeet?) Parker VH brought up a recollection of a similar Trojan that I had a few years ago.

I don't want to hijack that thread so figured I'd post this one.

The gun was a 12g Trojan on a #2 frame with original straight stock, splinter fore-end, double triggers and 26" barrels, extractors. Barrels were quite thick and gun overall was pretty heavy.

It was in good functional condition, tight action and clean bores. Downside was that it had been used as a sheild against more than it's share of barbed wire fences and other insults which left both wood and exterior metal finish chewed up.

I seem to remember that this was actually a pretty rare configuration. Any ideas how rare it might have been?

Gun is long gone now.

Lee

It depends on how original the straight stock was. If it could not be lettered as original, it would be considered just another gun with a straight grip conversion.

On the other hand, if it could be lettered as having been stocked with a straight grip by Parker Bros. or Remington it can be considered very rare as only a handful of Trojans were ever stocked straight.

It's long gone so just an accademic exercise now.

By all appearances it had not been altered or even opened to clean/service since new (other than the obvious use as a Barbed-wire shield). Old Plain-Jane buttstock wood was a definite match to the snap-on fore-end and had the appearance of not having been "carved" and age similar to rest of gun. Had chewed up original buttplate (gouges/chips matched damage to buttstock).

Oh yes, it also had sling swivels attached to both buttstock and under barrels that were a match to age of rest of gun with no signes of aftermarket cobbling.

What was the serial number?

Bill: My first Parker was a nice 1920s Trojan 20-bore purchased for $900 in 1974, and it had a straight-grip stock. I knew nothing about Parkers then except that I wanted a 20-bore and preferred a SG.

Soon I had people telling me that it was not original because Peter Johnson said so in his book when, in fact, he simply quoted Parker advertising, which seemed to limit the options on what was considered to be a standard "no frills" hardware store gun. Much later Remington tried to jazz-up the Trojan as a skeet gun and a few were made with straight grips. One was seen at the Vintage Cup two years ago.

As to my SG 20-bore, it had a thicker head of stock which I now consider endemic to late-Remington Parkers and, having removed the trigger guard, I observed that it had the characteristic stamped serial number in the trough. But this was before I understood the implications of these markers of possible originality. I sold the gun in the early 1990s for $1,150 and the buyer soon became dissatisfied because of the constant advice from nabobs-of-originality that "...Parker never made a SG Trojan."

Using hindsight, what probably happened was that when Remington geared up to make a commercial number Trojan skeet guns, shortly before giving up the Trojan line all-together in 1938, I suspect they turned out an inventory of SG blanks and, sometime thereafter, my Trojan went back to Remington or, more likely, Larry "Babe" DelGrego to be repaired and/or re-stocked...and the owner opted for the SG. In that time frame, Babe constructed a new Trojan 20-bore from Remington/Parker parts for Lawrence's 10th birthday (1975?), which is pictured in the color section after p.178 of Parker Guns: The "Old Reliable." All things are possible! EDM

Don't remember. I do seem to recall looking it up and that was made around 1925 or so.

I don't remember seeing a Trojan skeet gun at the Vintagers, but I have pictures of the prototype that was used as a heading in a late Parker parts price list. The PGCA Research Committee did everything but shoot the gun at Ilion in 1998. It was a great gun that would have made a great Parker Repro. To bad the Skeuse guys didn't get to see it.