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

Are Parker Trojans just unadorned, no frills Parkers, or is there something significantly different about them. Graded Parkers seem to be held in such high esteem, whilst Trojan Parkers are not. Also, when did Parker standardize their chamber lengths? The one I just purchased has 2 9/16th chambers. I have plenty of 2 1/2 inch shells in lead and Bismuth, but would like to use Hevi Shot Classic Doubles at some point if deemed safe by those who know.

A Parker through and through without the "make up"!
the Parker experts will explain the "differences" but for all intents and purposes, the same gun from a mechanical standpoint.

Different frame shape and lower grade of finish, standard configurations only. Different forend latch, I think. Some Trojans did not have the doll's head extension. Barrel steel may be different from other grades, but probably same as V-grade, just different markings to create market differentiation. Chambers were intentionally cut to 2-9/16" for 2-3/4" shells because Parker believed that provided better sealing. Murphy will have more details.

It's a very nice gun. Would it be safe to say it is comparable to a higher end Birmingham boxlock of the same period or is that pushing it? It is a 1914 gun.

baldrick, you could easily start a world war with that last question! Judge the Parker by what it is--one heck of a stout, well made gun. Even though made to compete in the "hardware store" market and cosmetic corners were cut to achieve the price point, they never sacrificed quality. The same workers who made the high grades made the Trojan on the same bench. The same barrel steel, most of the internals, came out of the same box as an A-1 special. No, it is not on a par with upper Birmy boxlocks in many refinements but it'll sure shoot right along with them.

Thanks Joe, I'll mind myself next time.

12 gauge parker trojans are heavy weight clubs. 12 gauge english boxlocks are light weight magic wands...each has its purpose.

All the Trojans I have ever seen had a snap off forend which had a very strong catch, requiring a good deal of effort to remove. I have never seen a Trojan with a Doll's Head. The one I once owned had a straight rib extension, others had no rib extension at all. It was a strong serviceable gun , but I just like my Lefevers a lot better, so have never regretted having traded it away & have no desire for another. I do seriously regret that some years back when one could buy a really nice G grade Damascus Parker for a song & sing the song, I did not avail myself into acquiring one of those.

Upgraded wood of course, but I don't think they gave up a whole lot in the looks department. It is a club though, no doubt. 1912 (first year?) with the straight rib extension.
CHAZ

First Parker I had was a 20ga Trojan, 28in barrels and a factory refit of beaver tail forend. I shot extremely well on Gambel's quail and doves with it. It had a trigger problem, doubling frequently so I sold it based on that issue to someone who wanted to have it redone. Went to 20ga VHE which is still with me 30 years later. Biggest difference is finish levels and the receiver has a lot more machining done.
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I have three Parker's, and two LC'S and other side by sides and love them all. my feelings are that between 1900 and 1950 we produced the most classic and best american firearms we have ever produced. I don't believe we should call a Trojan a club. I leave that designation to the mossburg 835, killed a lot of ducks and geese with two of them in the blind, never failed me, but oh, they were truly clubs.

Club - NO. Just because some of you like some light weight girly gun,lets not call a well made American SxS a club. A couple of years ago a good friend and I decided to attend the Southern SxS Shoot. There he bought this nice, light weight Johnson, a English made gun. One of those " wands " as some of you like to think of them. We had my trunk open and our two guns leaning against it as we were getting some shells to shoot. Now he just had it about 10 minutes - and the two guns both slid off to the side, his gun landing on top of mine on the ground. After a couple of choice words we picked them up. There was a dent in his barrels. I said with a smile " didn't hurt my Parker boat anchor. " After a " fu** you " from him, we found a nice fellow under the LC Smith tent to removed the dent. Moral of the story - if you want a wand with light thin barrels, fine. If you want a gun that weighs a bit more with thick barrels that were made for the American sportsmen that would shoot heavy duck and goose loads, that's fun to shoot a hundred birds of SC's and not beat you to death, that you're not constantly worrying about denting, etc, etc, then buy a "club." I like my Parkers and Remingtons just fine, thank you. To each their own.

Parker Brothers lost money on every Trojan made because the workers put the same care in making the internal parts as they did the high grade guns. They had the cheaper to make snap on forearm, plainer wood, no engraving, and plain steel barrels. For shooting they were every bit as good as a high grade gun. All my Parkers are hammer guns, but the wife has a nice Trojan with a extra set of barrels she uses for skeet or SC's. It shoots nice.

Just as an aside and in regards to clubability, I found this in Charles Askin's "Modern Shotguns and Loads"; "Parkers are made in all gages, from the 410 up. They make guns as light as shotguns should be made, but have never favored feather-weight arms in any bore. While the Parker might not out-shoot other double guns it will shoot as well as any, and every Parker gun will shoot about the same as any other. Poor shooting Parkers are a very rare thing, if there are any." Seems reasonable, though the intrinsic handling of an English/Scottish made gun is without question.

16ga Trojan, 6lbs 9oz with a Redhead pad and stock extension. Not a wand, maybe, but not a club either...

A nice gun and a nice Derrydale. I think the 16 gauge has a following because of the purple shells. Kidding. A nice contrast of colors.

A rich Tory, heavy construction man who argued fiercely with me (as a reporter and liberal) whenever I visited him confided to his wife to give me the pick of his rack of great shotguns and rifles when he died. I chose the least expensive shotgun, an 1889 Parker 16ga hammer 0 grade. None of my American classics were produced after 1938 (a 12ga LC Specialty) and none of my European good ones after l914 but when it comes to magic handling it's the Parker 16. I showed it to Destry when he was here tub-shooting a few years ago.

It sounds beautiful.

Parker briefly made a Trojan Skeet gun

OK Mr. Brown, I'll bite. What's "tub shooting?"

Sorry. Imagine shooting at waterfowl, concealed in a squarish wooden "tub" below water-level among decoys, with only a few inches of freeboard. It was common on our offshore but only used in a few places now. Current tubs are made from plywood covered with fibreglass, weighted at the bottom. Scare you to look at them but never heard of a fatality. Deadly, migod, deadly. We could almost reach up and catch them by the legs.

I went to the shop I bought the first Trojan and purchased a second. I really like the guns. Again a twelve, 1927. The earlier one has 30 inch barrels while the later one has 28. The longer gun weighs a quarter pound less than the shorter gun and looking at the barrel weights stamped on the flats bears this out perfectly, the 28 (4,3), the 30 (3,14). I just test fired both guns with 2 inch Gamebore Super Game #6's and couldn't be more pleased.

Remington made one, maybe two, experimental Parker Trojan skeet guns. One still at Remington. The Parker Skeet Gun was only offered to the public in VHE- to A1 Special-Grades.

In American English, that's called a "sinkbox". It's been illegal in the US as long as I can remember, precisely because it's so effective.