doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Was Ithaca the best ?

How reliable are the Ithaca single triggers?

You really can't look at just sales figures to justify calling a product the 'best'. There's a lot going on during the time of a product's life - advertising, pricing, distribution, etc. that drives sales numbers.

Chevy sold tons of Vega's in the mid 1970's yet I don't think you'll find many people who claim they were a great car.

Vincent Van Gogh never sold a single painting yet today they bring decent money and are critically acclaimed.

Once the dust settles and a few years have past - that's when you can look back and tell who made the good and the ugly. Of all the American shotgun makes I am not sure which is the most sought after and brings the highest dollars - can anyone help me out? Whichever that brand is, that is the one we should call the best if we must call one brand the best.

That's an easy one, "PARKER"

Parker has the most name brand name demand. But if Winchester or Colt had made doubles for 50 years Parker collectors would be much fewer. Few brand name collectors go as overboard as Wichester or Colt collectors. You could say that Model 21's are the "best" because their lowest grade sell for several thousand more than Parkers lowest grade.

To me Parkers have too many parts and never evolved. No one can convince me that they had the "perfect" design within two years and needed to make no changes for the next forty years. Parker was just a cheap yankee too tight to change designs or tooling unless absolutely forced to do so. Guns were never more than a side line when Parker Brothers owned them and even in later years they were more of a name brand than a real money maker for Remington.

The flip side is which gun held up the best. I have never seen an Ithaca that did not work. In fact I have almost never seen any double that did not work unless they had been screwed up by some gunsmith making poor repairs. Ask a gunsmith which guns they have to repair the most and which the least. To a shooter "best" is reliabitly, to a collector it is value, be it quality or workmanship, design, materials or even just increasing value of their collection. Two different things.

The standardization of the Parker hammerless gun over about 50 years was a good thing for collector prices. One fine gun whose collector value is suffering from lack of standardization is the ICD. Several variations were made over a short time, with a big separation of quality and acceptability between the best and the worst. It seems like only about ten percent of the potential customer base knows the difference in the variations. This has to mean a problem for those seeking to sell a collection of ICDs. Yes, the Parker is needlessly complicated in some ways, but the standardization over time is a good thing, in my opinion.

Decades after the fact, Parkers are the most desired? I guess Parkers are the best then.

I find the fact that Parkers scarcely evolved a wonderful thing. In today's world when everything must be new and improved each month and none of us will buy a box of laundry soap that doesn't say "20% More!" it's great to think of a time when a company could stay in business for over 70 years doing the same thing.

It's also part of why Parkers are so popular - no other SxS company had the continuity of Parker. Fox, LC Smith, Lefever, Itahaca - all went through so many changes in name, ownership and quality that every gun must be evaluated before you know if it's a 'good one' or a 'bad one'. A lot of companies made good double guns for a short while; Parker did it for the long haul.

AS today's prices go you have to give it to the Parker, everytime I view gun auctions or maybe Cabelas, the Parkers are way out in front of the other American doubles. Compare the high grade, small gauge Parkers to everything else and their prices are through the roof, so to speak.
All the best

I recently acuired two Parker 16s just because I thought my whole double gun thing was incomlete without haveing one and frankly am totally underimpressed. Ones a 1 frame and ones a 0 frame and I'm not saying anything bad about them but they are heavier than my 16 Ithaca's and Foxes and really just can't figure out what everyone thinks is so special about them.

Interesting post. I'll be watching what the Lewis Grade 1 goes for. I have a Minier Grade 1 with twist barrels in the same mint condition.

It seems like everytime one of these type posts (which is the best) go up there never is a wrong answer. It usually ends up on opinions and taste. No problem with that. Parkers were the king of kings at one time and thier demanding prices are still there. Foxes and Elsie's same way. But the working mans gun of guns ITHACA doubles will remain king of kings IMO. After the last fifteen years Ithaca prices have about doubled and then some slightly closing the gap on the Parkers. I would not own half of my Ithaca doubles if I had to pay today and tommorrows prices. Sm ga stuff have really closed the gap on Parkers and Elsie's