I haven’t been on here in a while, busy with my other passion training and running my field trial Golden’s, but I wanted to report in before hunting season was over. Last spring someone on here, (thank you very much), turned me on to a very nice original condition Parker VH at a good price.
I had been looking for years, decades really, for a classic American side by side within my budget. I started around 1998 with a nice condition Lefever DS 12 that I really liked, but it alway shot a foot left, I paid $300 to bend the stock but it still shot left, so I sold it.
Then I bought a pretty LC Smith FW 12 with 28” barrels. This gun had been restocked to modern dimensions, mirror bores, rust blued barrels and recast colored. The gun seems to fit great when I shoulder it, but I don’t shoot it well at all compared to my Ruger RL sporting clays. My next step was a Sterlingworth Pin gun I bought from a very nice member here. 12 ga, good condition, all original with 30” barrels. This gun I can shoot well, yay finally, except it pops open on shooting occasionally. My local smith tried several things, the seller sent me a part free of charge, but nothing worked. It’s been with another smith over a year, still waiting as I really like it.
Finally I got that Parker last spring. Over the years I kind of resisted the Parker mystique, thinking they were nice guns, but overpriced, so I didn’t pay much attention to them, but that deal on the VH was too good to pass up so I bought it. ONG what a nicely balanced gun. At slightly less than seven and a half pounds, I thought it would wear me out carrying it all day in the field chasing pheasants, but it feels so good in hand and handles so well when shooting, it’s just a very reassuring feel.
Now I’ve got a half a season of duck and pheasant hunting in on it and I shoot it very well, I just love this gun.
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