Page one of the online shotgun listing service had some of the sweetest Parkers that I couldn’t afford. It was more of the same on pages two and beyond, but it was on the middle of page 15 where I saw that little bit of magic. If you’ve waded through those listing pages before then you know that anything past page 5 might be called the Bargain Basement. Sometimes that’s just the place to give your spirit a shine.

All shotguns have stories and the story has to start somewhere. We all have shotguns that have such a story… my grandfather’s L.C. Smith Ideal Grade 20 gauge conjures a crystal clear vision of Archie in my mind even though he died the year before my birth. The connection of hunting and carrying his old Elsie is truly metaphysical. And with the backdrop of that gun, this story begins not with a vintage double, rather with a vintage hunter and his new Parker Reproduction.