Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/401545
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 5 7 I t took me years to find a great American upland gun: the Parker 16 on a 20-gauge frame. Then, seduced by European beauties, I began to neglect it, relegating it to a gun cabinet where it gathered a dusty patina. And now, I've agreed to let the publisher at Sporting Classics magazine give it away! My fascination with the Parker goes back to a shotgun that belonged to one of my father's friends. If memory serves me correctly, it was a very nice DHE-grade 20 gauge that he used for gunning quail in South Georgia. For an impressionable young man who was allowed to hold, fondle and even swing the gun, it was an unforgettable fondness for the best-quality examples of each. In time, I discovered that as a rule, English and other European guns were more finely crafted than their American counterparts, but they were not any stronger than American guns, which were intentionally over-built to withstand harsher conditions and less-skilled maintenance. Shotguns built on the American continent necessarily had to be more robust in order to survive. I spent many years trying find an American-made upland gun that had the exact qualities I wanted. Robert Matthews h o t g u n s S experience, even though I never got to shoot it. Over the years that followed I acquired and disposed of many shotguns, including a number of Parkers ranging from the plainest, utilitarian Trojan grade to a handful of truly exquisite guns. I also owned American repeaters and side-by- sides with a few over-and-unders thrown in for good measure. Later, I discovered English and other European guns and developed a The author spent a portion of his gunning life looking for that just-right Parker gun and another portion using it. Here's your chance to win it. ob's Parker 16 is resting on a Classic Sportsman wool jacket and vest. Visit classicsportsman.com to see more. B