Parker's and Winchester 21's This is where I came up with the idea of The Emperor has no clothes!

My wife asked me why I had used that title. I answered that there is a popular view that these ugly plain guns are the cats meow. The one in the picture is valued at almost 10,000.00 !!! WHAT? Plain wood, hardly any engraving and machine produced by the thousands. I know, I know everyone talks about them saying "they are built like tanks", "it will last forever" so.. Have you, and I mean you , ever actually worn out a gun? 

I have felt like the boy in the story that proclaimed "the Emperor has no clothes" When I talk about guns at the club or at shows I find lots of sheep that follow popular opinion about what is valuable. 

Are you kidding me?  Just because advertisers tell us it's the best, or worth "x" amount. We need to be the informed and make that judgement call. I tear apart guns and look inside, and I am going to show you through this blog what I am talking about. There are a lot of seriously under valued guns out there. Lets look at the differences. Below IS a 10,000.00 gun all the hours to engrave and great wood justify the price.

This is my new toy. I bought it because I love side by side shotguns with hammers! I know this is not a "name brand" that the shotgun snobs (read "sheep") would like. It does not say Holland and Holland  or Westley Richards or Purdey, it says a man's name. John Lacey, I assume it's the man who made it.

 I can see him spending untold hours making this shotgun with all the love and attention he could afford to give. Producing a product he was proud of making. I imagine his wife admiring the workmanship he put into it. Knowing that he would have to sell it to recoup the time and materials he had put in to making this beauty, so that he could pay for his life as a father and husband.

 I admire his skill, and dare any of the nay sayer's to do better! Go ahead try engraving, or start by making a hammer from scratch, then judge!No it is not a name brand, but does that really mean it's not worth anything? I judge a book by it's content not the title!!!   

This is just the sidelock, since I have the gun disassembled to clean and inspect and redo the wood finish. I was really impressed with the locks inside as well as on the outside. Case color hardening, perfectly polished bridle plate and sears and spring.

 
I really look forward to finishing this gun and shooting it! it will be a pleasure to own for awhile.

It all started when I got married...

It all started when I got married! I have never really been a gun guy before, not that I did not have one. I grew up with guns and shooting. The annual hunting trip to fish lake was a real treat. Some of my best memories were made deer hunting. Like the Cinnamon rolls grandma would send with us. we had to really try hard to keep them from all being gone by the first day. It was grandma way of looking out for us guys while we were away from her kitchen. Grandpa would usually do the cooking, including that all important first morning breakfast before we set off on a hike in the dark to get to "our" spot to hunt at sunrise that morning.

Any way, I wanted to have a hobby I could do as a married man. Guns seem to provide me with the hobby/obsession I needed. since chasing girls was now out. through those first few years I listened to popular opinion about guns. Read all the latest tests and advertisements. I read the books on how to trap shoot etc. I joined a club and started to shoot. I really was amazed at the selection of guns. I was like a kid in a candy store. I fell in love with guns! 

I wondered about over/under shotguns, why they seemed to be prevalent. I liked the automatics for their low recoil. hated pumps, they seemed so..ancient in the workings. I started my journey of buying then selling MANY guns, I had found my new girls to chase. 

Through this blog I want to tell you what I have found out and share some of what I found to be not so common, common sense about shotguns.