It was counterfeit

S

Sport

New member
Received a call from my duck hunting friend
a little while ago..He was on his way
home with his first Parker shotgun.
He had been looking for one for years, and
was clearly excited.

One thing bothered me. He said it was a
sidelock.....Alarm bells went off.

I told him I'd do some research on his
purchase and get back to him.My research
confirmed what I had expected. The gun
was counterfeit. So I gathered up my Parker
books/articles and drove to his house.

The gun he bought was a DISASTER. It was
poorly made,and had none of the proper
markings.

It took me twenty minutes to get up the
nerve to break the news to him. Now I feel
awful.

I know a lot of your are asked about fire-
arms by those who trust your judgement; so
you've "been there, done that."

For me, today's experience was like telling
him his puppy just died. What a lousy
feeling.

Moderator: If this needs to be moved to
another thread, please do so.
 
Tell your friend to take it back pronto, if possible. Then, contact the Consumer Fraud Division of your states' Attorney Generals Office, and make a complaint. We'll see if they want to combat this sort of "gun crime".
Please keep us informed.

------------------
BOYCOTT SMITH AND WESSON!!!
Defend the Constitution from the foreign threat!!!!

[This message has been edited by denfoote (edited April 16, 2000).]
 
Here in Texas, if it says "Parker" on the shotgun and it ain't, it's cut and dried Forgery and Fraud.


Get him to JUMP on it, but fast! Call the D.A.'s office in the county the dealer was in, too!

Good luck!

L.P.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sport:



Received a call from my duck hunting friend
a little while ago..He was on his way
home with his first Parker shotgun.
He had been looking for one for years, and
was clearly excited.

One thing bothered me. He said it was a
sidelock.....Alarm bells went off.

I told him I'd do some research on his
purchase and get back to him.My research
confirmed what I had expected. The gun
was counterfeit. So I gathered up my Parker
books/articles and drove to his house.

The gun he bought was a DISASTER. It was
poorly made,and had none of the proper
markings.

It took me twenty minutes to get up the
nerve to break the news to him. Now I feel
awful.

I know a lot of your are asked about fire-
arms by those who trust your judgement; so
you've "been there, done that."

For me, today's experience was like telling
him his puppy just died. What a lousy
feeling.

Moderator: If this needs to be moved to
another thread, please do so.


[/quote]

Sport,

How much did your friend pay for the gun?

In some states, depending on the value, it could be grounds for significantly more severe charges, but only if it can be proven that the seller KNEW that it was not authentic.

What was the size of the deaer? Small hole-in-the-wall dealer? Single person, non dealer sale? Large dealer?

What this gun probably is is one of the Belgian "crap" guns that came into the country years ago. They were obvious crapola imitations, but the markings were just different enough that nothing could really be done about it by the laws of those days.

--Mike

The other advice about contacting the fraud division is good.
 
kframe19, please don't take offense, ... but, when you respond to threads, please don't quote another member's entire post. Causes these things to fill up faster than necessary. Thanks.

Regards from AZ
 
Shouldn't he keep it while he is in the complaint process. No gun=no crime. It is just like in court. They don't release any evidence until the case is closed one way or the other.

I agree that it should be taken up with the county DA where he bought it first thing tomorrow morning. He should photocopy all of his paperwork and receipts too. It will be good to have copies when the DA takes the originals for the procecution.
 
Is it possible that this may have been an honest mistake made by the seller? I once sold someone a piece of forged art... I lived with it for 10 years and thought it was the real thing. Once I was informed, I made right by the guy and refunded his money in full. I think that maybe a discussion with the seller is in order before we send the guy up the river.
 
Take offense?

TAKE OFFENSE?

WHY IN THE #$)(^)_&#_)&%_)#*^_)&$()*$ DO YOU THINK I WOULD TAKE OFFENSE? HUH?
biggrin.gif



Sorry, Jeff. Still learning my way around here.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JJR:
Is it possible that this may have been an honest mistake made by the seller?

[/quote]

(Better quoting procedure, Jeff?
biggrin.gif
)

JJR,

Art, I think, would be one thing. Sometimes even the experts can't tell the difference between a forgery and an authentic piece of art.

Given the description of the gun, though, it sounds obvious that it was NOT what it was represented to be. Was it a mistake on the part of the dealer? Perhaps.

But...

In this situation, the fact that the gun has an OBVIOUS precluding characteristic means that it should have been easily recognizable.

There are really two parties to blame here.

1, obvious, is the seller. He should know what his wares are.

2 is the purchaser. Parkers are expensive pieces of kit. If I were to be spending that kind of change on a desirable anything, I'd damn sure know what I should and should not be looking at. --Mike
 
I didn't ask what he paid and he didn't
say.
The gun was purchased from the most
respected and largest outdoor store in
this area.
My friend said the salesman told him they
had taken in three used Parkers at the
same time; two were sold before they got
to the gun rack.

I prefer to believe this was a case where
neither the seller nor the buyer knew
enough about the shotgun to verify its
authenticity.

My friend will take it back and I'm certain
the store will make it right.

I wonder if the other two "Parkers" the
store bought and sold were bogus too.
 
Sport,

"largest and most respected outdooors store..."

Hum... Sorry, but given what has been written, and what is otherwise available, on Parker shotguns, either the store was intentionally trying to pull a fast one on its customer, or it is guilty of crass stupidity.

No matter which is the case, I'd be very hesitant to deal with that store in the future.
 
Kframe19, you're right.
It's kind of like passing a Smith L
frame off as a Colt Python.

This particular store's salesman really
should have known better.

My friend called this morning. He had
read the reference material I had left,
and determined it was an Italian knockoff.

Apparently, some time back it was not
uncommon for companies to make and market
counterfeits of well respected gun brands
and palm them off to an unsuspecting
public. In this case, the gun said Parker
Brothers rather than PARKER BROTHERS.
Of course, as I mentioned, it was also a
sidelock versus the famous Parker Boxlock
design-minor giveaway right there!
 
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