Fudd Friday: Parker Hale Classic Hunting Rifles

There are some companies that have a reputation for making hunting rifles that have excellent accuracy for your money—indeed, this is what has driven the revolution in lower-priced made-in-America bolt-actions over the past 15 years. But while modern affordable deer guns might offer MOA capability or better, they tend to leave a bit to be desired in the fit-and-finish department. What if you want practical hunting accuracy and a nicer gun … but you’re on a tight budget? One option is to hit the used market, and look for a Parker Hale. They may be one of the most underrated brands that you can find today.

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Made in the UK

These days, the British government has a reputation for being very anti-gun, but the United Kingdom was once a center of firearms manufacturing. Parker Hale was there for the best years of it, founded in 1890 by Alfred Gray Parker with his nephew Arthur Hale coming aboard as a partner in 1910. In their early years, Parker Hale focused on small-bore target rifles and accessories for competition shooting. There was an emphasis on this sport in the UK after the Boer War, where South African militias had held off British troops thanks to superior marksmanship. Parker Hale sold gadgets to help target shooters, but their business really took off when World War I opened up and the British military needed to train thousands of raw recruits. Parker Hale developed a .22LR conversion kit for the Lee-Enfield service rifle, and was soon producing them as quickly as possible for trainees.

Parker Hale was one of the busiest companies in the sporting rifle export business. In the years after World War II, the company was based near Birmingham, the center of the British arms industry; indeed, their factory was built on the grounds where the Birmingham Proof House firing range was situated.

Parker Hale’s post-war exports were based on two main product lines: remanufactured military rifles and new-manufacture Mauser-pattern rifles.

The military rifles were mostly Lee-Enfields, since that’s what the Brits used in the war, although Parker Hale also remanufactured P14 rifles and even used reconditioned Mauser actions as the basis of early sporter builds. They shipped these rifles under various names, and in various grades of refinement, all over the world but particularly to Commonwealth countries like Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

This sort of business wasn’t unusual at the time; all around Europe, gunmakers were beating swords into plowshares, so to speak. There was no more military need for millions of perfectly serviceable rifles, so they turned them into hunting guns.

I’ve seen a lot of Lee-Enfields in my time, and in my opinion, the Parker Hale conversions of the No. 1 and No. 4 are the finest factory reconditioning jobs I’ve seen. You could order a pretty basic Parker Hale Standard model, and it was generally preferable to the hacked-up sporter conversions that people did in their basements.

But the more money you spent on a Parker Hale .303, the better it got. I had a Parker Hale Supreme about a decade ago that shot far, far better than an old World War II surplus rifle should shoot, and it handled better than any modern rifle I’ve carried afield. I sold it in a fit of madness, convinced I needed more gun for moose hunting. I was an idiot; I’ve regretted that sale ever since, because that reconditioned surplus rifle was all I’d ever need.

I suppose some buyers got lemons, but I think most of these Parker Hale conversions performed satisfactorily, because the company was able to draw on a pool of experienced gunmakers in the area who knew what it took to make a rifle shoot well. They put new stocks on the rifles (my Supreme had a nice Monte Carlo setup); the metal had deep, gorgeous blueing. The actions were proven, and the barrels were not shot out from the war; they were shortened and recrowned. Usually, the clunky military sights were replaced, and provision was made for mounting a scope. Parker Hale’s gunsmiths took something old and made it into a gorgeous new rifle to be proud of … if you weren’t all caught up with the latest and greatest hyper-speed cartridges.

But, Parker Hale made rifles for those cartridges, too. While it’s probably best-known for its Lee-Enfield conversions, Parker Hale sold a lot of Mauser-action rifles (built off surplus actions, and then new actions from Zastava or Santa Barbara). These rifles were chambered in then-new .243 and .308 short-action rounds, as well as .30-06, .270 and other long-action calibers. They had options in .300 Magnum, 7mm Magnum and .308 Norma Magnum; they even offered rifles in .375 H&H Magnum, .404 Jeffery and .458 Win Mag for the safari market.

My first time moose hunting, I brought one of these rifles, a Model 1200 in .308. I also stupidly parted with this one, trading it for a semi-auto Winchester 1400 because I was doing a lot of duck hunting back then, and I couldn’t use the rifle legally in my deer hunting spot. I regretted it later on, as that rifle shot quite well (even better than the .303 I had later). With a removable magazine and adjustable gold trigger, glossy finish on the stock and a rosewood-tipped forend, it probably made the original buyer quite happy whenever they picked it up in the 1970s or 1980s.

The 1200-series and other Mauser-action Parker Hales tend to carry a bit more of a price on the used market when compared to the Lee-Enfield conversions, although I’m not sure that’s fair. While I suspect the Mauser-action models are more accurate—indeed, some shipped from the factory with a pretty solid accuracy guarantee—the difference is negligible to most hunters, and I will say that I preferred the cock-on-close action of my Parker Hale Supreme to the sloppy cock-on-open action of my earlier Model 1200.

Buying a Parker Hale today

Parker Hale prices vary widely because of varying conditions of rifles after decades of use, and because they were made in a wide range of finishes to start with. I’ve seen good rifles for as low as $250; I’ve seen optimistic owners looking for nearly $1,000. Personally, I wouldn’t pay a lot of money for one unless I was able to handle it in person, and I would prefer a high-grade Lee-Enfield conversion over a Mauser action. I can easily see why a buyer might want a Mauser-pattern rifle instead, though, especially as it gives you a much wider range of calibers to choose from.