Parker Hale 1200TX marked Palma Trophy Match 1969

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I recently picked up this rifle, a Parker Hale 1200 TX. I haven't had the luxury of shooting it yet (the road to my range has 4 feet of snow on it). My research on this rifle has been yielding very little information so I'm hoping you smart cookies can help me out, what exactly do I have here? Is this a military rifle? The roll mark "Palma Trophy Match 1969" has not appeared in any photographs of other rifles that I've found. What do you all think this is worth? It came with the two medals pictured, a couple commercial Parker Hale cleaning rods and a M1950 paratrooper rifle drop bag. Thanks :)

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The Palma Match is a long standing (1876) long range match (800, 900 & 1000 yards) shot between Canada, USA and Great Britain. Other countries can shoot, but Canada and USA must shoot.

It was originally shot with service rifles. Each country used their own. Canada, at one point, used the Ross.

In 1966 Canada was instrumental in getting the matches reinstated with a new set of rules. The match was 20 shooters shooting 15 shots each at 800, 900 and 1000 yards.

The first modern match was hosted by the Americans at Camp Perry in 1966. Americans shot M14s. Canada shot #4s in 308. America first. Canada Second.

The next year, 1969, Canada hosted the Match at Connaught range, Ottawa. We won.

In 1968 the rules were changed. For fairness, all teams (20 shooters each) would shoot the same rifle. The host nation would supply the rifles. The procedure is that the day before the match the competitors would draw their rifle by lot and get a few shots to get a zero. The Americans hosted and supplied M14 National Match rifles to all shooters. Americans won. Canada second


1969 Palma was hosted by Great Britain at their Bisley range, in 1969. They supplied your Parker Hale rifle. After the match the shooters could buy their rifle for $250, as I recall. Americans won that match. Great Britain second. Canada third.

I was on Three Canadian Palma Teams. My father was also on three. He won a Palma Gold Medal. I only have a Silver.
 
superbee said:
Didn't they use the long branch # 4 in 1967?The centennial year?DCRA converted 7.62?
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I don't think Canada supllied rifles for all teams in 1967. That rule was introduced for the '68 Match.

Canada supplied a special model of the Sportco one year and a Parker Hale 1200 the other. In 1976 the Americans supplied a special Winchester M70 with Redfield sights.
 
There are folks out there that collect "Palma Match" rifles. The first name that comes to mind is the late Wayne Mitchell. His collect had original Musgrave, Sportco's, Win 70's and the TX as well as the DCRA Enfields in outstanding condition. I had the privilege of viewing these and talking to him about the history and their previous owner's. Only regret is that the information was not recorded and appended to the respective rifle. Most if not all the collection was sold by his estate and most still reside in Canada.

Your 1200TX was made by Parker Hale for the 1969 Palma Match. The serial number would reveal if it was used in the 1969 Bisley competition. These were also sold commercially by Parker Hale to target shooter and club. The 1200TX also became the Canada C3 sniper rifle and the M82 competition and police rifle, hence has a rich history.

I'd like to see a picture of your "1950's rifle case" if you can post. The medals are most interesting. If you can get a letter from the previous owner/seller it will establish the provenance of the package. In this case (with the documentation) the package would be worth more than a commercially available 1200TX.
 
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Here's bit more Palma Match Trivia ;

Palma Revival

1966 US/Canada reinstated match. Shot Camp Perry. US ranks 1st and Canad 2nd. Canada used heavy barrel No 4's on converted No4's (I have one).
1967 shot at Connaught. Canada wins, followed by Great Britain, US.
1968 Camp Perry. Us 1st followed by Canada. Host nation rifle Win Model 70 marked "Palma Match" with less than a 100 build.
1968 Bisley. US, Great Britain, Canada. Host nation rifle Parker Hale 1200TX marked "Palma Trophy Match 1969".
1969 US,Great Britain, Canada.
1970 Great Britain,US, Canada.
1971 US,Great Britain, Canada. Host nation rifle Win Model 70 marked "NRA Centennial 1871-1971" and were rebarrel's of the 1970 Palma rifles. Very rare find.
1972 Canada,US.
1973 Shot South Africa. US 1st, Canada 2nd. Host nation rifle Musgrave.
1974 Rules change to "Modern Match" winner SA followed by US.
1975 No match
1976 Shot Camp Perry. US,South Africa,Canada. Hoist Nation rifle Win model 70 marked "Palma Match 1876-1976"
Thereafter rules changes and frequencies went to 3 years then 4 years.

If folks can fill in the blanks for host nation and rifle I'll update my thread.

Any ?'s you can PM me. Thanks. Ron
 
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rgg_7 said:
There are folks out there that collect "Palma Match" rifles. The first name that comes to mind is the late Wayne Mitchell. His collect had original Musgrave, Sportco's, Win 70's and the TX as well as the DCRA Enfields in outstanding condition. I had the privilege of viewing these and talking to him about the history and their previous owner's. Only regret is that the information was not recorded and appended to the respective rifle. Most if not all the collection was sold by his estate and most still reside in Canada.

Your 1200TX was made by Parker Hale for the 1969 Palma Match. The serial number would reveal if it was used in the 1969 Bisley competition. These were also sold commercially by Parker Hale to target shooter and club. The 1200TX also became the Canada C3 sniper rifle and the M82 competition and police rifle, hence has a rich history.

I'd like to see a picture of your "1950's rifle case" if you can post. The medals are most interesting. If you can get a letter from the previous owner/seller it will establish the provenance of the package. In this case 9with the documentation) the package would be worth more than a commercially available 1200TX.
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Thanks for all the information everyone! I had a feeling this rifle had a cool story to go along with it! I'll try and get a letter, the gentleman who earned the medals passed away a few years ago, one of my shooting buddies was friends with him and picked this stuff up from the estate (and passed it on to my grubby paws :d). Rgg_7 if I pm you the serial number can you check if it was used at Bisley?

Here are some pics of the case it came in:
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Case is US perhaps picked up at one of the Camp Perry Palma Matches. Not unusual to see a mix of accessories as the matches always had goodies for competitors (give aways, trades, purchases) I've got a hammer forged 7.62 barrel that was brought back to Canada from a Bisley match that Fulton/Enfield only offered at the match. Get as much info as you can from the Estate ie Chap's name, occupation, years he was a member of DCRA or a Provincial group, any competitions he was in etc. Well worth the effort to establish the provenance.

PM the SN and guys name and I'll look through what I have.

Ron
 
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Note that your lovely new rifle will prefer the 147gr NATO ammunition above all others - Green Spot sniping ammunition has not been seen here in UK for a good few years. Of course, it will also be just fine with 155gr stuff.

Good luck.

tac
 
Beautiful rifle. I believe the bronze medal is the 3rd place for the match and the silver is the team medal. Do you have any provenance that the rifle was owned by E.L, Dunlop?
 
Send a polite letter to the DCRA office in Ottawa, and ask for a brief report on Ed(?) Dunlop. Don't expect a huge packet of material back, but if they check the team photos you can at least have a copy of the 1969 Palma Team to go with the rifle and medals. That team's report would also be in the fall or winter edition of The Marksman for 69 or 70.

Ian Robertson here on CGN is a past editor (AFAIR) and he would be familiar with some of the sources.

And ditto on Wayne Mitchell's collection! He was a true collector who knew his stuff. Shame he died so quickly.
 
Each Palma Match since 1966 has had 7.62 (308) ammo supplied by the host nation.

America 1976
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Australia 1988
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America 1992
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As a Palma Team Captain I was supplied a pretty good set of historical information, including Team Reports from back to the 1800's.

Anyone wanting info on past Teams can ask on here.

I will Ed Dunlop's info. He would have been on several Team and have several medals.
 
Have you got any info on the 1967 match in canada?I have a #4 DCRA 7.62 rifle that the previous owner said was used in the 67 match.Is there a list of serial #'s of rifles used?The only info he had was a receipt indicating the rifle was one of 66 built for the match.
There is no stamps on the rifle indicating it use in the 67 match.
 
superbee said:
Have you got any info on the 1967 match in canada?I have a #4 DCRA 7.62 rifle that the previous owner said was used in the 67 match.Is there a list of serial #'s of rifles used?The only info he had was a receipt indicating the rifle was one of 66 built for the match.
There is no stamps on the rifle indicating it use in the 67 match.
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Is it a Sportco? Or Parker Hale?

As I recall that match, when the rifles were zeroed before the match, they were shot at about 50 yards. The come up was know to be 20 minutes to 800 yards, so when a shooter fired his 2 sighters, there was some anxiety, hoping that the first sighter would be on paper at 800.

Canada decided, based on the sighters, that some rifles were much better than others. Although we had 20 shooters, it was decided that there was no reason that we had to use 20 different rifles. Each team had 5 shooters lined up behind 4 targets. Canada chose the best 4 rifles and left the rifles on the mound, so each guy who went up just took over from where the last guy was. In this way there was no risk that a given rifle might not start off hitting paper.

This same technique was repeated at other matches, too.

So, even if you know for a fact that Joe Bloggs was on the Team, and that you have his rifle, you can't assume he actually shot his rifle.
 
This is great! I eagerly await your info Ganderite, I'll post what I can find out about his military career tomorrow. Heh I guess I'm now on a quest to find a box of 1969 Palma 7.62!
I'll also be sure to post up a range report when this finally gets taken out for a spin.
 
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