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Yildiz 20-bore side-by-side shotgun review

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By Jason Harris

Thursday, 20 September 2007

Yildiz 20-bore side-by-side shotgun: This 20-bore from Turkish gunmaker, Yildiz, is a decent little shotgun for the price.

Yildiz 20-bore side-by-side shotgun: Too many otherwise decently made 20-bores let themselves down in one crucial area - weight.

Quite simply, they're too heavy.

Of course this might not matter if the gun's going to be used for clay shooting or driven game with heavy loads, but it somewhat defeats the object if you plan to walk any distance in the field.

At 5.1/2lb, the Turkish-made Yildiz notches up a useful set of Brownie points. And this boxlock ejector is nicely balanced, to boot.

In fact the more I look at it, the more I like this little gun.

First thing in its favour is the price: at £500 it sits firmly at the lower-end of the market. But don't let this put you off. The reality is you get a lot of gun for your money here.

For a start the wood quality is good for a gun of the price but, then, that shouldn't be much of a surprise as most of the walnut used in gunmaking today is grown in Turkey anyway.

Yildiz 20-bore shotgun. The engraving is relatively simple and the gun opens on a full width cross pin.

The wood is oil finished with the comfortable pistol grip and splinter fore-end actually being chequered by hand, not machine.

The 28in multichoke barrels have been fitted with 3in chambers and the barrel assembly hooks up to the action body with a single bite, rather than the more normal double. I don't see this as a weakness because the bite is a wide affair that fits accurately with the bolt.

In fact this gun is very well jointed and hinges open on a full width steel cross pin. One noticeable feature is the slightly larger than average barrel lumps which, on this Yildiz, house the spring loaded extractors.

The barrels are built on the monobloc system and have been very well filed or 'struck up' from the monobloc into the tubes.

The concave top rib has been matted to reduce glare.

The single trigger mechanism is a simple affair which works on inertia from the first shot and barrel selection is made by moving the safety catch button through a gate in Browning/Miroku style.

The safety catch is manual, and doesn't appear to be able to convert to auto safe.

Hammers pivot from the bottom of action and are powered by coil springs while the sears are suspended from above in the same manner as an over-under.

Yildiz 20-bore shotgun toplever. The toplever is functional and the safety catch is manual with no auto-safe.

This simple, no frills, mechanism will probably prove very reliable in the long term.

Machine work of action and parts is very good.

The alloy action face has been fitted with a steel reinforcing plate to protect against recoil and to also avoid gas erosion around the firing pin exit holes.

JASON'S VERDICT:

The makers have managed to keep the weight down by careful use of aluminium alloy in the action frame and fore-end iron.

The advantage here is that the gun handles and points very well. It might be simply made but I consider this gun offers excellent value for money.

Build quality: 7

Handling: 7

Styling: 7

Value for money: 9