Fabarm Elos B2 Combo: 20 and 28-bore barrels cased under £3,000

An Italian over-and-under that comes with a 20-bore action and both 20-bore and 28-bore barrels in one case, for just under £3,000, is “a really well-sorted little package”, Sporting Gun’s reviewer Lloyd Pattison concluded in the magazine’s December 2026 issue. Writing in Sporting Gun, Pattison tested the Fabarm Elos B2 Combo with both sets of 32in barrels on a variety of sporting presentations, and his verdict was plain: “The gun looks great and is very well put together, trigger-pulls were decent, and overall fit, finish and feel were excellent, especially given the price point.”

Why does a two-bore combination matter to the all-rounder?

For the keeper walking the boundary on a rough day, the shoot owner who wants something lighter for the walked-up days and anyone with a youngster coming through, the appeal is that one cased gun settles the small-bore question without a second purchase. Pattison put the case for it in those terms. The Elos B2 Combo, he wrote, “would make an excellent addition to one’s arsenal if you are looking for a sub-bore but can’t decide between 28 and 20, or if you have a youngster who can graduate up through the bores as they develop their gun handling”. He added a warning against treating it as a stepping stone: “This is not, however, just something they will grow out of. I rather think that hanging on to it for days when you need something lighter, faster or just a bit more fun will be on the cards.”

What does the Fabarm Elos B2 Combo come with?

The gun is cased in a clamshell, with the action, one set of barrels and the accessories in the bottom and the second set of barrels behind a divider in the lid. Five Inner HP chokes come with each set of barrels. The 20-bore barrels have 3in chambers and the 28-bore barrels 2¾in, and both sets are superior steel-proofed, a point worth having as the move away from lead shot gathers pace. The test gun carried 32in barrels, with 28in and 30in options available, under a 6mm x 6mm ventilated top rib with a solid mid rib. The trigger is an inertia unit with a non-adjustable blade, the walnut stock has a 38/58mm drop with no palm swell and a 14⅝in length of pull, and the gun weighed a measured 3.6kg, or 8lb, with the 20-bore barrels fitted. Sporting Gun lists it from £2,995, cased, through the importer Anglo Italian Arms, with prices correct at the time of publication.

How does it handle with the 20-bore and 28-bore barrels?

Because the action is a 20-bore, the 28-bore barrels carry extra metal at the chamber end so that everything fits, and Pattison found that worked in the gun’s favour: “Honestly this means that they balance quite nicely with a pleasantly weighty feeling between the hands.” On the test day the balance was “a little nose-heavy with the 20-bore barrels and neutral with the 28s on, but handling was snappy and predictable”. Driving a sub-bore takes a little recalibration for anyone used to a heavy clay gun, he wrote, before summing up where it would earn its keep: “This is a gun that needs control for longer shots but will be mustard on snap-shot birds and the sort of fast-moving stuff that gets flushed on a walked-up day.” He shot ¾ and full choke throughout and found the gun “extremely competent” on sporting targets, noting that “breaking stuff with a 28 is gratifying and breaks looked convincing”.

What was the problem with light 28-bore loads?

The one real fault Pattison found was in the trigger. The inertia reset worked happily with the 24g Pro Twenties he used in the 20-bore barrels, but it “refused to reset for the lighter 18g CompX 28s”. For the test he used a heavier game load in the bottom barrel to get round it. He raised it with Anglo Italian Arms and “was assured that they are aware and are retrofitting lighter springs to alleviate the problem in guns they are shipping”, adding that he was “sure they will apply the same fix to any gun previously sold if it’s an issue for the user”. For readers who shoot game rather than clays the point may be moot, he wrote, because “here in the UK this is a piece that will most likely be used in the field and hence this might never be an issue if you are using game loads all the time”.

Who makes Fabarm, and what else did the test find?

Fabarm began in Brescia around 1900 and moved to Travagliato, just outside the city, after a change of ownership in 1979. Caesar Guerini took a controlling stake in 2011 and became the sole owner in 2015, and Pattison noted that actions and parts are shared between the two brands, with Fabarm filling the price gap beneath its sister marque. On the Elos B2 Combo he liked the clean action with its minimal floral scroll and contrasting trunnion pins, the recessed fore-end latch with its adjustable hex bolt, the well-finished monobloc and the wider trigger blade, and he found the slim stock and subtle cast worked well, though “some might find a little high in the comb”. The top lever was “a little on the small side” for him and the pistol grip tighter in radius than some will expect, but the 14⅝in length of pull “will fit most people” with a longer or shorter pad to fine-tune it.

What should a buyer check before ordering?

Anyone planning to run light 28-bore loads should ask whether the lighter trigger springs are fitted before taking delivery, and anyone who wants the gun for driven days as well as walked-up ones should handle both barrel sets, since the balance shifts between them. The 28in and 30in barrel options change that balance again. Lloyd Pattison’s full test is in the December 2026 issue of Sporting Gun and linked below.