Is appearance important? Of course it is, especially when it is your shotgun, your pride and joy, whether family heirloom, sought-after second-hand model or brand new “just out of the box”. But beauty is always in the eye of the beholder and what suits one owner may not appeal to another. There are certain basics that most shooters…
Gun buying guide
Don’t discount second-hand side-by-side shotguns
A: English boxlock shotguns represent fantastic value for money because they are rather unfashionable at the moment. The Italian over-and-under carries all before it. A boxlock made between the wars or just after World War II is a classic handmade sporting gun. So is a hammergun. Both represent very good value for money in the current market. Assessing a…
The gun I always wish I had – the Perazzi MX12 Pro Sport
In Italy in 1946 life must have been tough for a young lad with an ambition. In recent years the country, under Mussolini, had gone to war on the German side, but had surrendered and joined the Allies in 1943. Then came the struggle to throw out Hitler’s forces, and the eventual capture and execution of Mussolini by a…
Three second-hand game guns worth looking at
ATA Arms Lightweight Field The late and much respected shooting writer Gough Thomas expressed the opinion that the ideal weight for a game gun to shoot 1oz of shot was 6lb, while 6lb 6oz was right for 1 1/16oz loads. The book in question – Shotguns & Cartridges for game and clays – was first published…
Second-hand guns for gamekeepers and clayshooters
Winchester Model 23 Side-by-side classes in major sporting contests don’t seem to be as popular as they were, which is a pity because they formed a friendly link between clay and gameshooting. Nevertheless, using a side-by-side for club Sporting targets can be great fun, as well as sharpening up the reflexes ready for the autumn. Of course,…
The super cheap gun in my fantasy gunroom
To me the Baikal is in the same league as a 1940s prefab or a 1950s Ford Popular. The prefab gave ordinary folks a taste of living in a dry, well-designed, warm house with an indoor toilet, a bathroom and a fridge, while the dear old Popular, with its crude side-valve engine and cart-spring suspension, gave working…
Top 10 guns for game
Beretta 687 EELL Classic £6,850 A modern icon, the EELL from Beretta is amongst the most sought after guns by sportsmen and women up and down the country, and with even a cursory glance it is easy to see why. With a design lineage stretching back to 1979, Beretta’s 680 line of guns have long…
Budget shotguns
Lincoln Premier A bestseller, the Premier satisfies the need for an elegant and practical shotgun at a reasonable price. It features fine chequering, internally chromed bore and chambers for improved lifespan and better distributed shot patterns, and is available in 12- or 20-bore. Key features: Three-year warranty as standard, fine-pitch laser chequering with double-grip pattern. Bisley Price: from £800 Huglu 103 DE…
Hunting rifles – Parker Hale M81
The M81 rifle was Parker Hale’s top-of-the-range hunting/stalking rifle and completed a portfolio of bolt-action rifles. These included classic, clip feed, deluxe, standard, African and varmint grades, to name a few. Pure English styling The M81 was a refined version of the hugely popular 1200 model rifle, with more classic styling, and was introduced in 1986.…
The Sauer 404 bolt-action rifle
The 202, the predecessor of the 404 was launched in 1993 and was seen as one of the best rifles around. However, the new 404 has many mechanical improvements over the 202, one being the safety catch. When you push the safety catch up to make the rifle “live”, you are physically cocking the rifle. Moving the safety catch…
The AYA No. 1: the best gun I never had
When I edited the very first issue of Sporting Gun, back in 1977, I asked Fred Buller of Chubbs of Edgeware, then one of the country’s leading gunsmiths, to nominate the best new gun for a newcomer on a limited budget. Without hesitation, he recommended the AYA Yeoman. In the era it was a tough but well-balanced, sweet-handling side-by-side boxlock –…
Three secondhand Sporters
Miroku MK60 Universal Grade 5 In the 1980s a type of gun for the Sporting disciplines was just evolving. All too many Continental manufacturers were trying to palm us off with slightly modified trap guns, while their game guns were too light and often too tightly choked, and skeet guns were too open-choked and not nearly steady…
On test: Schultz & Larsen Legacy .223
Schultz & Larsen (S&L) comes from Denmark and has a long history of making precision rifles and barrels. It has become a household name for its excellent cut rifled barrels and its new CNC machinery produces quality at an a ordable price. Schultz & Larsen offers a good range for stalking rifles and this Legacy model is designed for…
Mossberg 930 Duck Commander on test
The products of O. F. Mossberg & Sons, always known simply as Mossberg, have, since their founding in 1919, gained a reputation for practical designs where simplicity and reliability are outstanding features. While much of the product range concentrates on rifled firearms, in the UK the manufacturer is probably better known for its semi-automatic shotguns. My introduction to Mossberg was…
Second-hand 20-bore game guns
Browning B725 Hunter 20-bore, target price £1,500 A basic, Grade 1 version of the Browning B725 Hunter may weigh anything between 7lb and almost 7½lb, depending on barrel length (tubes of up to 32in are available) and wood density. And those figures suggest to me that the weight is right for a full day’s comfortable shooting.…
Remington 1100 – the best gun I never had
The year 1963 may not seem so long ago, but in truth the world then was rather different to the present day. There was no colour TV, the few computers that existed were laboratory toys, there was no internet or mobile phones, and Britain still had the remains of an empire. In ’63, however, there were some…
Second-hand shotguns for the season ahead
Beretta 486 Parellelo Purchasing a gun in July will enable you to shoot a few summer clays to get used to your acquisition, and get any handling tweaks sorted out, before the serious stuff begins. The choice will be between a traditional side-by-side and a more modern over-and-under, and if you take the first…
Six of the best shotguns
Lewis Potter rounds up the best shotguns he has tested in recent years from hammergun to semi-auto and ranging from the affordable £500 price mark up to the high end £18,800. Akkar Triple Crown The Akkar Triple Crown is not a shotgun you would ever be likely to forget. Anything…
How to find bargain British side-by-side shotguns
It is not surprising that even those shooters brought up on the modern imported over-and-under sometimes cast an appreciative eye at British side-by-side shotguns, because they are fine and distinctly attractive pieces of work. Usually lighter and handier than most over-and- unders they are for many shooters still the ideal game…
Three value-for-money second-hand Sporters
Medalist Sporter More than 30 years ago, the UK Browning importers could offer an impressive range of guns – everything from £1,000-plus competition and game guns to exotic and expensive hand-built examples of John Moses Browning’s immortal B25. But one thing they didn’t have was a “starter” gun retailing under…