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AYA No.2 de luxe 20-bore shotgun
Shotguns: AYA No.2 de luxe 20-bore shotgun: We test this more affordable version of AYA's No.1 lightweight sidelock.
Many readers will be aware that the AYA No.1, a shotgun I reviewed in 2007, is their top-of-the-range gun, built in Spain but finished in the UK.
It’s a case of taking the slogan “English in all but name” to the limit of its meaning.
This kind of bi-national production should be no surprise as AYA-barrelled actions in the white have been sought after for many years as the basis of new builds, some bearing British names, very much in the way the Birmingham trade used to supply parts for London guns.
But the problem with producing a gun like the AYA No.1 is the extra time and cost involved, which means a more expensive gun.
BUSINESS AS USUAL
Otherwise everything is very much business as usual, or to put it another way, a good dose of tradition.
The lockwork is struck up cleanly, with nice crisp edges to the component parts.
In all other respects it is a conventional bar-action sidelock with intercepting (safety) sears, the whole assembly held together with five screw pins.
This is a style of lock that is usually regarded as the most desirable.
Ejectors are of the Southgate type, long acknowledged as one of the simplest and most reliable systems.
The ejector springs and kickers are therefore housed in the fore-end, which is a finely shaped piece of work and less bulky than many Continental guns.
An Anson pushrod fore-end catch, rolled edge to the trigger-guard, silver oval in the stock, crisp-cut chequering and diamond shaped hand to the stock ? the list goes on, almost a double dose of tradition.
ACTION STATION
The action is very traditional ? as one would expect from this type of gun.
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