The Merkel Helix rifle is made in Germany, with Viking Arms as the sole UK importer. Viking has done a good job promoting these rifles and you see more and more of them in stalkers’ hands these days. The Helix is a straight-pull, bolt-action rifle system designed from the ground up to provide an ultra-fast,…

Recently a friend of mine said that for him a gun was all about the wood and engraving. For me, a lesser shot, it’s all about the handling. If the gun handles well, then I feel more confident and shoot better. The new Rizzini Grand Regal satisfies both those criteria because it’s not only aesthetically…

The Tikka T3X has to be one of the most widely accepted stalking rifles in Britain today. It comes from the old firm of Tikkakoski, Finnish for ‘woodpecker’, hence the two back-to-back stylised woodpeckers in its logo, and this version has a super-tough and practical Cerakote finish. Rather than the usual blued steel 
or stainless…

Sako was formally established during the 1930s and in 1983 it merged with Tikkakoski, another Finnish manufacturer, owners of the Tikka brand. Things changed again rather more quickly when it was bought in 2000 by Beretta, the doyen of Italian firearms manufacturing. New market Although the company was initially set up to meet military requirements,…

Every time I pick up a pump-action shotgun I still feel a slight vibration as my ancestors turn in their graves. Traditionalists, they would all have been horrified to see any descendant shooting with such a gun. The gunrooms and safes I grew up around tended to contain selections of side-by-sides and little else. True,…

The Beretta brand is not short of choice — with the 69 series alone we have models covering both field and competition options. These include the 691, 692, 693, the new 694 and the 695, covering a wide range of price points. As a consequence I was starting to think we were about to hear…

The CZ range of rimfire and centrefire rifles has served the UK sporting fraternity very well for decades now, and still provides exceptionally reassuring quality at a fair price. The original Model 1 .22 LR rimfire rifle has been modified over the years and reached its zenith with the 455. Therefore, rather than redesign it…

Every now and then a new gun comes on the market that sends ripples of excitement through the shooting community. Spanish gun maker AYA is part of shooting folklore and anything that comes out of its stable causes much interest. Famed for its well-made and competitively priced sporting guns, which were influenced by traditional English…

There is a perception with shooters that bigger is better but I’m not so sure about that — after 40 years of stalking and shooting, I like to be as efficient as I can. That means packing as little as I can get into hand luggage on an overseas trip, to smaller capacity cartridges, smaller…

It seems to be the season 
to review semi-automatics, 
with the latest offering — 
a new A400 Upland 12-bore 
— coming from Beretta. This one is a little sexed up compared with our last two camouflaged offerings, with a wooden stock and nickel-plated action, complete with some pheasant and partridge engraving. The other main difference…

A brand new model from the Beretta dynasty is not something that comes along every day. I first laid eyes on the Beretta SL3 when it was launched with much fanfare at IWA last year. Since then, I’ve been keen to have a closer look and put the gun through its paces. The Beretta SL3…