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Holland & Holland Sporting Model 20-bore shotgun review

Holland & Holland Sporting Model 20-bore shotgun: How do you compare cost with value in a shotgun that is beyond the dreams of most shooters?

ShootingUK
ShootingUK 5 October 2011

Holland & Holland is one of the best-known names in the gunmaking, world with a reputation for superb products embracing many years of tradition.

The problem that arises is how to evaluate such guns. By what yardstick can they be judged?

My view is that, as with any gun, there are several criteria to meet.

These include quality of materials and manufacture, handling and balance, lines and styling and, most importantly, performance.

Without these, any gun is little more than an expensive ornament.

There is also something indefinable with a really special gun that lifts it above being a mere mechanical device.

So, when the chance came to test a Holland & Holland Sporting Model, I must confess to a little trepidation.

The Sporting Model is produced in two forms; a game gun and a version biased more towards competitive shooting.

It was the game gun that I tested, which is also the more popular.

The first impression when assembling the gun is one of amazing lightness, in spite of the 29in barrels and rather long stock.

></img> <br /> <br /> To produce a 20-bore of these dimensions which weighs barely 6.1⁄4lb is commendable, but remarkably, it feels even lighter. <br /> <br /> This is, of course, to do with the balance which, with a good gun, is the careful matching of dimensions and weights of component parts to make a superior whole. <br /> <br /> This 20-bore is a good example in that respect of the gunmaker?s art, and it manages to give the impression that it has a life of its own. <br /> <br /> <em><strong>SUPERIOR DECORATION</strong></em> <br /> There is no doubt that this gun qualifies as a bit of a looker. The lines flow beautifully from the half pistol-grip stock through the sideplated action and deep fore-end, and along the slim barrel tubes with the delicately tapered but solid top rib. <br /> <br /> This is a gun that as a whole appears to have been designed with the eye of an artist. <br /> <br /> As for some of the individual parts, the stock and fore-end appear, as one would expect, to be made from the same walnut blank. <br /> <br /> It is quite beautiful and finely grained; what a stocker might call a ?kind? piece of wood ? meaning it cuts nicely and you do not need to sharpen the chisels too often. <br /> <br /> It is the sort that one can study for ages, finding a fascination in nature?s patterns and seeing subtle differences each time it is turned between the hands. <br /> <br /> Equally eye-catching is the engraving; a modified form of acanthus leaf, bold but classy, though I must confess I have a preference for this sort of work. <br /> <br /> No steel part is left untouched by the engraver?s tool and the sideplates bear the maker?s name. <br /> <br /> Under the action body it carries the legend The Sporting Model, presumably in case you forget what you have spent all your money on. <br /> <br /> Adding to the looks are the deeply carved fences, wide tapered top-lever and an interestingly shaped and practical safety button. <br /> <br /> Another nice touch is the barrel selector indicator, which simply shows over or under. <br /> <br /> Though the trigger-guard is fairly small, it matches the rest of this gun?s proportions and the trigger has a simplicity and elegance of form that is delightful. <br /> <br /> <img width=

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