Turkish shotguns the anti Christ of Uplands
- Thread starter Brutus
- Start date
sillymike
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
How does it go?
- Time is money
Personally, not being retired and having limited time to go hunting... should something break while on the hunt, I'm probably a little disappointed (and upset). Even more so having to wait to have it repaired if it was the only shotgun I owned.
- Wasn't there a thread (not so long ago) from a guy having issues sourcing (what I thought out to be) a common/readily available part? (For a Turkish CZ)
This been said, it's been a long time since I went shotgun-shopping to fill a specific need (1985
)- Pretty much everything since then as been purchase of opportunity (Oh look something shiny!) from friends/family/gun-show
Would I buy a made in Turkey shotgun? Probably not.
Would I recommend one? It depends... if the price was right, and it came with spare parts (like the old Russian match rifle/pistol used to). Maybe.
Londonshooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- SW Ontario
I only once bought a brand new shotgun. That was 1978. I respect the pro and con commentators here, but personally still on the fence with a neutral bias. Let you know in 20 years.
huntingfish
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Quebec City
I've had several Turkish guns:
Stevens 555: It just didn't feel right in my hands, couldn't hit grouse with it, maybe it was the aluminum receiver and the general fit of the shotgun? I sold it.
Charles Daly semi 20ga: Fun cheap gun, no problem with it (cycled everything). I wanted to try out a 20ga before purchasing something more expensive. Sold it once I got the Churchill
Churchill 520 20ga: Looks beautiful and stylish, is light, points naturally for me. I expect to keep this one for a LONG time.
Stevens 555: It just didn't feel right in my hands, couldn't hit grouse with it, maybe it was the aluminum receiver and the general fit of the shotgun? I sold it.
Charles Daly semi 20ga: Fun cheap gun, no problem with it (cycled everything). I wanted to try out a 20ga before purchasing something more expensive. Sold it once I got the Churchill
Churchill 520 20ga: Looks beautiful and stylish, is light, points naturally for me. I expect to keep this one for a LONG time.
John, I have never bought a new gun. But I was given one once. My Wingmaster. IIRC it was about Christmas 1978. I was 20.
I recently went to a local Cad Tire that had about 10 Akkar Churchill SxS's in stock. After looking at this thread, I wanted to handle one and see what they are like. Initial impression was good. I was pleased to see they are all on scaled frames - the 20 and 28 gauge were well balanced and handled well. I was not a fan that the levers do not stay to the right when the barrels are open, but that's personal preference.
The 20 gauge had no issues I could see. While I don't think build quality is 100% there, it felt solid and well thought out. What wasn't good however, was the 28 gauge. Wood to metal fit was wanting, and the worst part was the floppy barrels. When open, the barrels were extremely loose side-to-side on the hinge pin. Shockingly poor QA on that example.
Dollar for dollar, I'll stick with my vintage SxS's.
The 20 gauge had no issues I could see. While I don't think build quality is 100% there, it felt solid and well thought out. What wasn't good however, was the 28 gauge. Wood to metal fit was wanting, and the worst part was the floppy barrels. When open, the barrels were extremely loose side-to-side on the hinge pin. Shockingly poor QA on that example.
Dollar for dollar, I'll stick with my vintage SxS's.
Londonshooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- SW Ontario
I bought my Remington at 16 after a summer of following a tractor stooking green 70lb. hay bales, building loads on a trailer, and then stacking them in a hayloft at >150 degree humidex. One day with heat stoke I sat panting in the shade of the tractor and earned a modest bonus checque. So I earned that damned gun and never sold it. One bonus was that there was an excellent brook trout steam I got access to. I shot many limits with that gun as a teen over decoys I had carved myself. Had the 30" barrel cut following the non-toxic rules and now it is 25" with thin wall choke tube.
As far as Turk guns, they are going to have to prove themselves in the long run. On a political note, I don't think Cyprus, among other things, should be easily forgiven.
As far as Turk guns, they are going to have to prove themselves in the long run. On a political note, I don't think Cyprus, among other things, should be easily forgiven.
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Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Well it's a bit off topic however the 1974 Turkish army invasion of Cyprus was a long long time coming. Mostly because of the illegal and immoral crimes of Colonel Gervais. Whom I must add would never been able to play his bloody trade without the assistance of Greek ethnic Cypriots. Hiding him, feeding him, running messages for him. The Turkish illegal invasion was motivated by acts of ENOSIS terrorism upon Cypriots of Turkish origins.
Prove me wrong sir.
Back to shotguns please.
Prove me wrong sir.
Back to shotguns please.
I've been more than happy with any of the turkish shotguns i have had/used. I don't shoot 1000's of rounds of clays with them, i don't expect them to last as long as a B gun, etc, but for my intended purpose they are great.
The pro for me are:
The aluminum receivers are lighter, so for someone who mostly works a desk job, isn't quite as young/fit as i used to be and who tends to do more "walking around with a shotgun" than actual shooting the weight is a plus for sure.
The turkish guns have a much better availability with shorter barrels. Late season rabbit hunting, busting through thick stuff looking for hares having a 18-20"ish barrel makes it much easier twisting through alders and spruce thickets. This isn't as relevant for wingshooting, but it fits the bill for bunnies.
The price is better, so i am more able to have more than one for specific types on hunting i do, 12ga longer barrel for ducks, 20ga longer barrel for grouse, 20ga short barrel for rabbit and any other configuration that catches my fancy. We're a group of people who like guns, so there's going to be some we get just because we like they way it looks or feels, so the price point is a plus for that.
They just plain shoot well for me. This one is going to vary person to person, but i've been lucky in that any of the turkish guns i have used just seem to fit me perfectly and i end up shooting better than with other non turkish guns i have used and only one single problem with a trigger group that was quickly replaced and have had no problems with it since. I personally don't care if it's a bit ugly and the wood/metal line isn't seamless as long as it works.
The caveat to all of this is that most of the turkish guns i have used have been either from Corwin arms (who either seemed to do a better job at QCing them before he sent them out, or paid for better QC) weatherby or lately charles daly. They're also fairly low round counts and i can't realistically expect that to last for 100 years and get passed on to my grandchildren, but as long as i'm going into it with a realistic expectation i don't see why it matters. A honda civic gets me to work just the same as a BMW if i have other things to spend my money on than a fancy car.
I know there's a ton of different brands/models/manufacturers/QC levels out there, so you need to make sure you're buying from somewhere reputable who will stand behind what they sell, or do your homework on the particular gun you're looking at.
The pro for me are:
The aluminum receivers are lighter, so for someone who mostly works a desk job, isn't quite as young/fit as i used to be and who tends to do more "walking around with a shotgun" than actual shooting the weight is a plus for sure.
The turkish guns have a much better availability with shorter barrels. Late season rabbit hunting, busting through thick stuff looking for hares having a 18-20"ish barrel makes it much easier twisting through alders and spruce thickets. This isn't as relevant for wingshooting, but it fits the bill for bunnies.
The price is better, so i am more able to have more than one for specific types on hunting i do, 12ga longer barrel for ducks, 20ga longer barrel for grouse, 20ga short barrel for rabbit and any other configuration that catches my fancy. We're a group of people who like guns, so there's going to be some we get just because we like they way it looks or feels, so the price point is a plus for that.
They just plain shoot well for me. This one is going to vary person to person, but i've been lucky in that any of the turkish guns i have used just seem to fit me perfectly and i end up shooting better than with other non turkish guns i have used and only one single problem with a trigger group that was quickly replaced and have had no problems with it since. I personally don't care if it's a bit ugly and the wood/metal line isn't seamless as long as it works.
The caveat to all of this is that most of the turkish guns i have used have been either from Corwin arms (who either seemed to do a better job at QCing them before he sent them out, or paid for better QC) weatherby or lately charles daly. They're also fairly low round counts and i can't realistically expect that to last for 100 years and get passed on to my grandchildren, but as long as i'm going into it with a realistic expectation i don't see why it matters. A honda civic gets me to work just the same as a BMW if i have other things to spend my money on than a fancy car.
I know there's a ton of different brands/models/manufacturers/QC levels out there, so you need to make sure you're buying from somewhere reputable who will stand behind what they sell, or do your homework on the particular gun you're looking at.
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I hear what your saying dand883 and all of your reasions are valid. The trouble is that some Turkish guns run trouble free and others do not so every purchase is a bit of a gamble regardless of maker or who the importer/retailer is.
TheCoachZed
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Are the Huglus from Prophet River mostly trouble-free? Particularly his "Specials" that he's been selling?
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I haven't looked at the "specials" you're talking about but I think the Huglu's are mostly pretty good however, I have a 202b in 410 that gave me some trouble on the first outing. When I pulled the trigger to fire the second barrel, it didn't go off right away. That is to say that it did go off but only after I released the trigger, a very unsafe condition to say the least! I pulled the stock off when I got home and found that the left hand hammer was dragging on the inside of the stock and after releaving a tiny amount of wood to allow the hammer to fall unempeded the gun has worked flawlessly ever since. On a more expensive gun I'd have been pretty unhappy with this but I've been working on guns for a long time and this was a minor fix for me. For someone else it would have been a much bigger issue since it would mean sending the gun to a gunsmith or back to the manufacturer to be fixed. It's a pretty sweet gun though and I'm very happy with it.
I have owned one or two Turkish guns. They were just alright, not excellent, not total crap. Spare parts are usually unobtanium so if something breaks you'd better buy a second for parts. I probably wouldn't trust my life with one.
Great luck with a CZ Huglu Bobwhite in .410 with 26" barrels, IC/Mod. Bought used in about 2005 and no issues to date. Very trim little gun I shoot well that is regulated well.
I had a matching 28 ga Bobwhite with screw in chokes from the same era that I did not shoot as well. . Sold it. Not sure why I didn't shoot it as well as the .410 but did not...must have been slightly different on balance and dimensional fit. Was the very trim, petite 28 ga action.
And had a Huglu 20 ga, 28" barrrels, screw in chokes, English stock and twin triggersI bought for a song, like brand new, with triggers lightened. Shot it very well. Passed it on to a hunting buddy as I have too many SxSs and he likes it. Not so trim for a 20 gauge gun at over 6-1/2#s.
I had a matching 28 ga Bobwhite with screw in chokes from the same era that I did not shoot as well. . Sold it. Not sure why I didn't shoot it as well as the .410 but did not...must have been slightly different on balance and dimensional fit. Was the very trim, petite 28 ga action.
And had a Huglu 20 ga, 28" barrrels, screw in chokes, English stock and twin triggersI bought for a song, like brand new, with triggers lightened. Shot it very well. Passed it on to a hunting buddy as I have too many SxSs and he likes it. Not so trim for a 20 gauge gun at over 6-1/2#s.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Pretty bad when one feels better armed with ancient Toz-66 hammer gun.
Prophet river specail huglus were bought cheaper and clay passed the savings on. Nothing wrong with the guns and that shipment did have guns not slated for our market.
My huglus are still slowly building an ever increasing round count and are still tight
I just won a trap tournament yesterday and while shooting heard ppl behind me hating on turkish guns and stated boldly theyd never own one. When i put my dickinson arms back in the rack after shooting a perfect round with it they came over and asked to see it. They both complimented the fit and finish and the handling qualities of the 26" barrels. They refused to believe me it was made it turkey. The one had to google it.
Turkish makers make them to a price point for export. If someone wants a higher end gun theyre more than capable of making them. We have just created a market for the cheapest possible products. That demand has over taken the demand for high quality products
That said. I saw 3 canuck ou fail yesterday.
My huglus are still slowly building an ever increasing round count and are still tight
I just won a trap tournament yesterday and while shooting heard ppl behind me hating on turkish guns and stated boldly theyd never own one. When i put my dickinson arms back in the rack after shooting a perfect round with it they came over and asked to see it. They both complimented the fit and finish and the handling qualities of the 26" barrels. They refused to believe me it was made it turkey. The one had to google it.
Turkish makers make them to a price point for export. If someone wants a higher end gun theyre more than capable of making them. We have just created a market for the cheapest possible products. That demand has over taken the demand for high quality products
That said. I saw 3 canuck ou fail yesterday.
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
What was wrong with the 3 Canucks?
I have a Mossberg Maverick HS12 Over and Under 12 gauge Shotgun (20")
and a Canuck Sentry Pump Action Shotgun (8+1)
I thought for sure the light weight 20" was going to hurt like hell. But it handles the recoil very well. And provides an excellent spread for nabbing gophers, and game birds.
The pump action runs extremely nice !! and the peep sight system om it works great !
Very happy with them both.
and a Canuck Sentry Pump Action Shotgun (8+1)
I thought for sure the light weight 20" was going to hurt like hell. But it handles the recoil very well. And provides an excellent spread for nabbing gophers, and game birds.
The pump action runs extremely nice !! and the peep sight system om it works great !
Very happy with them both.
Wouldnt fire the bottom barrel. The selector on 2 wouldnt change it over to the other barrel either
My tristar did the same thing before it broke both soft metal firing pins
At least canuck has a good warranty program here and guns get shipped back fixed fairly quick
