If this doesn't get deleted, it will be interesting to see how many other people share similar experiences or warnings.
this should get interesting
- Thread starter brybenn
- Start date
If this doesn't get deleted, it will be interesting to see how many other people share similar experiences or warnings.
Thanks for the pics prophet river. No derail at all. Those are beautiful
I'm having a hard time downsizing. That was my plan. Sell lots buy a couple. Right now my favorite sxs is a little box lock arrizaga straight grip with 26.5" barrels. I'd like to get a version or several similar but with high end wood and bright case colours or hand engraving. The name doesn't mean so much to me as the look and feel.
It's good to hear the bad side of things as well. If i do import one it will be thru prophet river if possible. Clay has made a generous offer to me before and I haven't forgotten it.
For now a $15 000 gun isn't an option as I do want to pay off my house someday. There seems to be a big gap between $2500 guns and $12000+ guns.
I'm having a hard time downsizing. That was my plan. Sell lots buy a couple. Right now my favorite sxs is a little box lock arrizaga straight grip with 26.5" barrels. I'd like to get a version or several similar but with high end wood and bright case colours or hand engraving. The name doesn't mean so much to me as the look and feel.
It's good to hear the bad side of things as well. If i do import one it will be thru prophet river if possible. Clay has made a generous offer to me before and I haven't forgotten it.
For now a $15 000 gun isn't an option as I do want to pay off my house someday. There seems to be a big gap between $2500 guns and $12000+ guns.
For a lot less than $15,000 you can have a shotgun like this one, that I am waiting for. Not as fancy as the other ones, but still a quality shotgun. And this won't be a safe queen, it will see a great deal of hunting this fall.
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For a lot less than $15,000 you can have a shotgun like this one, that I am waiting for. Not as fancy as the other ones, but still a quality shotgun. And this won't be a safe queen, it will see a great deal of hunting this fall.
Nice one. Model, specs? Is that deluxe wood?
AYA #2 Round Body, 28 gauge, 28" barrels , color hardened, standard #2 wood, AYA best finish. Other than the round body, pretty much a base model. Unless the price has increased significantly, you should still be able to get a shotgun like this, for $10,000 including gst. You might even get a custom canvas/leather case included for that price.
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- Location
- Lloydminster, Alberta
yes, could get the case too, with stronger dollar, should easily be under 10,000.00 even with leather case. Can't wait to see it in person SJ. Guys at AYA did a better job with pics that the arrieta guys!!
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- Location
- Saskatchewan
I am dithering about the possibility of selling my AyA #1 12 ga two barrel set and replacing it with a new gun. Absolutely the only thing I don't care for about my gun is the single, non-selective trigger. I contacted AYA by email and asked if they'd build a double trigger set for it, they said they could, but the gun would need to be sent to them for fitting. I suppose I should contact Clay and see what's involved.
I'm leaving on Monday for the north of Spain, it would be nice to take a side trip from Burgos up to Eibar and have a gun measured and fitted for me, but it probably makes more sense to just get the triggers built for mine. I haven't received a price quote. Any advice from our members here?
I'm leaving on Monday for the north of Spain, it would be nice to take a side trip from Burgos up to Eibar and have a gun measured and fitted for me, but it probably makes more sense to just get the triggers built for mine. I haven't received a price quote. Any advice from our members here?
Mine will be a fair bit under $10,000, but it's still a lot to pay for a shotgun.
I have resisted posting so far but for my money a 1920's or 1930's English or Continental ( France, Belgium, Germany, Austria or Czech) sidelock provides superior quality for substantially less money than the figures being bandied about. For $15,000 I can buy a W & C Scott Premier, a "best" gun that out bests the best of Purdey or H & H at the time. And a gun from the time period I describe has barrels made and proved for modern powders.
What are the limitations?
I can't use steel shot? I don't anyway no matter what I'm shooting. I don't have choke tubes? That's what a gun collection is for!! LOL
JMHO
What are the limitations?
I can't use steel shot? I don't anyway no matter what I'm shooting. I don't have choke tubes? That's what a gun collection is for!! LOL
JMHO
The limitations are that you can't order one of those guns with custom stock dimensions to fit you, you are stuck with what is available on the market, and selection isn't that great. On the other hand I can order a new Spanish made sidelock with the proper stock dimensions to fit me, and with the barrel lengths and choke constrictions that I desire.
At any given point in time I can look at Gunsinternational and Gunbroker and find over 1000 best or near best quality sidelocks of the sort I just described. And unless one is on the extreme ends of what's required in the way of fit, it is highly likely one can find a close enough approximation of fit to be indistinguishable from custom. Or adjusted to fit with the help of a competent stocker. Especially considering these are sidelock SxS we are talking about. Primarily game guns used hunting, not competition guns firing thousands of rounds every season.
Again JMHO.
I don't know about you, but if I am paying that kind of money for a shotgun, it had better fit me pretty well perfect, and it will have the barrel lengths and choke constrictions that I want. As to this being a hunting gun, I expect to be able to shoot my hunting guns very well, and I do shoot skeet and sporting clays with them every summer to make sure that I can. And I do shoot some clean rounds of skeet with my 20 gauge AYA Number 2, and I expect to do the same with the new 28 gauge. If I can't consistently shoot in the 90s at skeet with a shotgun, then I won't be taking that gun hunting. When you shoot a 28 gauge for pheasant, you need to shoot it well, or you will miss or cripple a lot of birds. I don't buy shotguns to show them off, or to talk about their history, I buy them to shoot, and to shoot well. As to all of those guns listed on Gunbroker, unless you have shouldered that make and model, with those stock dimensions, the gun may or may not fit you properly, or balance and swing as you desire. You may get lucky, but you may not, and by the time that you pay the exchange rate, and then pay to have them brought across the border, if the gun doesn't fit, or you don't like how it swings, the chances of getting your money back in Canada aren't very good.
beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
I'll try and stick with what the O.P. queried first ....
For a new gun, I think the Ugartechea sidelocks represent probably the best bang for the buck ... a sentiment also expressed by the late Michael McIntosh who has a lot
more experience with Spanish and Italian doubles than do I.
From the many I've seen and handled, although more expensive, some much more so, I have a preference for Arrieta, Grulla & AyA.
Being able to get the specifics of gauge, barrel length, weight, weight distribution,wood, fit, and finish all wrapped up with the features you want in a reasonable time frame is
a major consideration.... and I think I'd want to travel to the Basque region to place the order in person.
My current SxS is a Union Armera ... ( Grulla, made before they changed their name )
I'd rather have one of the relatively new Fausti & Rizzini SxS boxlocks than anything out of Turkey.
On another note ...not a thing wrong with any of the good used higher grade Spanish guns, especially if you can have them adapted to fit by a good gunsmith.
Same goes for the higher grade Brit and American guns. While I'd be quite happy say to pick up a good used W.C. Scott "Monte Carlo B" or DE grade A.H. Fox,
they are typically a lot harder to find with the kind of features you may want in a bespoke Spanish gun.
For a new gun, I think the Ugartechea sidelocks represent probably the best bang for the buck ... a sentiment also expressed by the late Michael McIntosh who has a lot
more experience with Spanish and Italian doubles than do I.
From the many I've seen and handled, although more expensive, some much more so, I have a preference for Arrieta, Grulla & AyA.
Being able to get the specifics of gauge, barrel length, weight, weight distribution,wood, fit, and finish all wrapped up with the features you want in a reasonable time frame is
a major consideration.... and I think I'd want to travel to the Basque region to place the order in person.
My current SxS is a Union Armera ... ( Grulla, made before they changed their name )
I'd rather have one of the relatively new Fausti & Rizzini SxS boxlocks than anything out of Turkey.
On another note ...not a thing wrong with any of the good used higher grade Spanish guns, especially if you can have them adapted to fit by a good gunsmith.
Same goes for the higher grade Brit and American guns. While I'd be quite happy say to pick up a good used W.C. Scott "Monte Carlo B" or DE grade A.H. Fox,
they are typically a lot harder to find with the kind of features you may want in a bespoke Spanish gun.
- Location
- Lloydminster, Alberta
The 802 16 g is now sold. The 12g 581 is here and will be listed soon.
