doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Rainy Day Sarasqueta - Pictorial

After that left, right combo on pheasants, that Spaniard is a keeper!!!

That's a lot of gun there, she'll look even better after some TLC.

"Pretty is as pretty does"--and that one done pretty good!

This is a relatively old gun, from a time when the data we usually would expect to find on the barrel flats is on the barrel tubes. Here is the proof year code (red box added):

Purely FYI, Victor Sarasqueta did not found his company in 1883. It was Victor�s older brother, J.J. (Juan Jose) Sarasqueta that founded the gun making company in 1883. Victor went to work for his brother, J.J., circa 1887 serving a seven year apprenticeship at the shop of J.J. Sarasqueta.

Victor successfully completed that apprenticeship in 1895, and went on to found a company in 1899 in partnership with Francisco Cortaberria and Jose Urizar. This partnership lasted several years before breaking up, at which time Victor Sarasqueta opened his own company as sole proprietor.

Well, if it isn't Kyrie the master of the magical disappearing act.

All is well if he disappeared to finish his book on Spanish shotguns that a lot of us have been hoping to see for years now.

Thank you Kyrie, I had wondered about that mark. Everything I read however, pointed to date codes on the flats or water table.

So we're talking 1933?

Hello Fallschirmjaeger,

Congratulation on your acquisition � that�s one fine box lock.

1933 would be my guess. If the year proof code isn�t �F� it would have to be F1 (1960) or F2 (1986).

We can exclude F2 as Victor Sarasqueta went out of business before 1986. The code F1 wouldn�t be unreasonable, but would be stretching a bit as Greener (and Scott) cross bolts had almost completely fallen out of use by 1960.

But I�m reluctant to accept F1 as there just isn�t any sign of any number after the �F� proof year code.

Also there is this:

I�ve gone through some old Sarasqueta catalogs and have found a model in an undated (but likely 1930 � 1940) catalog that pictures a model similar to yours (described in the catalog as a model 97).

We need to consider Trust Eibarres, as that was the retailer under whose name the gun was retailed. Looking through a 1930 � 1933 Trust Eibarres catalog I found a gun that is nearly identical to yours (a model 154), except that illustration shows a Scott cross bolt rather than a Greener cross bolt.

All things considered, my opinion would be a year code of F and a proof year of 1933.

With that in mind I went back through your photos and think I can see signs of considerable use, and that someone who knew what he was doing has had the action apart at some point (suggesting repair). So, in spite of the absolutely stunning cosmetic condition of the gun, I can believe it was made circa 1933 and has seen use consistent with that age.

Turning to Trust Eibarries (TE), TE was (and still is) a major ammunition manufacturer in Spain. From the very early 1900 up into the 1960s TE was also a retailer of shotguns made by a host of Spanish gun makers. TE sponsored shooting matches and was a heavy supporter of live pigeon matches. I�ve owned a couple or three TE guns, and had more pass through my hands, and can say from experience you can find just about any maker sold under the TE label

Concerning the location of proof and manufacturing data, we have three periods (call them �eras�) during which proof/manufacturing data was found in some specific place. Most recently (beginning about 1995) proof year was moved from the barrel flats to the water table (and the year code was abandoned).

From about 1929 into the 1940s the proof year code, barrel weight, and maker mark were placed on the barrel tubes, in front of the barrel flats. That�s the case with your gun (which has the Victor Sarasqueta maker�s mark �V.S.� on the left barrel tube.

Beginning in the late 1930s the makers began to move these marks from the barrel tubes on to the water table. This was something of a slow process, with quite a bit of randomness in where what mark went on any gun by any maker at any point in time. But by circa 1950 the move was pretty much complete. This practice lasted until the mid-1990s, which is why we are so accustomed to looking on the barrel flats.

So what you have isn�t just a very fine shotgun; it�s also a walk through the history of Spanish shotgun making and an introduction to some of the major players :-)

Kyrie,

Again, thank you for the outstanding explanation/description. I also have suspicions that the gun has been opened up. My suspicions fall more to the butt stock being a replacement. The checkering appears to be different between the PoW grip and the forend. I assume this gun was imported from Sweden and the appearance of the checkering on the grip has a very Swedish gunsmith style. Similar to that on some of my Husqvarna rifles. The wood also stands quite proud to the receiver.

Whatever the reason the action was opened up, it seems to function well, the wood is tight, and the gun balances extremely well even with the 30" barrels.

Miller, I too had one of those Richland 20ga magnums. Mine came with 30" tubes. Bought it for my son, had the barrels shortened to remove choke. (Wouldn't do that if I owned the gun today.) I think Francis Sell's articles--he was touting the 3" 20 heavily back then--may have had something to do with those guns being imported. Like the OP's Spaniard, they represented very good value for the money.