In my experience Spanish guns made back in the 60's have the bad reputation and guns made in the 90's and 2000's have a very positive reputation. The 30 and 40 year old guns did come to this country with some bad firing pins, bad springs, etc., and those problems have been fixed and I think the AYA's, Garbi's, Arrieta's, and Grulla, all produce guns that are superior to any other guns in their price range as long as you stay with the current production guns made in the last 15 - 20 years. I've owned a bunch of them and I can honestly say I've never had problem one with any of them and they have always made me happy. That early reputation of a bad product is still out there with people that aren't really up on current guns, but most people that really like SXS guns today know a good gun when they see one. Again, this is just from my personal experience.
There are a couple of points on which I respectfully and cordially disagree.
Firstly the conditions under which improperly heat treated parts can make their way into the parts stream have not changed and arent likely to do so. None of the currently operating Spanish gun makers are immune to the problem. Those who doubt that may want to read this thread:
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=126&t=333860 This is not and never has been a major or wide spread problem. In short, while it does happen it doesnt happen often.
Secondly I much prefer Spanish guns made in the 1950 1970 time frame to those made after DIARM. The earlier guns generally had more skilled hand labor put into them than is the case with corresponding gun made today. Indeed, the top price point guns of today are the upper middle price point guns of the 1950 1970 era. The top price point guns of that earlier time just arent made today; they would be so expensive that prospective buyers would just buy new Purdey or Holland & Holland shotguns.
