doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Interesting O/U

Not old, but I purchased this at auction. It is an F.illi Gamba made in the early 80's. It is shown in a reprinted 1974 catalog I have and is the Montreal model. It apparently was introduced around that time. It is shown in detail but no prices yet. Someone had penciled in the prices and they were quite high compared to their normal O/U's. I looked up a little history of the gun before buying and found that it was reported to be a close copy of the MX-8. They built this gun and others until Renato left and started his own company and they later built guns for other companies after they stopped their branded production. I remember a number of Rottweil's and others during this period. I remember this model and the Daytona model. The gun itself differed from their former line in that it had a drop out trigger group.

The reason I bought this gun was that it is a hunting and not a target model. I was not even aware they ever made such a style, but it is listed along with the sporting and trap guns in the catalog, so apparently was always part of the plan. However, I have never seen or heard of one, at least in this country. The one I bought has a tiny Simpson LTD import mark inside the action. I suspect they made very few and probably never really brought them to the US.

The gun has 27.5" barrels, IC and MOD chokes, modern stock dimensions and weighs just a little over 7-1/4#. The trigger is a dropout single selectable. The workmanship of the trigger group and internals is remarkable. The stocks are of very high grade wood, well fit and oil finished and styled for hunting, not target, use. I particularly like the fore end shape and feel. The action, guard etc is 100% covered with very good quality engraving.


I own a few Beretta S2's and S3's and consider them one of the most dynamic and best handling shotguns ever made. The ones I own are from 1936 to 1960 and are the older, lighter guns configured for hunting. I believe this gun compares very favorably with them. The Berettas I have weigh between 6-13 and 7-4. The sidelock triggers on those guns are the best I have ever used, but the Gamba has a very good trigger. The Berettas are truely genius in their handling but this gun is not far behind.

These guns tend to not command a high price due to lack of any support and because of internet claims (untrue "knowledge" repeated over and over, I believe) of trigger problems. For that reason they tend to trade at a third of the price of a vintage S series, so are real steals on the market. I wouldn't particularly buy a target gun since I own a lot of similar guns. However this seems like a relatively unique gun that is different from a lot of competitors and should be a joy to hunt with, if my first testing is indicative.

Very nice, sure looks like a S series. I don't see a resemblance to perazzi at all. Perfect blend of form and function

I believe at the time it was thought that the inner design and dropout trigger were very similar to the Perazzi.

Gambas have a somewhat notorious reputation for being unreliable guns. I remember many years ago talking with Thad Scott about Gambas having problems breaking parts. He said "they're broken when they get here.", lol. I hope yours serves you well, it's a beautiful gun.
JR

Very nice!!!
If only the engraver had left off the ducks.

I suspect that was done due to this being the Hunter model. I don't recall them being on the higher grades of the competition models of these guns for Rottweil et al. They were a totally different gun than the much more common Gamba O/U.

Thanks for the information. Another gun to be aware of when perusing. I was not aware of this model but have seen plenty of Rottweils and other Gambas. tmc

That is really nice looking gun. The ducks wouldn't bother me that much.

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