doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Spanish artisanal shotguns: use and misuse

HB,

I've had a couple of very similar shotguns and found them to be outstandingly useful guns. Guessing purely on the known characteristics I'd be tempted to place your gun at the low end of the medium game gun part of the continuum of shotguns.

Thank you for sharing.

It's a Model 53. I bought it from the original owner and have the paperwork stashed around here somewhere.

Kyrie,
Photo attached, the barrel weight is stamped as 1370 gms, and they are 27 3/4” or, about 75cm. The original chokes were modified and full, I let them out years ago, as most of the rainy day birds I shoot at are grouse. Total gun weight is 6.6lbs, it gained a bit of weight, .1lb, when it got a new recoil pad. 14 5/16 ths LOP, which, is OK when I have heavier clothes on. In a T-shirt, 14 1/2- 14 3/4” is better.



It truly has never occurred to me to use a 3” round in it.

Truly.

Best,
Ted

Geoff, great looking 53. Not sure you remember but I had a 53 with straight grip dbl triggers. It was coin finish and was not as lively as I thought it should be. Lighter too. I sold it at the UP shoot one year. The case color makes yours look so much better. Hope you get out and shoot it often.

I do recall your 53, Jeff.

A good friend has one set up very much like yours was but with case colors similar to mine. They're pretty cool set up as a game gun.

I get out and shoot enough, mostly with my daughter.

Ted,

That's a handsome gun.

I've been forgetting the Falcons were made for resale by a retailer. As such they would have the characteristics the retailer thought would be most appealing to his clientele, which may explain the 3 inch chambers. My feeling is it takes a special kind of crazy to fire a 3 inch shell in a light game gun.

But I shouldn't be the one to talk. I'll occasionally shoot a round of wobble trap with a light game gun and 2.75 inch, one ounce load, 1200 FPS shells. Gives me some insight into how a nail might feel. Used to have a Japanese made, side by side, box lock, with 2.75 inch chambers that weighed six pounds even. Was using that gun to shoot wobble when the fellow in the next station expressed an interest, and we traded guns to shoot the next station. He fired each barrel just once and handed me the gun back with the comment, "This gun is nuts and you're one crazy guy."

Nolo contendere, I suppose.

And yes, that usage might well qualify as gun abuse.

The retailer would have benefitted with a serious sit down with a few end users. Anyone who pops a 3”er in this gun deserves what he gets.

I suppose I got lucky it didn’t have 26” tubes, as all the gun writers at the time were convinced that is what everyone should buy. The gun was built to a price point, the fitting of the stock to the action could have been a bit better, but, then I wouldn’t use it in the rain. The recoil with regular hunting loads is pretty fierce, of late, I have taken to using 2 1/2” 7/8ths loads in it. I own a 6 1/2 lb Darne Halifax that seems to fit about the same that the recoil doesn’t bother me anywhere near as much. Before anyone says anything, the weight, the pitch and other stock measurements are almost identical:




Don’t have a good answer for that.

Merry Christmas, Kyrie.

Best,
Ted

And a Merry Christmas back to you, and all the folks here on Double Gun!

Ted, I've fired some 3" magnum shells in my Ugartechea Falcon and it really rattles you. Mine is also under 6 1/2 lbs. and has the standard hard rubber buttplate. The worst part for me is the sharp belt in the cheek because it has a relatively sharp comb. The same can be said of 1 1/4 oz. 2 3/4" baby mags. I feed it any shells I find on sale. I never used it with steel shot because I never bought into the non-lead shot bullshit .

But as I said earlier, I use it quite often with loads I wouldn't ever use in my old vintage Syracuse Lefevers, or even my fairly stout Ithaca Nitro Specials or NID's. I'd expect a bruised shoulder if I ever used those heavier loads in it for a round of skeet, but it's quite tolerable for a few shots at starlings... which is its' major function.