doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Next project at CSMC

I was in CSMC a couple of weeks ago looking at a RBL and had a very pleasant chat with Lou. During the conversation he remarked that the run of RBL’s is close to over, for at least now, as they will be converting their equipment over to a new project. Interestingly, I was fortunate to actually be shown this new project and it is quite a gun.
They are tooling up for a new over/under based on the Beretta SO action. While I was in the gun room talking with Lou, several other customers were with Tony Galazan looking at what I initially thought was a SO6. I had told Lou that I have an SO4 so he brought the gun over and asked what I though about the gun under discussion. He said this would be the next project as soon as the current RBLs were completed.
The action is very similar to the SO contours and they had one of the locks off so I could see the internal design. It is nearly an exact replica of the SO4 four pin side lock design complete with the machined bridle as part of the side plate. Most interesting, it has hidden hand detachable screws to allow easy removal, something you don’t get in the SO line until you are into at least the SO6. The pins are titanium nitride coated so they look gold, giving a very impressive appearance where they protrude through the sideplate.
The gun I handled was still being completed and I think it was an engineering prototype that they are using to make sure it all works correctly. Although the side locks are a knock off of the SO design, the locking mechanism will be by pins, similar to the Beretta 680 series.
The sideplate was laser engraved (something I do not care for) but it didn’t look bad. There are going to be at least two patterns to chose from, a game scene and a limited scroll pattern similar to the SO4 which is only there to hide the hand detachable fasteners. I also saw the flyer that will be used to announce this gun and it showed the two patterns.
The gun handled well and the stock/forend were of high grade wood so I suspect this would be used as a show gun. Most impressive is this entire package is going to have a starting price of $3999 which is significantly less than a SO gun.
Time will tell if this composite design will work as well as the original. Regardless, it is a testimony to the Galazan organization to be able to retool and make such an impressive and complex action at this unbelievably low price. Certainly there is nothing with these features anywhere close to the price point that they are trying to achieve.
So, if you are interested in an RBL I would suggest that you put your order in now since Lou also said that it would probably be at least 4 years before they get back to making them again. The manufacturing run of RBLs was 4 years long so it looks like they will follow a similar pattern with this design.

Z

That's consistent with my conversation with Lou in early July, although he was not forthcoming with as much detail. They had already stopped machining components for the 20 and 28 ga RBL's at that time.

How long do they expect to offer the 12 and 16 RBLS?

Thanks Zwego. Excellent report. I think I'll order a 32" 20 ga. with a solid top rib.
JR

I think they are going to stop making them the first of next year. So one might want to get an order in before then. Good luck.

I was hoping for a hammergun!

Any info on what gauge/s they plan to offer?
Maxey

They are offering two receiver sizes, 12 and 20. The 12 ga receiver can be had with 12, 20 and/or 28 ga barrels. The 20 ga receiver can be had with 20 and/or 28 ga barrels. It's a $500 premium for the smaller receiver, and $2200 for an extra set of barrels.

http://www.a10american.com/

I ordered mine last week. Standard edition, 32" barrels, pistol grip, minus palm swell(lefty), 3x wood(recent change order), and sporting forend, with the caveat that if the "sporting" was too much(recent change order), I could revert to the standard forend. I don't expect delivery until April of 2010.

I've owned 2 SO3s and can attest to their durability. After many round the only thing that ever went wrong with either of them was a broken mainspring stirrup. Cole provided the replacement. I also have owned a SO4(integral bridle ala A-10) that has never hiccuped.

I predict that after the expected bugs are worked out, the A-10 will assume a place beside the perazzi MX8 & beretta SO4 as a mainstream target gun.

Phil

As much as I would like to think that this new gun will achieve the status/performance that Perazzi or Beretta have with their target guns, I do not believe they will. This is based on the feel of the gun I played with briefly, which was very nice, but was not in the same league as the other two.
For competition, a boxlock design is probably superior due to the wood around the side lock being very thin and prone to splitting. However, the triggers can be made to function superbly as I shoot a SO4 routinely at sporting clays. The vast majority of modern target guns are boxlock with really only the SO line as a holdout - and it is a truly spectacular gun in my opinion. Kreighoff, Perazzi, Beretta (DT10 & 680 series), Browning and the new Blaser F3 are all boxlock designs.
So advertising and “bargain prices” aside, I don’t think that the new design offers the feel of the other purpose built guns and I think that long term durability is a significant question.
Z