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I just acquired a fine condition Stoeger Uplander-King SxS made by Victor Sarasqueta in the 1960's, in 12ga. 25.5in. IC/M, AE, DT, PG, Slender BT, Fully Engraved True Sidelock Action.
Does anyone have any experience with one or own one? Your take on them? Any info would be appreciated, as I thought of using this light little birdgun as an upland quail gun for the thick stuff. TIA
Jerry

Hmm. By the 1960s, Stoeger was in South Hackensack, NJ, NOT New York, as is engraved on the rib. My earliest 1959 Stoeger catalog shows they were in New York, and lists the "Upland King", so, you may be a little bit off on the date. The catalog lists that gun as a single trigger gun, but, says custom options were available.
I think somebody did you a favor if they specified double triggers.
A fellow on my squad often brought a Zephyr Uplander, the less engraved version, to the club on league night, and there were never any malfunctions that I recall. His was a double trigger gun as well. Nice enough gun, I always thought.
Enjoy.


Best,
Ted

should make a fine quail huntin gon...practice on the skeet range with it and be ready!

The Stoeger-imported V. Sarasquetas were decent guns, and the Upland King was their top of the line offering. Standard configuration on all those guns was what the Spanish thought Americans wanted at the time: PG/BT/single trigger. But as noted above, you could order other options.

But there were much higher grade guns from V. Sarasqueta that show up on occasion. Nothing wrong functionally with the Stoeger imports, but they were less expensive guns than Sarasqueta's best.

Back in the hayday of the Spanish shotgun makers, Victor Sarasqueta (VS) was a name with which to conjure. His guns were of the highest mechanical quality, and were offered with embellishments at every price point at which a market existed.

Stoeger imported both box lock and side lock guns made by VS from roughly the late 1950s to the early 1970s. The American market at that time was for guns with American pattern stocks (pistol grip and big beaver tail fore ends) and that's largely how Stoeger ordered the guns to be made.

One can find just about anything in the Stoeger guns.

This is a Stoeger Arms Sterlingworth's 20 gauge gun. The stock was originally an American style stock, but has been altered to English style. While it was built as a medium game gun, the stock alteration has pretty much converted it to a light game gun::








This is a Stoeger Zephyr Uplander 16 gauge gun, built as a heavy live pigeon gun:






This is a Stoeger Zephyr Vandalia trap gun:











Stoeger also had VS make up some 10 gauge goose guns, both box lock and side lock versions.

The Stoeger guns are, IMO, some of the best values on the market in terms of gun-for-the-money.

Oh, yes.

Very high price point VS gun, likely a special order gun. Note this gun has Purdey type locks rather than the more common H&H style locks (that's about a 2K Euro upgrade, all by itself):

You should be able to date your gun with stamped letter codes on the flats. New York address and Upland King nomenclature places your gun in the late fifties. 1958 Stoeger catalog prices the Upland King at $218 if I recall correctly. The Uplander was $144 in the same catalog. My favorite VS gun from Stoeger of that era is my "Zephyr Honker", a 3 1/2" chambered ten gauge 36" single barrel with full sidelock. They were offered for about $125 and, oddly, hardly anyone took notice.

kyrie: thank you for the wonderful pictures of some wonderful spanish made gons...

as to sarasqueta made guns, there were at least two makers as i recall. victor and felix. were there others?

There might have been some geese and turkeys to hunt circa 1958, but not enough of them to justify a $125 outlay for a specific gun for that purpose.

Times change.

Best,
Ted

Yes sir, I can think of three more of the top of my head:

Adolfo Sarasqueta
Antonio Sarasqueta
Juan Jos� (JJ) Sarasqueta