doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Idle pursuit of the ideal 20 ga

If anyone out there is contemplating taking their Charlin apart to see how it works, be warned-there are two TINY little bearings that ride on springs under the breech to keep it pre-loaded.
You will probably loose them. I almost lost mine, and I knew they were there.


Best,
Ted

Ted - that fact has prevented me from disassembling my Charlin.

Miller,
I hope Postoak will indulge me for a moment as I veer off topic (a bit) and back onto the Richland Arms story. I attended the local Ruffed Grouse Society's fun shoot last night with the ad copy from the 1968 Richland Arms catalog still fresh in my head, mostly due to this post. Low and behold, there was a 22" barreled version of the model 200 at the shoot, a gun I noted in the catalog, but, highly doubted I'd ever see.
The 200s were Spanish, and this one was built by Hermanos Zabala. The gent who brought it along was not the first owner. Not by far. The gun featured some Spanish housewife looking applied scroll and a blued receiver along with a cheekpiece for a righthanded shooter. It was also a 3" 20 gauge, with a grip cap and recoil pad, sans white line spacers. Absolute packing crate lumber applied, with requisite un-skilled fitting.
My comment that the Italian model 707 cataloged by Richland Arms was the gem may be the understatement of the year. This model 200 was a rough gun even when it was new, and it was a long way from new. It was hard on the eyes. The good news was the owner said he used it hard, for a long time, and had never had the least bit of trouble with it, but the gun was definitely built to a price point, and a low one at that. He had a hard luck ex-wife story about how he had better guns at one time, but, just had this one, now. He seemed OK with that.
Any notion I had of pursuing any further products from the Spanish end of the Richland catalog died right then and there. The Prendelli & Gasperini is the one you want.


Best,
Ted

Now you have to read my Richland Arms story. Ten years ago I bought a Zabala Richland Arm 10'guage off this board. I killed quite a few Sandhill Cranes with it before it developed the habit of almost opening upon firing. I had a gunsmith repair the locking bolt, but I am still a little wary of it.

The only Spanish Arms I really like are older Astra Pistols of the tubular styles,

Oh, good Lord, I can't say I don't like Spanish guns! There are some nice ones out there.



This is my Ugartechea 1972 vintage "Falcon". It too was built to a price point, it was just a higher one. I did a bit of work to get the importers bad taste features off the gun, eliminating the white line spacers and the gold plated triggers, fitting a new recoil pad, and opening the chokes. This one is a 12, with 3" chambers, disc set strikers (a very worthwhile feature, me thinks) and a nicely fitted hidden third fastener. No ejectors or single trigger eliminates a lot of mischief in Spanish guns, and English ones too, although you didn't hear that from me.
I like it as a traveler, and have a little tool box I toss in the case with it, that includes the tool for the strikers and a spare set of them. I have zero issues to report with it, and while I haven't fed it steel yet, I'm sure I will someday.



You know, they built them in 20 gauge, too, right? You could do worse than a Falcon.

Best,
Ted

The only other Spanish shotgun I own is a Sears & Roebuck Laurona that is a spitting image of a Winchester Model 22, it has been a solid performer so far.

In looking around a little, found this gun, which would be just about ideal except that I could be picky and want 28" barrels, but close enough.

It just rolled over w/o a bid, and I'm am not surprised as it seems pretty high to me. On the other hand, just to reiterate, I do not know what these guns really are worth. So is the opening bid out of line? By a little? By a lot? I do not see anything alarming about the gun as it is described except the price tag. What am I missing? I'm gonna need more money
http://www.gunbroker.com/item/563860743

And just to prove how little I might know about such things, the chokes are listed as 0.010/0.023. I am more accustomed to the somewhat gauche designations of improved, light modified, modified, etc. Where in this scale might these choke designations fall roughly? I would be grateful if someone could school me briefly on choke dimensions in inches.

That strikes me as a little steep, but I don't follow small gauge Lefevers.

Would a similar 16 be significantly less expensive?

Brent,
This will get you started sorting out choke constriction:

http://www.hallowellco.com/choke_chart.htm

Best,
Ted