Opinions please on Poli shotguns. I am looking at a 20 gauge Upland with 29" barrels. In like new condition. Owner is asking 5K for it, seems kind of high to me.
What say you?

When I was thinking about buying a Poli hammer gun years ago I was scared off by reports of soft internals and inconsistent quality. True or false I don’t know.

Best guns imho I have handled a few.

I have a 12g hammer gun. It is gorgeous and shows high quality and fitting. I have not shot it enough to tell you you about its longevity. I recall they were quite expensive when new.

I would add that it is one of the few hammer guns with a safety making it easier to hunt with.

Mike,

There are a few older Poli threads. Here's one Poli 2009.

Ken

I witnessed a Poli go off accidentaly a few years ago. It was a boxlock and fell to the ground but that may have happened with many other guns

Ask Rich Cole his impressions. He was the original importer and thought a lot of them. One of my friends here in the Charlotte area has a few and really likes them. He’s a poster here and might chime in.

Okay Tom, I heard you.

I currently have 2 Poli guns. My bespoke Anson Extra in 28, 32 and 410. The other is the Sporting Clays model 12 ga w/30" bbls.

The Poli brothers came to an early Southern SxS with Rich Cole. I wanted a 32 ga for Vintage competitions. Poli could do that. I thought, crud, ammo would be hard. So I asked for 28 ga spare barrels, no problem. I pondered for a moment and asked about 410 bbls. The Poli brothers were concerned that if I had all barrels the same length the handling would be different. I told them to adjust barrel length as needed around the 32 ga at 28".

What I got was 27.5" 410, 28" 32ga, 29.5" 28 ga. Each barrel came with a matched forend. The 410 forend wood came from the stock blank. The other 2 are a great match. There is only a 2 ounce difference above or below 32 ga. Rocketman has spun this gun in all configurations. The Poli brothers created a gun that has dynamics that are basically the same across all 3 gauges. Anyone suggesting the Poli brothers are not capable of best production is welcome to try my gun. (In todays world, your ammo) My opinion is the Poli family builds best guns as requested. If you want less, they will accommodate.

I had a Poli Anson Extra sideplated 12. A great gun. The right firing pin seemed to care about the shell. I had a friend modify the firing pin just a touch. The gun never failed again.

My Sporting Clays Poli has the finest single trigger that I have ever used, short of a Colt SAA. It is fantastic. My gun is designed for min failures, extractors, non-select trigger, and manual safety. It has screw chokes. You shouldn't care about which barrel shoots first in a clays gun. You can change the chokes out at every station.
I know they were $6,000 when last offered. The SxS market is depressed. All SxS suffer value issues. I am always watching. Retirement has thinned the wallet, but I still look.

Other Poli guns I know of, but not necessarily know where they are now.

Poli Anson Extra 24ga, 32 ga 2 bbl set on a 20 ga frame.
Poli hammer 20ga 2 bbl set, A stunningly pretty gun.
Poli Extra 29" 20 ga (maybe the gun that started the thread)
Poli Anson Extra 20ga 2 bbl set with a golden quail

I'm pretty sure the Poli family made me the only 3 gauge SxS in 28, 32 and 410, that exists. That's bespoke. They did it for a reasonable cost. It just took 2 1/2 years to get done.

All Best,

Joe in Charlotte

My favorite sxs topic, Poli shotguns. I stumbled across a 16 ga Rich Cole had listed on consignment about a year ago. It has beautiful 32 inch barrels, absolutely spectacular wood and shoots like a dream. It is marked Upland Extra but with a sporting stock, is setup for clays. Very recently, I won a 12 ga Poli at auction, a Sporting Extra. This one was also important by Rich Cole. Whoever owned it before me must have spent quite a bit to customize. It has 30 inch barrels, side plates with a pigeon tastefully engraved on each, a sporting stock with adjustable comb and drop dead gorgeous burl wood. Conveniently, it also has Beretta mobil choke threads and came with two Briley/Beretta chokes. I took it on the clays course and smoked em. Then yesterday, on a tower pheasant hunt. I absolutely love it. The best part, both guns feel very similar so I can easily go from one to the other on clays or in the field, without skipping a beat. My two Polis are hands down my favorite guns or any kind. Now, if I could only find a small bore:)

Joe, funny you mention about the right barrel caring about the shell. With my 16 ga, I had fed if everything, including now Gamebore black powder shells, without a hitch. That is, until I bought four flats of Fiocchi. The right barrel will not consistently fire Fiocchi shells. No idea why. How did your friend fix yours?

Btw, your three-barrel set sounds like a dream. That is one to treasure and enjoy.

Happy shooting.

Joe

For OP, it may or may not be with the $5k. It’s very difficult to tell without photos. A new Poli, imported today by Kevin’s will run at least $11K. But, if you get lucky you can find a used one in the $3-4K range. Again, depends on exactly which Poli is for sale.