doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Need help - 1961 Fabarm Over and Under 12ga

I need some help guys. I have a Fabarm over and under 12ga shotgun, made in 1961 and bought new in 1967 by my father in Gettysburg PA. Its the first gun I ever fired. My father just gave it to me, and I would really like to get some history on it. I know it had 2 sets of barrels and a case. The other barrel set and case were sold before my dad got a chance to buy the everything from the dealer. He said it just sat there to long, and he had to make some money off of it. I have done a bunch of research on it and the only thing I could find was a mention in the blue book, but no history or anything. It is a beautiful shotgun. From what I read, I have the skeet barrels. To top is full and the bottom is modified. It is chambered for 2-3/4" rounds. The Trap barrels are the set that is missing.
Thank you in adavance for any info

Hi
I think XIX is 1963 production, I would expect skeet barrels to be more open such as possibly skeet and improved or similar. The chokes you mention are typical for a field gun. The gun reminds me of my dads beretta silver snipe.
Jeff G.

I had a Fabarms SxS. It was a good gun for the price. XIX is 63, as I found out on this forum.

Fabarms are still made, but they're kind of obscure. No history I could find on mine and few reviews from England, which were favorable. Google Fabarms and you'll find a smidgon of info, but not much history.

Sorry about the wrong date. Its not a field gun, or at least not what I've read on the Fabarm field gun of that time. Mine is only 27 - 1/4" long while the field gun was 28". The only barrel I can find in the 27" range is the skeet barrel that was part of the set. Its kind of a mystery to me. I can't find anyone so far that has one of that age grouping to compare it to.

I had a friend, Ray Permenter (now deceased), who was importing Fabarm guns from Brescia Italy. I purchased all that he had (about 30) to help him to be able to pay for his cancer treatments at his full original cost. The guns that I bought were 1990-2000 production. the company at the time was owned by Heckler & Koch. I'm not sure when the acquired it but all that I had were of excellant quality and a real buy for the money. One that they made was a short barreled Paradox over & under (one barrel had Paradox rifleing. I had about ten of those in 12 & 20 bore and I could have sold 100 if I had them. The dealer cost was under $800 and was a true bargain.IMHO

Best Regards, George

The one I had featured an enhanced grain wood on the stock. The grain was painted with ink to enhance the grain. I can't think of the process was called, but it was in the stuff I looked up.

Jarhead, the choke is a field choke. Generally, skeet barrels are more open, like skeet/skeet.

Fabarm is alive and well with a varied product list.

Saw some used newer models, with some engraving and nicer wood, for sale in Italy for around Eur600.- (app. USD850.-).


JC

Nice web site with some very nice shotguns. Side bys definitely caught my interest. The question is: who is the U.S. importer?

H&K was the importer. I am not sure they now have a US importer.

I like the un-inhanced wood best.

The one that I still have is a 12 bore SBT w/a 34 inch barrel. It is marked: "H&K, Fabarm Sterling, Va."

Best Regards, George