doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Kimber Hatfield guns?

Hello:

A chap rrived at the club today with a Hatfield gun sold by Kimber.

Who made the Kimber and the Hatfield guns? Were they "quality" guns?

His was a 20 gage and he could shoot it very well!

Tia.

Franchi

They are Turkish guns with cyanide case colors and gloss tubes. The couple I have handled did have lovely wood.

I dont remember any of the guns sold by Kimber being marked Hatfield? Kimber called them a "Valier". They were the same as Hatfields of that period (not the older ones). They were made in 20 and 16 bore. Cabelas had a bunch of them, they didnt sell well at the price, they may still have a few. Good guns, but a little off the mark. I would be hard put to get specific but they didnt have the "feel" between the hands that spins my crank.Not all of them had gloss tubes, but I think most all of them had superlative wood. I would have liked to see them refined a bit more but Kimber and the prime mover on the guns had a falling out, and the project went away. You see them on the market every now and then..Priced right I might buy a 16..Joe, I think there were 2 manufacturers involved, both Turkish..

There were/are some Turkish-made Hatfields out there. I recall them as being less expensive than the Valiers, more in the price range of the Turkish S&W guns.

I believe that the Kimbers came from the same plant that produced the Smith & Wesson Elite Gold 20 ga SxS's. Almost the same guns as the S&Ws were recently imported into the US under the Dickinson name in both 12 and 20 gauges, but in small quantity. Commando-arms.com reps the factory line. Take a look at their catalog. The S&W is on the last page. Guns similar to the Kimbers are in the middle pages.

Remaindered out by CDNN Investments and others for $1,300 to $1,800, the S&W Elite Gold has to be one of the all time bargains in double guns. In addition to myself, I have a dozen friends who have bought them and we are all very pleased. There have been no mechanical issues. One thing's for sure- all Turkish guns are not the same. Things have changed.

Bruce Buck

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here but wern't these Hatfields stocked in high grade maple?
Jim

Thats why I referenced the "old' hatfields..some of those were stocked in nice maple..The ones under discussion here, no...The deal was, The "new Hatfield" same as the Valier, was supposed NOT to be marketed in the US. But the guy behind the deal, Neal Oldredge, ex Remmy VP, maybe sneaked some in and undercut the Valier price..Maybe thats part of what caused the falling out and hence the "Valier" disappearing. Too bad, they were on the right track...

Anyone on the forum have one of the old Hatfields they care to post? As I remember it they had some really beautiful Maple, a wood seldom used for stocks today.
Jim

The guy that runs the Gun store in McCook nebraska has one, 20 bore with lovely maple, and unfired (almost) condition). Its not for sale I dont think. We are going to McCook in the next couple of days, I'll call and if he is willing, will get some pics...

The old, maple-stocked Hatfields were made in Italy, stocked in the US. I had one, a Field Grade 2-barrel set (20/28). Nice gun, except the wood cracked around the top tang. You see them on the used market occasionally, but not very often. As I recall, they made up a very fancy version for President Bush (Sr). The old Hatfield company, which made its reputation making BP guns, went out of business back about that time.

The new, Turkish-made guns are very different Hatfields than the earlier ones.