Not many of us can afford a London Best, even second hand, but most of us can save up enough to buy a fine Spanish double and order it with as many bells & whistles as you can imagine. I HIGHLY recommend Michigan's Fieldsport and its head, Bryan Bilinski; also the AyA #2 model, built on Holland and Holland patents using the traditional methods and attention to detail also used by the more snobbish English makers. The late Michael McIntosh put over 80,000 rounds through his before he needed even a minor repair, and allegedly came to prefer it to his Purdey! I traded off a bunch of guns to cover the price and waited a long time, but it was worth it.
AyA #2 rounded action sidelock, 20 gauge, 2 3/4" chambers, proofed for steel shot; 15 inch stock and 30" barrels, choked cylinder & skeet. As to all that: 20 for lightness, length on both ends because I shoot better with such, open chokes because the older you get the more you realize that tight ones are a handicap about 80% of the time!
15 comments:
A beautiful gun Steve. Congratulations! ... and of course I am loving the boxlock whose dimensions served as the model for this one. Based on my early grouse season - I've discovered that a longer length of pull and open chokes suit me perfectly as well.
Very nice...fixed chokes(I always left the same ones in), english grip, length of pull...my hat is off to you. Looks like the beginning of a fruitful relationship.
Beauty!
Congratulations Steve. I'm glad it's yours. One more week of mourning dove season in the south zone. Of course, the bigger, and zestier eurasian doves are on the menu through the rest of the year. Is it steel shot safe? I know that was one of your concerns.
Best,
James Sandoval
It specifically is, James (thicker barrels in front for one thing). That was one problem with the slightly lighter gun-- more and more of my hunting is steel.
Come on down!
I love to see someone obtain an object of desire when I know he or she will be the better for it. In other words I can tell your lust is truly a passion and that satisfies me as if I were holding it myself!
Beautiful! I am an American boxlock guy (love my Foxes), but even someone as plebeian as I can appreciate a gun like that. Enjoy, and shoot it well!
Nothing plebeian about Foxes, and I like BL's as much as SL's-- it is the individual gun.
They were the favorite BL of Michael McIntosh; Teddy Roosevelt had one, and Nash Buckingham's Bo Whoop was a Fox with Becker modifications. Finally, when Aldo Leopold was a local hero rather than a celebrated writer, he hunted around here with a 20 bore Fox that weighed less then my AyA!
(Besides, NEW Foxes are out of my pay grade (;-))
What a beautiful gun. Very nice wood. While Mr. Proper said that many of us need all the help we can get with a gun, getting another gun, especially as nice as yours, is more about "want" than "need". At our age, the satisfaction of "want" is just as important as "need". Does the 30" barrel length put the weight just over 6 lbs.?
Yes, yes, and yes!
(And I meant to write "THAN" my AyA).
"(Besides, NEW Foxes are out of my pay grade (;-))"
Mine too! So I have to make do with my old Sterlingworths. I wasn't aware of those "endorsements" you mention when I handled my first 16ga Fox; I just knew I had to have one.
Did you ditch the Darnes for this AYA?
WH
Hardly dumped (;-)). One is nearby with a dear friend who often comments here; another may yet come back. When I first got sick I was in many ways worse than now, and broke besides after a long year or more of symptoms; didn't know what I could do, physically; and decided I needed med $$ and one light gun. With things slightly improved I am filling a few niches, trying to have fewer guns but carefully considered ones, and few heavy but for one I intend for turkeys...
Another beauty of an AYA. I just bought my first, a 1968 No. 3 16 gauge that I pestered a friend in Dillon, MT for 5 years to sell to me. He had picked it up at a pawn shop in ABQ when he lived there. Have been chasing grouse here in WY and heading to MT soon. Your smile of satisfaction is as good as the gun! Tobin Kelley
Hi Steve
One Happy Man! - and so you should be!
Nothing wrong with the AYA No 2 sidelock, a staple S/S of UK Game Shooter for years- until we found light U/O's!
I have been using my 6 1/2 lb, 20G Damon, exclusively for 10 yrs now , but ended up having a set of 29 1/2 barrels fitted by Herve last year, also steel proofed.
I had IC and 3/8 fixed chokes fitted originally, but then had a set of long choked, steel proofed Teagues made .
Blow me down, have now ended up with 3/8 in each !! - seem to pattern well with 7/8 oz. English 6 1/2 shot ( Italian 7.) for birds up to pheasant size !, or No 5 steel for Mallard!
Enjoy your season
JohnnyUK
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