Shotguns at the British Shoooting Show 2023

It was great to be back at the NEC catching up with all the new products and players, as well as most of the usual suspects! My brief this year was to root out all that was brightest and best in shotguns. So, let’s take a look.

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Beretta

Beretta has given their 12-gauge A400 Xcel competition semi-auto a major re-boot, up-sizing the ports and controls, re-profiling the pistol grip and forend, re-designing the rib, re-styling the laser engraving and adding an Aqua Tech Shield finish to the action and end cap. I also got a hands-on look at the Ultraleggero, an innovative O/U that Beretta has trimmed to 3kg by hollowing out the stock, doing without the mid-rib and filling in the walls of its skeletonised steel action with decorative black polymer inserts. I love the resulting look and feel, and by the way, Beretta is positively encouraging 3D printers to create their own custom alternatives.
Contact: www.gmk.co.uk

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Franchi

A theme of this year’s show was the resurgence of the side-by-side in platforms proofed (and future-proofed!) for high-pressure steel. One such gun is the Esprit by Beretta-group brand, Franchi. It’s a classically-styled 12 or 20-gauge side-by-side with high-gloss 28” barrels, a concave rib and a colour-case-hardened action with gold accents. It comes stocked in the English style and in good walnut.
Contact: www.gmk.co.uk

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Fabarm

Fabarm’s Autumn model is another pretty side-by-side gun. Its distinctive 4-bite action is colour-case-hardened, too, and embellished with acanthus scroll engraving. Stocking is again, English in style, and in excellent walnut, although a pistol-grip/beaver-tail combination is also available. Offered in 20-gauge only, buyers can choose between 28” or 30” barrels, equipped with interchangeable chokes and a stylish sunken rib. No less attractive is the new Elite Field variant of Fabarm’s round-bodied Elos 2 O/U. Offered in 12 or 20-gauge, it also sports a colour-case-hardened action, this time featuring an accomplished game scene motif with the birds accentuated in gold. Well-coloured, straight-grained walnut completes the positive impression.
Contact: www.caesargueriniuk.com

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Caesar Guerini

Guerini has a well-deserved reputation for producing the most sumptuously-decorated and handsomely-appointed off-the-shelf guns available, but this year’s new release, the Invictus IX, is a solid reminder of the firm’s commitment to technical innovation and durability. Replaceable action inserts and a forend tensioner ensure these guns will never wear out or shoot loose. That said, the distributors, Anglo-Italian Arms, tell me that in the decade since the arrival of the Invictus I, they have yet to be asked for a single set of replacement bearings! Durability notwithstanding, the Invictus IX is more gorgeous than usual, thanks to a flamboyantly-engraved Boss-style ‘winged’ forend.
Contact: www.caesargueriniuk.com

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Browning

I never thought I’d see the day a mainstream shotgun maker introduced a true left-hand top-lever shotgun, but for 2023 Browning has no less than 10 different models in the B525 Sporter 1 line. Fantastic for southpaws new to shooting, but a hard re-learn for the rest of us! Also new to the Sporter 1 line is Browning’s new pick ‘n mix policy for stocks (trap, standard, reduced-length) and forends (trap, schnabel) as well as barrels (28”, 30”, 32”) that permits customers to order their gun with the precise combination they want. Barrels have the fashionable new matte-black finish, too. Properly-pretty guns included the B725 Hunter G5 with its game scene engraving and the G4 B525 Exquisite.
Contact: www.en.browning.eu

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Longthorne

Britain’s most accessible bespoke gunmaker continues to thrive and innovate, as well as to show our continental cousins a thing or two about how to decorate a shotgun with both taste and flair. Longthorne’s unique billet-machined barrel sets can now be had on trigger-plate as well as side-lock actions, and company founder and dynamo James Stewart has recently completed the world’s first and only gun with monolithic barrels milled from titanium alloy. The resulting gun is by all reports as marvellous to shoot as it is to hold.
Contact: www.longthorneguns.com

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Sportsman Gun Centre

If you want a good-quality budget gun, SGC is the place to look, and their Kofs Sceptre range is the place to start. As fully-featured as they are affordable, Sceptres come in all calibres from 12-gauge to .410, in both adult and junior versions (with full-sized stocks available separately for very modest money). Kofs’ new Zenith series offers buyers all this, but with a steel action in place of the Sceptre’s aluminium alloy one, for those who like a bit more weight between their hands. Model designations are still being finalised, but a variant with female-friendly stock dimensions is very much on the cards.
Contact: www.sportsmanguncentre.co.uk

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Bio Ammo

Many of today’s gun-buying decisions are influenced by predictions about the future of lead ammunition, and a resulting desire to shoot high-pressure steel loads. Bio Ammo is at the centre of the move to eco-friendly ammunition, with the most genuinely-biodegradable wads and cases yet developed. However, they also offer loads that perform well through standard-proof barrels, using both conventional steel shot as well as pellets made from a proprietary alloy that combines the density of steel with the softness of lead. BioAmmo’s alloy loads are more expensive than steel but much cheaper than bismuth.
Contact: www.bioammo.es

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