I spoke with Terry Weiland about this several years ago. He is, of course, the author of "Spanish Best," and is a personal friend of Ignacio Ugartechea. Terry will quickly chastise anyone who calls the name simple "Uggie," thinking that is a disrespect to the long honored Basque family name. It really isn't difficult to pronounce it correctly. He affirms the pronounciation that Newlyn1 suggests as being the proper way to pronounce the name. We know them primarily for lower end and middle grade guns, but they also make some exquisite high end guns as well. I have a wonderful pair of Merkel 303 clones, sidelock O/U designs with outstanding small scroll engraving, that are better put together guns that an original Merkel 303 that I compared them to side by side. Mine are in 12 and 20 gauges, these are the best guns that they have produced. They will still make them on special order only. I am very much a Merkel fan, BTW, I have several of them, and my Ugartechea clones are superior to the Merkels. I would venture that most Americans have never seen Ugartechea guns of this quality. The little boxlock guns sold under the Parker Hale name a few years back are sweet little field guns, and they usually can be had welll under $1,000.
