My several cents on the topic - I've owned 3 Uggies( 2 BLE - one an AOC 20, and a Grd.III Lion Country 28; and a Grd.V SLE Lion Country 12(still have), 2 AyA's - one 20 and one 12, and one Arrieta 557 12. I purchased the AyA 20 - a No. 2 SLE - in 1992 from Armes de Chasse as a custom order with stock dimensions, weight, choke and 29" barrels. It was one of the finest shotguns I've ever owned and the workmanship both inside and out was superb. I shot the devil out of it and sold it only because interests changed. The next AyA was also a No. 2 that came out of the UK. It was a 12 with 28" barrels and superb wood, plus a leather covered pad. According to the date code it was made in 1996. Its interior was as well finished as any I've ever seen and it too was shot a lot and worked flawlessly - an uncle has it now and uses it for everything including waterfowl(sigh). Never a problem to date.
The first Uggie was the AOC with 29" barrels - very nice gun for a BLE. Wood was good, fit alright but chokes were tighter than advertised - no problem and opened up easily. I purchased the gun in 2002/03 and used it almost exclusively for 4 seasons of everything except ducks. Never an issue and 'the kid' has it now. Next was the Grd. III in 28 (purchased 2 years ago) - nice wood and for the money I thought a good gun. I was shooting with a group that used nothing but 28's for nearly everything except waterfowl and that gun probably had 5000 rds. put through it quickly including more 1 oz. 28's than I should admit too! and never a problem. Friends wife had to have it - and she shoots it to the exclusion of anything else and no issues. Last and currently owned Uggie is the Grd. V purchased last year. I was advised against buying the gun because 'those in the know' said the Uggie was the 'poorest' of the Spanish SLE guns - poorest being fit, finish, and the sidelocks used coil rather than leaf mainsprings. To date, and about 2000 rds. later - I keep 'book' on all my guns - this 'poor' gun has performed flawlessly and comparison examination to a current comparable Arrieta and AyA show the Uggie to be much better finished than either of those guns. My wood was well finished with few pores, and good checkering. Grain was very nice. The watertable was mirror bright, disc set strikers well fit, and the ejectors perfectly timed and strong. The locks were well polished - yup there were some marks evident but not many and surprise, they had leaf mainsprings! My gun was made in 2007 and at nearly $2K less than the other makes, it so far has been well worth what I paid for it.
The Arrieta was their base sidelock, the 557. Mine was a 12 with 29" barrels and was made in 2009. Sold to me as a new gun, it wasn't and while the price was 'reasonable'at purchase, it soon became unreasonable as problems developed. The first issue was the fit internally - or should I say lack of. The end of the Purdey bolt looked like it had been final fit by whacking with a ball peen hammer - large peen of metal apparent. Inletting might have been done with a Dremel, but I don't want to disparage a great tool like the Dremel! After about 200 rds. both trigger pulls went to the 1 lbs. range automatically!!!!! The repairing gunsmith said both sear and notches had been incorrectly fit to begin with and was surprised they lasted as long as they did. The trigger guard tang interior surface where it is inletted to the stock was left in the white with file marks. The steel cap that surrounded the Anson push button was bent and poorly inletted. I raised all these issues with the dealer, who contacted Arrieta to no avail. I paid for correction of all these problems, and sold the gun for under $1000, informing the buyer of everything that had been fixed. The gun today is working perfectly.
The point of the above is that in MY opinion, as a whole, I think the 'Spanish gun' represents a great value for the $$ BUT caution should always be exercised, as it is with any gun purchase. I think the current guns are not as well finished as those of even 5 years ago, and ensure that the selling dealer is prepared to back their guns with a repair warranty through a COMPETENT gunsmith. Note the word competent!
One respondent above mentioned the popularity of the AyA in the UK - I can tell you that the AyA of the UK is NOT the AyA you see in the U.S. Many of the Brit guns come partially finished, depending on order, and are 'gone over' by Brit gunsmiths - from internal finishing, to bluing, engraving and even stocking on some of the AyA's brought in in the white. The British dealers in the Spanish guns seem to hold the makers to a higher standard than our dealers do.
I'm sure that my closing comment will incite some - if the gun buying decision comes to either a good condition British gun, either BLNE, BLE, SLNE or SLE vs. a Spaniard, look long and hard at the English cousin.
