I'm sure Kyrie or another expert on Spanish guns will be along shortly to explain the markings and talk about Zabala Hermanos. They made shotguns to any ordered price point, much like any other Spanish maker..
One point I'd like to make is about stock finish. That's probably the weakest point about Spanish guns. On those I've restored, including ZH's, the stock finish is God-awful. It no doubt looked nice when new, but after 40 or 50 years of use they look pretty rough. The finish appears to be some type of plastic/poly topcoat applied over a coating of some type of paint rather than stain. Once all this is removed, the grain is revealed and really stands out. I'll never understand why they didn't use a more natural finish. After the prep, I re-stain with alkanet spirit stain, rub with alkanet oil (Andy's Oil) for a day or so, then French-Polish using Andy's Oil as the lubricant. After the finish is done, I wax the wood.
Re-doing the stock finish is key, it really makes a difference.
Last edited by Ken61; 12/01/14 10:19 AM.
