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From:

http://www.bilozir.net/shotguns/ugartechea.htm

�Ugartechea (Spain) Stops Production - All Stock Guns 25% Off. Please contact us at fineguns@bilozir.net or 403.938.6066 for more information.�

I was thinking Ugartechea would outlast Grulla, but apparently not. Armas Ugartechea is effectively gone.

Grulla made game guns for William Powell and make game guns for William Evans. These are very nice game guns selling for a lot less than in house English-made guns. They also sell in Germany and France were there are fewer but on average wealthier hunters. That is why Grulla is still around. I predict that in not too distant future most Basque makers will go the way of the American Middle Class ie. disappear.

That is terrible news. I had an Uggie sidelock gun once but traded it for an E Grade Lefever. I liked the Uggie, but I wouldn't trade back...Geo

Perfect. Now I just have to wait for the value of my 1972 vintage Uggy Falcon to triple from it's listed price of, oh, about $150, back in the day.

Should happen any day now. I'm sure of it.

That said, it is a pity. I could probably afford a nice new Uggy, except for having to pay $900 a month for family health insurance, compliments of the criminal-in-chief, and a supreme court that basically said, "the public elects a criminally stupid president, the public gets a criminally stupid president, don't ask us to save you".

Hope the Uggy workers end up better than us. Wouldn't take much.


Best,
Ted

Difficult to disagree with this. I have a pair of William Evans/Grullas due to arrive in the next month or two: would have loved to have bought British but, when you can't get one British gun for the price of a pair of Grullas, it's difficult to do so. Sure there will be people with the bank balance to go the other way (and I'm glad those folk are keeping British production alive) but I doubt I'm going to feel short changed when out in the field and would prefer to spend any surplus money on shooting and vintage guns (where I can still buy British).

Assuming they manufacturers are passing it on, anyone looking to buy this year is probably going to think twice as a result of the GBP:EUR exchange rate. Last year a pound bought 1.37 Euro, today it's 1.17 thanks to the clowns who didn't think their referendum vote would actually count for anything. I can't see how this won't hurt Spanish makers through reduced sales and/or margin.

I've often wondered what the total annual production is these days for new artisan made guns and how that maps to demand: I just don't see many of my friends (40s-50s, most with pretty comfortable incomes) buying in that market. Those that haven't been fortunate enough to inherit/be given guns seem to take the view that something like a Beretta SP or 486 is all the gun they need - and in many ways they're right. Anyone younger has even less hope of buying these guns new...

It's interesting though that the Spaniards have seemingly chosen to stay traditional whereas a number of smaller British makers seem to have embraced technology, focused on (or at least offer) O/U guns, and appear to be growing their markets. I guess we'll never know if Ugartechea would have been in better shape with an O/U in their catalogue.

Of academic value only at this point in time, but sometimes trivia is interesting in and of itself.


For the Spanish artisanal gun makers (like the late Ugartechea) production and demand has a one-to-one relationship. The Spanish artisanal shotgun maker doesn�t begin work on a gun without an order and a deposit.


Ugartechea cataloged both box lock and side lock O/U shotguns for many years. They were dropped from the catalog due to lack of orders.

They made some high grade guns and I have a 20 ga 1030 and 28 ga and they are first class. Bobby

I'm not entirely sure I agree: there are new Spanish guns available off the shelf in London and the sale of stock guns was linked to in the original post. Being pedantic, yes there's an order on the factory, but a speculative one from a dealer rather than firm from an end customer.

The point I was driving at though was more one around interest in just how many guns are now made each year by small producers (we can't be talking big numbers but curious if anyone knows just how low production has now fallen).

Just a wild guess from a seat-of-the-pants feel, but maybe 50 guns a year, give or take. Would not be shocked to learn it was less.
JR

They're trying to fight their way into a world market that may or may not accept them and leaving a market that the Turks have taken over. They need a good business advisor with a proven record but, an expert in the gun industry may be a little hard to find.

You would think that with most countries clamping down on repeaters that in the double barrel market demand would exceed supply, apparent not for Armas Ugartechea.