doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Spanish doubles and soft steel

I recall back in the 70's or early 80's that Spanish made doubles got a bad reputation for having parts made with steel which had not been hardened properly. The gun with POS intials, Pride of Spain, was one of the worst examples. Sears of butter is how they were described. One gunsmith I knew used a POS 20 bore as a donor gun to make a .444 hog killing, double rifle. As I recall he had to go over all the internals and rework them and harden them properly. Was it just the POS line or were other makers like AYA having the same problems?

The first sxs I owned was a 12 gauge Falcon that I got in 1968. My uncle won it in a raffle and I thought it was beautiful, so I talked him into trading it to me for a High Standard 20 gauge pump.

It fit me well and I had my first really successful wing shooting hunts with it. I used it in the rain and the case coloring washed off of it, then the finish on the stock came off. The gold triggers lost all their gold.

My mother helped me refinish the wood and it looked halfway decent again, and then it started misfiring. My dad carried it to one gunsmith who said the metal was too soft and he refused to work on it. Another gunsmith did try, had the same complaint, but did try to fix it. I got it back one night during turkey season, and was going hunting before school the next morning. I was happy to leave the old Stevens single shot at home and carry my gun, but didn't have a chance to test fire it.

I heard a turkey gobble on the roost, got in good position, and made a soft call. The gobbler must have been lonely. He immediately flew about 200 yds and lit about 20 steps from me before I realized what was happening. I had never seen one respond like that. I raised the gun to shoot him and flipped off the safety as I shouldered it. Both barrels went off and the gun busted my lip. The turkey flew away unharmed. Maybe the worst thing was that we had a high school baseball game that afternoon and I played first base. Every player who got on base for the other team wanted to know what happened to my lip, so I had to tell the story over and over.

I never fired my gun again. Over the years, I carried it to several different gunsmiths and none of them were able to make it work. I told the last one that I would spend any amount necessary to make my gun work again. He said no parts were available that would fit it, but a machinist might could make some. I had a friend who was a machinist and he tried to fix it and kind of lost interest. Then he was killed in a car wreck, and I never found out what happened to my gun.

In no way would I say that all Spanish guns of that era had problems, but that one did. 50 years later, I still have nightmares about that gun. A turkey or deer is in range, but my gun won't shoot. After reading this thread, I'll probably have it tonight. Thanks a lot!