I've been assisting a hunting partner in acquiring a new inexpensive Turkish 20 gauge boxlock side-by-side shotgun. Bristol is the model, and TriStar Arms is the maker (or at least the American trade name). It comes with choke tubes, 28" blued barrels, and a pistol grip checkered Turkish walnut stock. He plans to use it for upland bird hunting. None of the large gun dealers in St. Louis (Cabela's, Bass Pro, Academy, etc.) have this gun in stock. So, one has to make the purchase WITHOUT handling the shotgun. It is unclear what warranty is offered. Price is about $825.
We have had a difficult time with this purchase, using various on-line services. Several companies that advertise this TriStar shotgun, are actually out-of-stock. It has proven difficult to find and acquire. It may be lowest price new SxS being advertised. I think we now have one on the way...
When it arrives, and we shoot it, we'll then post our opinion. There have been several good test write-ups, so we shall see.
I wish him the best with it. It's not the lowest priced new S X S, the Turkish Yildiz probably is, at $479.
https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/yildiz-20-gauge-side-by-side-shotgun-105280029?sku=20-gauge-28 The two big things that the gun needs to pass successfully are trigger pull and barrel regulation. If the barrels are regulated with at least one suitable load you can remedy the triggers if they're too heavy. Many Turkish guns are these days.
My Yildiz is regulated perfectly, but had a hard trigger (about 8 lbs.) until I did a "trigger job" on it. Now it's good in that department, at about 3 1/2 lbs. Three of us got .410s at the same time, and had to rework the triggers on all three. But, for the $$$, who can complain? I've got a DHE Parker in the shop right now having the triggers tuned and lightened. Sadly, big dollars doesn't always guarantee good triggers.
That Yildiz must have an alloy receiver to come in at 5.3# for a 28" bbl 20 ga double. Pretty slick looking piece for <$500!
That Yildiz must have an alloy receiver to come in at 5.3# for a 28" bbl 20 ga double. Pretty slick looking piece for <$500!
It does. I wouldn't expect it to hold up to high volume shooting, but for the amount of shooting most do with a hunting gun it should last a good while. Mine has. And surprisingly, the single selective trigger has never failed. Internal parts are polished to a high degree. I really don't see how they make any money much on them, at the selling price.
One issue buying shotguns at Cabela's these days: They won't let you use snapcaps to test the trigger pulls. Could they be worried about accidents? Don't know whether that's also true at Bass Pro.
The story I was told at a BP last winter when I asked to check trigger pull on a pistol was that there had been a suicidal customer at another location who’d asked to check a trigger and then slipped a round in the chamber and … After that company policy changed across the Bass Pro/Cabelas world.
The store I was in did have a contraption behind the counter that they stuck the handgun in and let me test the trigger a few times but the counter man kept his hand on the gun the entire time. I don’t know what they do about long guns.
Sadly there was a similar event in an English gun shop a few years ago. The Police has seized a man’s guns for his own safety but he pocketed a cartridge he had left and walked in to the shop with it.
A good friend has been shooting informal skeet and doves with a TriStar TT-15 .410 for the past year. He wanted a cheap .410 OU and that is what he got. The trigger pulls are heavier than the gun itself. The ejectors work on their own schedule and are poorly timed. The gun becomes difficult to open as it heats up during a round of skeet. He hasn't checked the barrels' point of impact and is probably afraid to find out. He still likes the gun beyond its warts, which probably speaks more to cognitive dissonance than the gun itself. TriStar has its repair shop nearby and they are popular with new shooters at the local gun clubs. They tend develop issues when frequently used on targets: triggers, ejectors, weak hammer strikes, firing pins, etc. Another friend used a TriStar for informal trap league and that gun seemed to have a different problem each week. Used ones around here go for pennies on the dollar., if they go at all.
Maybe they saw "The Terminator" too many times.