doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How to date an Ugartechea SxS

Hi all, Adam is right, I bought the 16ga 1030 (mine is gun number 2 of a 5 gun set) he's referring to. I got it at a very good price. The reasons why the price was so good on mine, is there was an issue with the stock finish (cosmetic only). Also the bbls were hot blued, but as the bbls are brazed the ribs are just fine (had them checked out by a pro BTW). The LOP is 14 1/4" and the bbls are 26". Some may not like the LOP or bbl length, but for me it's about perfect.

The gun has functioned just fine and has accounted for quite a few birds.



For me, I think I got a good one!

Best!

Greg

Thanks to Wild Skies for dating the gun - I'll need to get Weiland's Spanish book. I have the English gun one and really like it.

If the DIARM came and went in the 1980's, can I assume Ugartechea's guns from the 1960's are good guality - no QC problems?

From what I've seen on the posts, that's correct - I'm just verifing what I believe to be true.

Thanks again for the help and the great pics of spanish guns.

R/

Sorry, nothing really to add, just dropping off another pic.

Good luck with the gun.

CHAZ

Kyrie, the late Jack O'Connor gave Arizaga some pretty good publicity in his "Shotgun Book"--although he also indicated problems one might encounter with Spanish guns in general of that era (a couple decades prior to Diarm).

Re the photo in the post above . . . always good to exercise caution when laying your shotgun on dead birds. Blood is bad for metal. Don't ask me how I know that.

Adam, you are correct. I failed to note the absense of drop points. Some of the present day models back in the 50s had sideclips.

Added note; Ugartechea was smart enough to stay out of DIARM as was Garbi, Grulla, Arrieta and Arizabalaga.

I also just got this Uggie sidelock which dates to 1955. I think it is interesting to note the similarities, as well as differences between the two guns. This is a low buck "Bufalo" model, and it lacks the intercepting sears of my other gun (although the holes are still in the sideplates, just filled by screws).
CHAZ

All the Spanish shotgun makers, including Ignacio Ugartechea and DIARM, produced excellent quality guns. And all shotgun makers (Spanish, English, Belgian, German, etc.) occasionally have canine carnal knowledge of a gun they make. We�re no more likely to get a bad high end gun from one maker than from any other maker � regardless of nationality.

That said, there are several nice things to be said for buying a Spanish gun made in the 1960s. One of these nice things is any problems it might have had have long since been dealt with. Another nice thing is the 1960s is in that period of time when Spanish gun making had reached a peak of cost/value. A high end Ugartechea from the 1960s has a lot more skilled hand labor in it than the same gun made today.

As an aside, and entirely FWIW, the engraving on your gun is similar to that found on the Model 100 and model 119 during the 1940s � 1960s.

I just ordered a copy of the book :-)

Do you happen to recall which Arizaga O�Conner mentioned? I can think of four different gun makers by the name of Arizaga. Common names are one of the problems with Spanish shotguns (insert perplexed look here).

More eye candy:

Martin Ugarteburu, model 115:



Jose Luis Urbiola:



Horizon Model 700 SLE (�Horizon�, maker mark �HOR�, is a relatively little known name/mark used by Garbi):

Kyrie, you're right: different Arizaga. (With the reduced number of Spanish makers still in business today, we don't have the problems that continue to exist in Italy, although there aren't as many different Rizzinis putting their names on guns as there were a few years ago.) O'Connor was referring to Esubio Arizaga. He bought a 28 with a single trigger that gave him some problems, but he liked it well enough that he ordered a 20--with a single trigger that doubled even more often, which he finally had replaced with a Miller. He suggests buying Spanish guns with double triggers, and that's certainly the trend on current imports. But other than that, he has very good things to say about the guns.

Re Spanish guns and single triggers, I've usually avoided them as well. But my Ugartechea-made Hanus Bird Gun has one, mechanical, and it's been 100% reliable--both on quite a few grouse and woodcock hunts and several rounds of skeet.

I think by the 80s reputable Spanish makers single triggers were up to snuff. Although, I have one Spanish made in 66 and another made in 71 with STs and no problems.