doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Help with Zabala please

While visiting with family at Thanksgiving I was given this gun to see what I could find out about it including whether or not it functioned properly and was safe to shoot. I have no idea how it is choked. Can that be determined from the stampings in the pictures? I think the date is 1960 but I can't say for sure. It has an "F" and what I think is a lightly struck "1" after it.

I took the barrels off and tapped them. That is the only way I know how to check for a potentially loose rib. I also took the forend off and did the sweep test to determine if there was any play. The gun passed the informal rib test and seemed to be tight and on face. I also dry fired it a couple dozen times with snap caps and I cleaned everything I could without removing the stock. The barrels have some light pitting but not enough that I wouldn't consider using the gun if it passed a firing test.

Some varnish is coming off the stock and it has quite a few scratches. It very well could have been used to drive stakes or paddle a boat.

This gun has not been taken care of but it is functional. I took out Saturday to make sure. I stuffed a shell in each tube, held it by the grip with my right arm fully extended and pulled each trigger. I wanted it as far away from my body as possible if it came unglued. Then I reloaded it and fired each barrel a second time. After that all I needed to do was see if I could hit the broadside of a barn with it.

SH I found that my success ratio improves if I'm standing inside the barn.

I've had a couple of small bore Zabala's that proved to be reliable.

Ken

It is never a bad idea to be cautious with an unfamiliar weapon. But the examination you did pre-firing, particularly of the barrels, sounds like an adequate one for a 1960's era gun, and Zabala made good barrels. I've shot several. I certainly wouldn't worry about a barrel burst.

The wrap against this era of Spanish gun is some of them had inadequately hardened internal parts... triggers, sears, safeties, springs and hammers sometimes wear prematurely. I don't know this to be the case for this Zabala. I haven't experienced it in mine.

A "poor man's" choke gauge is a dime. A dime won't fit into a "full" choke 12 ga. from the muzzle, but will fit into more open bores.

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.

The original chokes are shown by the 14.5/15.7 and 14.7/15.7 stamps just in front of the barrel flats. Assuming the chokes and/or the barrels have not been touched, and assuming I did my math correctly, the chokes are .040 and .048 in. On a 20 gauge, I believe those would qualify as Seriously Full and OMG Full.

But you would need to get them measured to confirm if they remain as they were made. If they are, I would love to see the patterns . . . .

I think it's interesting to note that the issue of "soft steel" never appeared in Europe, (to my knowledge) even though the vast majority of Spanish guns were sold there. I'll reiterate what many have said before, that the real issue was using guns for purposes that they weren't designed for, and then experiencing higher rates of failure. For example, using a light/medium game gun in the place of a Trap or Duck gun.

Overall, the gun looks in pretty good shape. A 20 ga would be very nice. A stock refinish and a "Spruce-up" of the barrels with Cold Blue would be easy. After that you'd have a nice little shooter....

http://www.shotguns.se/html/spain.html

A good work horse of a shotgun, 2 3/4 inch chambers

Leave as is for one year and shoot the heck out of it
and if you like it LOTS then see about refinishing it.

An F1 date code would be 1960

A MODERN gun in my estimation

http://chheraclides.com/html/zabala_hermanos.html

Zabala is now out of business, since the Father died
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=126&t=361769

Mike

Mike

The 15.7 is bore, .618. The 14.5 is choke, rounding it up is .571. the 14.7 is again rounding up is .579
Bore is .618 minus .571= .047 constriction and the other is .039 constriction.

What is the date code? Is it "F" (1933) or "F1" (1960)? It's hard for me to tell....

I would have to get the stock refinished and the barrels blued if I was going to use it. Approximately what would that cost? I think you can see the rust on the outside of the barrels in the picture where I showed the breech end. They would have to be polished before bluing to get rid of that. It is on the surface only, there is no pitting. The stock needs a small plug about 1/4" in diameter where I removed the rear sling swivel stud. I dislike those things on shotguns.

Here is another view of the barrel flats showing what I think is part of a "1" after the "F".