--- snip ---
The post-war period had a little experiment in socialism that caused all the makers to be lumped under one giant consortium, DIARM. This was an unmitigated disaster that blemished the reputation of all their guns for quite a while. I believe that the DIARM stuff was in the 60s & early 70s, but I'm not very solid on that. By the middle 1980s, things had returned to the more traditional English master/apprentice system and better quality returned to their guns. The makers I mentioned above, (plus a few others) make some really good guns that are an eceptional value in a hand-made firearm.
Purely FYI.
DIARM began in 1984 and was effectively a dead issue in 1988. It was an attempt to save the shotgun making industry in Spain, was completely voluntary, had the financial backing of the Spanish government, and was a complete failure. The gun makers who joined DIARM all went out of business in order to join DIARM.
After the failure of DIARM some of the former DIARM partners bought the AyA name and restarted AyA, but the pre- DIARM AyA and post- DIARM AyA are two different companies. Some of the people who had been Sarriugarte before Sarriugarte closed its doors to join DIARM started a new company; Keman.
All of the Spanish gun makers could and did make very high quality guns, and gun making skill was not limited to Grulla, Arrieta, AyA, Garbi, and Ugartechea. The best value in Spanish shotguns are generally found in the guns of the little known and unknown gun makers. Here is an example:
Thats a Vuida e Hijos de Francisco Arizaga (Widow and Sons of Francisco Arizaga). The gun is a two barrel set, with original traveling case, for which I paid 1500 Euro.
