Best Shotguns in the UK

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 12/14/2018 | J Dickson

[w1n1]

Some of the world's finest side-by-sides are made in England and Scotland.
The British are a nation of shotgunners, so it is no surprise that the shotgun reached its highest level of perfection there under the patronage of its wealthy aristocrats. The classic game gun is a 12-bore side-by-side double weighing between 6 and 7 pounds with a straight stock, splinter fore-end, and a whopping-big price tag that puts off the uninformed.
Americans question the high price and insist that they can kill just as many birds with a cheap gun. Well, they can't kill as many birds with a cheap gun stocked for the “average man” instead of hand-fitted to you personally, and the price is justified as you are getting everything you paid for and more, as this article will show.

The big price is because these guns are not just handmade, they are made to the highest standards of human achievement by the small number of men with the skill to do this. The term "Best Quality" means just that – the best that money can buy. I have stood there and watched as a raw forging was filed to shape and fitted to tolerances of under one ten-thousandth of an inch entirely by hand. Parts are blackened with smoke then tried and the high spots marked by the smoking carefully brought into line for perfect functioning.
The end product is carefully hand-polished and finished to the highest standards. No machine-made gun has ever been made with this much precision, and attempts to duplicate this level of quality by machines have always failed. This is artistry of the highest form – functional art at the highest level of human skill producing items of unsurpassed grace and beauty.
You are also getting reliability and longevity. This is why the early explorers of Africa and Asia carried Best Quality guns, for there were no gunsmiths in uncharted territory. Read the rest of this best shotguns.

[Mollypitcher1]

A pity the mention of guns in England throws most everyone in a panic. Sad to see.
I’ve visited Holland and Holland and Purdy. None finer in this day and age. Best to remember, however, that it isn’t the gun that brings down the game. It is the eye of the hunter.

[Telepathic Intruder]

They’re quickly becoming a nation of stabbers and acid-throwers.

[wastoute]

I seem to recall a story about a guy who shot a bunch of wooden nickels in the air with a Garand. You probably are on to something. I could rarely hit the “X” ring at 100 yards with mine.

[Redleg Duke]

Back in the 80s, an American General decided to replace US 105mm howitzers with the British Light Field Gun, also a 105.

When they were delivered, we realized why each British Army FA Battery had an MOS position named “Artillery Artificer”. Unlike US field pieces, mass-produced and with interchangeable parts, the light field guns were hand-fitted.

Pricy Mistake.

[Mariner]

“Well, they can’t kill as many birds with a cheap gun stocked for the “average man””

Off the charts ludicrous contention.

[real saxophonist]

Off the charts ludicrous contention.

In other words, about average for 'Am Shooting Journal'.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I’m happy with my old L.C. Smith...

[wally_bert]

I liked Purdy on the New Avengers.

[elcid1970]

Before too long, English shotguns will be for export only, if you get my drift.