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By Jason Harris
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Yildiz 20-bore shotgun: Hankering after a 20-bore? Buying on a budget? Jason reckons he's got just the shotgun you're looking for.
Yildiz 20-bore shotgun: Too many decently made 20-bores let themselves down in one crucial area - weight.
Quite simply, they're too heavy.
Of course this might not matter if the gun's going to be used for clay shooting or driven game with heavy loads, but it somewhat defeats the object if you plan to walk any distance in the field.
At 5.1/2lb the Turkish-made Yildiz notches up a useful set of Brownie points. And this boxlock ejector is nicely balanced, to boot.
In fact the more I look at it, the more I like this little gun.
First thing in its favour is the price: at £500 it sits firmly at the 'lower end' of the market.
"Don't let the price put you off. The reality is you get a lot of gun for your money here."
For a start the wood quality is good for a gun of the price, but that shouldn't be much of a surprise as most of the walnut used in gunmaking today is grown in Turkey anyway. The wood is oil finished with the comfortable pistol grip and splinter fore-end actually being chequered by hand, not machine.
The 28in multi-choke barrels have been fitted with 3in chambers and the barrel assembly hooks up to the action body with a single bite, rather than the more normal double. I don't see this as a weakness because the bite is a wide affair that fits accurately with the bolt. In fact this gun is very well jointed and hinges open on a full width steel cross pin.
The Yildiz 20-bore shotgun features a satin silver finish to the action frame.
One noticeable feature are the slightly larger than average barrel lumps which house the spring loaded extractors. The barrels are built on the monobloc system and have been very well filed or 'struck up' from the monobloc into the tubes.
The concave top rib has been matted to reduce glare. The single trigger mechanism is a simple affair which works on inertia from the first shot and barrel selection is made by moving the safety catch button through a gate in the Browning/Miroku style.The safety catch is manual, and doesn't appear to be able to convert to auto safe.
Hammers pivot from the bottom of action and are powered by coil springs while the sears are suspended from above in the same manner as an over-under. This simple, no frills, mechanism will probably prove very reliable in the long term. Machine work of action and parts is very good.
The alloy action face has been fitted with a steel reinforcing plate to protect against recoil and to also avoid gas erosion around the firing pin exit holes.
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