An eye for a bargain

Tom Sykes looks at how to save a few poundsp

Ithink we are all want value for money, especially when it comes to choosing a gun.

Last year, I was shopping around for a semi-automatic shotgun with a 3.5-inch chamber for wildfowling, wanting something with a good name, such as Beretta, without paying top price for an all-singing, all-dancing model.

Trigger’s Broom

I have rebuilt most of my guns over the years, getting them back into good working order with cheap parts.

My Benelli Nova pump-action shotgun is often called Trigger’s Broom (a reference to the Onlyfoolsandhorses character’s 20-year-old road sweeper’s broom, which he claimed had had 17 new heads and 14 new handles!), as there aren’t many factory parts remaining on the old ‘girl’.

The Benelli has had a new firing pin, a firing pin spring, a trigger mechanism, a barrel, a bead, a set of aftermarket chokes and a lick of paint. Despite the parts being relatively inexpensive, the result was a fully functioning gun, perfect for wildfowling and pest control.

Searching high and low

I started my search for a gun by visiting the online website Guntrader, but didn’t find what I was looking for, and what I did find wasn’t the price I wanted to pay. I decided that I would wait until I came across the right ‘project’.

I called into one of my local gunsmiths, Fawcett’s Country Sports, and while having a brew I enlightened the owner Stephen to the prospect of upcycling a gun.

To my amazement, he said he had the perfect gun for the job, and set about rummaging around in his workshop. He unearthed a beaten-up 12-bore Beretta Al391 Xtrema Synthetic, a gun that would not be appealing to most people, but was exactly what I was looking for.

He went onto explain it was for sale, and we soon found ourselves filling out the relevant paperwork. I was now the proud owner of a ‘beast’.

“Keep an eye out for a bargain next time you are in the gun shop, as you never know what you might find”