Shotguns

Chris Batha’s British Ordnance Company originated from a happy accident that brought to market a bespoke tour de force attractively priced at $32,000.

One year after it was officially announced, the new Remington V3 semi-auto shotgun is finally available at your local dealer, and for the most part it feels like a winner.

Although Remington introduced the V3 in February 2015, the shotgun didn’t start shipping until February 2016 at a suggested retail price of $995.00.

The sunsets of Sedona, Arizona draw seekers in pursuit of their own personal spiritual enlightenment to the fiery glow cast on high-desert rock formations. That haunting splendor is a monument to the local mystical soup of Native American beliefs, New Age transcendence and self-proclaimed UFO refugees. As a hot spot of awakening and harmony, Sedona is a natural home to artists who draw inspiration from the beautiful gods of the harsh, majestic landscape.

Shooting the new ribless Perazzi game gun is a revelation.

At the Orvis Sandanona shooting grounds in Millbrook, New York, the long quartering-away clays presentations appeared with a clarity surprising to most shotgun enthusiasts. You never realize how much the rib intrudes on the sight picture until a ribless shotgun enters your life. The target is whole and clear − like a juicy navel orange ripe on a branch ready to pluck.

New on the U.S. import scene is a four-load selection of Kent Gamebore lead target loads imported exclusively by Will Krawczyk of W.T. Sherman and Company since January 2015 and conveniently sold on their web site. These British-made shotgun shells will not be “value-priced” cheapies. Instead they have been selected to compete with American-made, high-end, lead-shot target loads. The Gamebore White Gold load being imported is expected to retail at somewhere between $83 to $90 per 250-round case. Two other loads – Black Gold and Platinum Trap − will sell for about $90 to $95 per case.

For many of us vintage shotguns serve as time-travel capsules. Their aesthetics and craftsmanship harken to epochs of abundant game across pristine landscapes that nurtured our individual sovereignty and tranquility lost to the blight of smart phones and strip malls.

Sometimes the gentle reversal of time occurs when we initially handle the shotgun; pick it up and you’re immediately there. Otherwise, we gradually slip back in time as our relationship with the shotgun becomes more intimate; the deeper our connection, the more we identify with its heritage.