CAVEMAN wrote:I've now bought two.
A Pardus 12 gauge lever. List price $900 but the dealer let me have it for $250 without haggling. I think they were liquidating there stocks of these. Is it fun. I would say yeah and for $250 I definitely cant complain. But on the other side it has needed three major bits of work done to it. Firstly I had to file and polish allot of the internal moving parts so they fitted properly. I found the set screws were not actually setting because enough metal had not been removed to allow lockup. It then went back once to have its ejector upgraded (common fault and it seems mine missed its recall). Then around 12 months latter when the barrel and barrel extension separated. They did do this under warranty but then on return I received a letter stating they wouldn't ever look at my gun again.
I still have it. And I still use and enjoy it but its not as robust as id ideally like. I dream of the day a company like Marlin or Henry make a well designed and well built lever shotgun. But I doubt it will happen.
The second is a Zaffer 12 gauge coach gun. Single trigger 20 inch barrel rig. A literal load of fun. While its a fairly solid gun it too has several flaws. I picked it up for $660. And for that it came with the extractor rods looking like they were machined on a wood lathe with the person holding a bastard file to shape it. Plus it was quite rusty in this area. I cleaned this up but the machining is far from saveable.
On firing high recoil rounds the fore end will occasionally work loose as well. I believe the tolerances between the fore end latch and the barrel lug need polishing. Ill play with this one day and sort that out and it doesn't concern me.
These Turkish guns are cheap and cheery but they will also occasionally leave you frustrated. In between the ear to ear grins at the other end of the spectrum.
I think the biggest pet peeve of mine is the price for some of the lever and straight pull shotguns. Its frustrating when for allot less money most of the time you could get a budget well built pump gun that would work reliably. Someone in the middle must be making a good dollar bringing all the lever and straight pulls in due to our specific environment.
mchughcb wrote:For $900 sounds like a bargain. I'd get a SXP waterfowl tomorrow for that price.
mchughcb wrote:A mate who has the pardus had it returned three times. On the other hand 2 people I know bought the dickinson T1000 and never had a problem and I quite liked they synethic stock version as a all weather type of shottie. Interestingly the dickinson also made the W&S 2020K under contract and the quality for the price is excellent.
You can look on their website and swear it was the same model.
https://dickinsonarms.com/portfolio/estate/
CAVEMAN wrote:I've now bought two.
A Pardus 12 gauge lever. List price $900 but the dealer let me have it for $250 without haggling. I think they were liquidating there stocks of these. Is it fun. I would say yeah and for $250 I definitely cant complain. But on the other side it has needed three major bits of work done to it. Firstly I had to file and polish allot of the internal moving parts so they fitted properly. I found the set screws were not actually setting because enough metal had not been removed to allow lockup. It then went back once to have its ejector upgraded (common fault and it seems mine missed its recall). Then around 12 months latter when the barrel and barrel extension separated. They did do this under warranty but then on return I received a letter stating they wouldn't ever look at my gun again.
I still have it. And I still use and enjoy it but its not as robust as id ideally like. I dream of the day a company like Marlin or Henry make a well designed and well built lever shotgun. But I doubt it will happen.
The second is a Zaffer 12 gauge coach gun. Single trigger 20 inch barrel rig. A literal load of fun. While its a fairly solid gun it too has several flaws. I picked it up for $660. And for that it came with the extractor rods looking like they were machined on a wood lathe with the person holding a bastard file to shape it. Plus it was quite rusty in this area. I cleaned this up but the machining is far from saveable.
On firing high recoil rounds the fore end will occasionally work loose as well. I believe the tolerances between the fore end latch and the barrel lug need polishing. Ill play with this one day and sort that out and it doesn't concern me.
These Turkish guns are cheap and cheery but they will also occasionally leave you frustrated. In between the ear to ear grins at the other end of the spectrum.
I think the biggest pet peeve of mine is the price for some of the lever and straight pull shotguns. Its frustrating when for allot less money most of the time you could get a budget well built pump gun that would work reliably. Someone in the middle must be making a good dollar bringing all the lever and straight pulls in due to our specific environment.
AS30N wrote:Has anyone tried the new "Bushmeister" lever release 12ga, I think it's a Verney Carron knock off, even the release lever is at the same spot, which doesn't make sense to me.... Why can't they just put it on the left hand side (or make it ambidextrous) of the gun and shape in a way that one can press it with the thumb without changing grip.
When I was at Bathurst gunshow last month I saw a demo of some Turkish "button release", like it's Verney Carron but with a button on the fore end, where the thumb is, making it faster than a pump action and only fraction slower than a semi auto. But the price tag is like $2500, so I will pass, when it gets popular the price will drop, just like the Alder
AS30N wrote:Has anyone tried the new "Bushmeister" lever release 12ga, I think it's a Verney Carron knock off, even the release lever is at the same spot, which doesn't make sense to me.... Why can't they just put it on the left hand side (or make it ambidextrous) of the gun and shape in a way that one can press it with the thumb without changing grip.
When I was at Bathurst gunshow last month I saw a demo of some Turkish "button release", like it's Verney Carron but with a button on the fore end, where the thumb is, making it faster than a pump action and only fraction slower than a semi auto. But the price tag is like $2500, so I will pass, when it gets popular the price will drop, just like the Alder
mchughcb wrote:Still mot as fast as my three barrel.
AS30N wrote:So I went to the dealer last weekend. The Bushmeister "looked" pretty well build but super light, fit and finish very decent for a $1000 job, pity it is not gas operated.. I paid deposit for a 20 inch model.... When I get it on will post review....
cjdblr wrote:. Gun overall fells a bit like the Benelli M2