The desire to hunt and be the owner of a weapon takes possession of most men. However, not everyone has the opportunity to devote the necessary amount of time and money to this occupation. Someone owns several types of smooth-bore and rifled weapons, while someone has one grandfather’s double-barreled shotgun and is happy with it. After all, the most important thing is the opportunity to walk through a forest or field with a rifle at the ready, vigilantly looking around in anticipation of some beast or bird. The result is not always important here, the main thing is the process.
Spontaneous hunting
The frantic rhythm of modern life very often leaves no opportunity to plan this type of relaxation. Often the hunting camp turns out to be spontaneous - friends called, or a weekend suddenly appeared, and now you are already rushing out of town in the hope of "breaking away in full." With such fees, it is rarely possible to even choose the necessary equipment. If you belong to this category of hunters, and spontaneous trips are the norm for you, in this case you also need to have hunting weapons with the appropriate - universal combined gun for any game. After all, if you decide in the evening or even just before the trip which animal (bird) you will go to, then you simply do not have time to prepare weapons appropriate for the occasion. Combined hunting rifles are the next stage in the development of the hunter after rifled or smooth-bore. The modern arms market offers real abundance for those wishing to ascend to a new hunting evolutionary stage, but a reasonable price corridor is small here. Of course, for wealthy people, the price was never a problem, but the representative of the middle class, who had their eyes on the combined guns, the prices of some items can unpleasantly surprise.
Problem of choice
The combination gun will be useful both for people who spend most of their life in the forest, for whom hunting is constantly present, and for those who visit it from time to time. Choosing a specific model, focus on the fact that the weapon was unpretentious, as versatile as possible, light enough, reliable, not requiring exotic ammunition, easy to maintain, but powerful and accurate. In addition to technical parameters, it should have an affordable price.
And here, and abroad ...
In both Russia and Germany - historically predisposed countries for using such weapons - the dominant types are two: a combined rifle for hunting a small beast with a limit of no further than a roe deer and a rifle with a rifled barrel for a lethal charge over the largest beast (bear, elk, wild boar). It is difficult to disagree with these conclusions made more than a hundred years ago by the famous major expert on weapons P.V. Lange. However, the modern development of ammunition has somewhat shifted the boundaries of charge use. Lange recommended the use of combined weapons (if there is no clear gradation) the most powerful of the small charges. What does this mean?
Ammunition
Conventionally, cartridges can be divided into two classes: ammunition up to three hundredth and above. Currently, the favorite of the first group is 308Win, and the second is 9.3x74. But choosing the caliber of a rifled barrel, one should take into account the variability of the ammunition used. To date, 308Win cartridges available for self-equipment and ready-made cartridges have a large number of types of bullets. Such an assortment will allow you to choose the necessary ammunition for a specific task. The range is represented by both heavy expansive bullets for the sure defeat of even the largest beast, and light shells that can delicately hit a small target. The ballistics of these cartridges are well studied, everyone can use the ready-made tables, which are both in arms stores and the manufacturer.
What should be the basic smooth caliber?
Consider a few reasons. At present, the combined arms with a twentieth caliber shotgun have appeared on the arms market. Their advantage is that they are much lighter than the twelfth caliber specimens. However, if they use a shot reinforced cartridge corresponding to 12, then the return will be decent, so firing will be uncomfortable. Standard charges, which correspond to 20, are easily perceived, therefore, given the above, most hunters, choosing a combined gun, prefer to sacrifice low weight in favor of a larger caliber. Moreover, the choice of ammunition for it in our country is simply huge. Bullets of this caliber are available, widely distributed and, undoubtedly, very effective in use. The use of firearms with a smoothbore 12 barrel is comfortable even when using charges of the Magnum type. Now let's get acquainted with the combined guns of various manufacturers.
Izhevsk Plant - Combined Shotgun "North"
This model differs from one of the other representatives of its series only in the block of trunks. The rifled barrel (5.6 mm) is located above the smooth (20 gauge). This model was developed in 1992. Like other "ninety-four" IZH-94 "North" has detachable, horizontally paired trunks. Their length is 600 mm, the chamber length is 70 mm (smooth barrel) and 19.5 mm (rifled). The block itself weighs a little more than one kilogram. The weight of the gun is three kilograms. The center of gravity is located 95 mm from the block.
Weapon description
The smooth barrel inside is protected by a chrome coating, but the rifled one is not subjected to such treatment (production representatives explain this by the lack of necessary equipment). An open sighting device is a front sight that can be adjusted in height, as well as a pillar fixed for vertical adjustment, but having a horizontal travel. In this model, the designers of Izhmash eliminated all the negative phenomena characteristic of the Taiga and IZH-94R - the trunks are interconnected using an interbarrel bar and couplings. In the breech is the underbarrel hook, responsible for locking them. In addition, it has a dovetail mount. The cartridge cases are removed by a common extractor, regardless of whether the shot was fired or not. USM is standard for this series. It is located in the receiver, but the triggers are of hidden action, they are made separately with the strikers. This helps prevent an unauthorized shot, for example, when a weapon falls. Cocking occurs automatically when a fracture occurs. The safety mechanism is activated immediately when locking the trunks. In this case, the whispers are blocked only when cocked. It should be noted that all the mechanisms of the gun are quite accessible for lubrication or inspection; these procedures do not cause any difficulties. The forend and butt are made of beech or walnut.
Advantages
This model is the most successful of the entire "94" series, despite the fact that it is quite specific for the ammunition used in the rifled barrel, because such a cartridge is not suitable for every hunter. However, when fishing for small fur-bearing animals, it is simply perfect. If you meet someone with increased aggression in the presence of large dimensions, then you can equip a smooth barrel with a bullet, not a shot. In general, this is a very unpretentious reliable gun, which can be safely called the best representative of this class of Izhmash company. However, with all its advantages, it should be noted and disadvantages. Most hunters believe that the cost of this gun is unreasonably high. Comparing it and other hunting weapons (prices will be given below), we can objectively compare models of domestic and foreign production. In addition, this gun is somewhat inferior in its characteristics to the products of the Tula plant, in particular, in the accuracy of firing from both barrels.
Sabatti FOREST
The Italian Sabatti combination guns are great for hunting in the woods. The Sabatti FOREST model is a double-barreled shotgun, in which the upper barrel is shotgun with a caliber of 12, and the lower one is a rifled barrel with a caliber of 7x65. Each of them has its own trigger. The weapon has a safety mechanism of a non-automatic type and Anson-Delay shutter. The sighting device is represented entirely adjustable and sight with a range of one hundred meters. The disadvantage of the Sabatti family of guns is the fact that if the rear sight is raised, then when shooting from a smooth barrel, a miss will occur, and if it is omitted, then the miss will be when shooting from a rifled gun. This is very inconvenient when hunting "offhand" when there is no time to switch the sighting device. The length of the trunks is 650 mm, the total length is 103 mm. Weight - 3.45 kg. Butt and forend are made of walnut, but there is a plastic butt plate.
The advantages of this weapon include the fact that it is made by cold forging. The result is a very durable and accurate shotgun that can withstand heavy loads.
Ceska zbrojovka
The famous Czech arms company has been producing hunting models since 1937. Combined shotguns CZ have proven themselves over many years of operation. For hunters who hunt for large animals and small game, this weapon will be simply irreplaceable. Experts recommend the following models of combined rifles: ZKM-452 Standart, CZ 527 EXCLUSIVE, CZ-550 Syntetic, CZ BO 802.2 and others. Special demand among Russian poachers is the CZ 584 model cal.12 / 30-06 SOL. Smooth barrel - 12 gauge, rifled - 7x65. This shotgun deserves respect due to its excellent combat. In addition, the entire Czech range of hunting rifles is of excellent quality and reliability.
Hunting weapons: prices
Here is a comparison of the cost of combined guns from different manufacturers.
1. IZH-94 “North” - the price of this model, depending on the modification, is 16-25 thousand rubles.
2. Sabatti FOREST - the cost of this gun in the arms stores of Russia reaches 75 thousand rubles.
3. CZ-584 - the price of this combined weapon can range from 78-95 thousand rubles.
As you can see, only a wealthy person can afford a combined shotgun of foreign production. However, domestic models, albeit inferior to world grandees, however, compare favorably with foreign competitors in cost. Incidentally, many hunters in Western Europe and even the United States also prefer to purchase Russian-made hunting weapons. Today the gunsmiths of our country can compete on a par with Western manufacturers in matters of quality, and with relatively low prices for their products, they can even "put the bourgeois on the shoulder blades." Of course, choosing a hunting rifle for yourself, first of all, you should focus on your personal preference, and not on the advice of friends or sellers in the store. You get yourself a faithful assistant and best friend, because sometimes situations arise when a gun can save a life, in such cases it is very important that you fit perfectly together, because even a split second can play a fatal role.