For the better part of a century the long-barreled pigeon gun and the lightweight, sub-gauge quail gun have coexisted at opposite ends of the shotgunner’s rainbow of desires. Now postmodern metallurgy has made it possible to blend the benefits of both. Longthorne, the English gunmaker renowned for its barrels machined from a single billet of metal, has given us a new iteration of its Berkley model with a steel action and 32" titanium barrels.
Like other Longthorne sidelock over/unders, the Berkley is offered in a variety of barrel lengths and all the standard gauges, but it is the 32"-barreled 28-bore that will have the most resonance, especially in the Deep South where the bobwhite rules the roost. Weighing a tad more than five pounds, the smallbore Berkley seems ideal for those who prefer a nimble tool—more poke shooting than swing-through—for quail.
Not cheap at almost £70,000 ($89,000), the Berkley is still more affordable than titanium models from other makers. The gun features true sidelocks delightfully engraved with a pattern inspired by art nouveau and drop-dead-gorgeous wood in a number of configurations.
Jonny Carter, testing the gun on a North Carolina plantation for the UK publication Shooting Times & Country Magazine, placed the gun firmly in his “top five shotguns of all time.” The buzz is that a small-gauge with long titanium barrels may be the most perfect quail taker ever to come down the pike!
For more information, visit longthorneguns.com
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