Spanish Matador: Value??

[Remander]

A friend inherited a double-barrel 12 gauge shotgun with markings that say:

Firearms International Corp.

and it has "12 gauge 2 3/4" shells mod and full" on the center rib.

It has "Matador" written on the side engraving.

And it has "Made in Spain" on it.

The serial no. is 1285XX

Any thoughts on what this shotgun is worth and quality of same?

Any info on this shotgun would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Gordon]

Do you see AyA or similar names anywhere? If you do it is an AyA Matador. They were very solid and nice base level shotguns. I have one in 10ga I have turned into a coach gun after getting bounced around with it for many years waterfowling.

 

[Remander]

It does have "Aguirre y Aranzabal" on it.

I found this, via yahoo search, on the Chuck Hawks site:

Spanish shotguns

Q: What is your opinion of Spanish made SxS shotguns?

A: Virtually all Spanish made shotguns come from the Basque region of Northern Spain. They have a long and somewhat checkered history. For most of the 20th Century, the Spanish shotguns commonly seen in the U. S. were built of cheap materials to sell at the lowest possible price point.

On the other hand, since about 1980, some very high quality Spanish made shotguns have appeared in North America. These are sidelock doubles hand-crafted from the finest materials in very small shops--the fine guns produced by Pedro Arrizabalaga would be an example. Other contemporary Spanish gunmakers who are well thought of include Arrieta, Garbi, and Grulla. I have had the opportunity to examine all of these, and they are fine guns. In my opinion the guns of Pedro Arrizabalaga are the equal of fine guns made anywhere in the world.

In years past, AyA (Aguirre y Aranzabal), Sarasqueta, and Ugartchea shotguns were fairly will known in the U. S., but these manufacturers fell on hard times, and produced some pretty sad boxlock doubles. AyA has made a comeback, and is again well thought of, and high quality guns are again being made by Ignacio Ugartechea.

You might want to take a look at my article "Best Shotguns." For more on fine Spanish shotguns, I highly recommend the book Spanish Best by Terry Wieland.

 

[Gordon]

Prolly a 60's AYA Matador worth around $300 in good shape. However it is a great field gun if it is in and kept in good shape, better than whats out there today for less than $700 or so. What usually befalls these guns are stock splitting at the tang as the wrist is thin and not greatly fitted-use light loads, which work wonderfully anyway. The actions sometimes gum up from old oil/lube. Solution on this is to take to a gunsmith who needs to remove stock to properly clean the box lock. Or try working Marvel mystery oil liberally into every action crevice,draining off the excess overnight on paper and using Snap caps (a MUST) to cycle every thing a dozen times or so.Marvel evaporates in a couple months or less so do it every couple weeks for a while, just try to keep it away from the wood and wood/metal joints.