Fabarm Unleashes the New ELOS O/U Shotguns
The new for 2018 Fabarm Elos shotguns, featuring the Elos N2 Sporting for clays and the Elos D2 series for upland hunting are just now starting to trickle in to the United States. I expect to have a 30 inch Elos N2 Sporting for review within a week or so.
Though the Elos name is retained, the N2 is a dramatic reinvention of the Elos, going far beyond just cosmetic changes. For an all around clays gun, the Elos N2 is aggressively priced at $2795 MSRP which I'll guess puts it at $2500 or so street price, which includes an adjustable comb and adjustable trigger. The Browning Citori 725 Sporting with an adjustable comb currently has a $3529.99 MSRP, for comparison.
The rib is tapered, from 10mm to 8mm, the styling is modernistic, it comes with Exis HP extended chokes, and as expected, the Fabarm 5 year warranty. There are significant mechanical improvements.
According to Wes Lang, President of Fabarm USA, the barrel sets are lighter and livelier. The ejection is stronger and more robust, the forearm and forearm iron have been redesigned for easier removal and reassembly, and the included “micro-metric” adjustable comb is wood with some sort of space-age proprietary impervious to everything black coating. At first glance, the adjustable comb looks like a rubber insert, but it isn't: it is specially black coated walnut. The Elos N2 is also available with a left-handed stock at a modest premium of a hundred dollars or so.
There are few things more annoying to me, personally, than a cheap O/U. Over the years, I've tested countless vertical doubles that have had various levels of annoying qualities: spongy triggers, poor barrel regulation, doubling issues, and miserable quality factory choke tubes. When you get a new shotgun, it is far more fun to have something you can enjoy right out of the box, rather than starting the journey of trigger work, stock modifications, aftermarket choke tubes, or sending off new gun with a cracked stock that you won't see again for a year. Many of us have been there, or our neighbors have. In some cases, our new guns have no parts available, and if they need service, there is hard telling (or no telling) what service center our guns might end up going to, much less the quality of the gunsmith that is going to do the work. It is one thing to send a lousy coffeemaker back to Amazon, or that exploding Himalayan salt lamp your girlfriend bought, but with O/U shotguns it gets old very quickly.
I have no way of knowing this in any precise sense, but a plurality of clay target shooters could benefit from an adjustable comb or a professional gun-fitting. It isn't done as much as you might think, for good stock-fitters are not always easy to find, sometimes necessitating not just expense, but also travel. Some also recoil at add-on comb mods, as it means the shotgun is no longer factory and resale invariably takes a bit of a hit.
I have great expectations for the Fabarm USA Elos N2 Sporting. This is the 7-1/2 lbs. or so 100% Made in Italy clays gun that has the potential to carve out its own territory for the performance and value-minded shooter, with a minimum of hassle and a maximum of fun.
More to follow shortly as testing begins.
Copyright 2018 by Randy Wakeman. All Rights Reserved.
