American Arms, Derby

bobguz

February 08, 2003 15:05

A neighbor is offering an American Arms, "Derby", 20 ga, SxS. It appears to be in good condition with a few scratches in the straight, English stock. It has a wooden butt plate and (he says) it's a real sidelock.

Does anyone know about this Derby and it's value??

bobguz

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  rufe-snow

  February 08, 2003 15:44

  According to my references "AMERICAN ARMS" of Kansas City, MO, was an importer of shotguns and other firearms from the mid 80's to the mid 90's.
  The "DERBY" was one of the Spanish shotguns they imported during this time period. Supposedly it was of excellent quality. The values given range from $600 to $900 in V.G. to NIB condition.

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  mark christian

  February 08, 2003 16:00

  The Derby was one of three grades of SxS shotgun imported from Spain from the mid 1980's through the mid 1990's. These were the Gentry, Derby, and the top of the line Grulla. These three guns were the so called Basque series and retail prices back in 1994 when I saw them at the SHOT Show ranged from $695 for the Gentry, $1039.50 for the Derby, and a whopping $3099 for the Grulla.
  
  The Derby came with the traditional English style stock, functioning side locks with hand engraved side plates and the stylish checkered wood buttplate- no top quality shotgun should have a plastic or God forbid, rubber buttplate! Unfortunitly the only two models I have actually handled and fired were the Grulla and Gentry. The Gentry left me unimpressed, while the top dog Grulla was a fine piece of machinery- although for the money I would rather have bought a AyA or kept my 20 gauge Hatfield (never should have sold that one!). The Derby appears to be a Grulla with fewer bells and whistles so I'd go out on a limb and say it would be a fine shotgun- although I did not care for the antique silver finish on the frame and side locks. Also keep in mind that the splinter forearm on these are very small, about 8" long and 1-1/2" at the front and your hand will at some point come into contact with what could be a very hot set of barrels. The traditional cure for this is the use of a leather barrel sleeve, you could also purchase a slip over leather butt pad at the same time if you wished.
  
  From firing the Grulla I can state that the gun handled wonderfully as I prefer 26" tubes and loved the straight English stock- so European when matched with the "civilized 20 bore". At a little over 6 pounds the gun swung easily and when matched with Fiocchi 3" magnums (no. 7 shot), the 30 yard patterns produced by both barrels were well centered and dispersed. This would be a great bird gun. With selective ejectors the spent shells were thrown about 10 feet and the system worked no matter which barrel (or both) contained an empty shell. I liked the gun, but for that kind of money I would go with a bigger name. You'll have to use your own judgement on your Derby. In the condition you describe I'd pay some where in the $500 range. These are just my opinions based on personal experience and others may feel differently.
  
  Mark T. Christian

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  bobguz

  February 08, 2003 16:08

  Thanks, guys. You just saved me a lot of $$$.
  
  Bob

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