Right off the bat I thought what a nice looking single shot shotgun. Even though this Turkish made folding shotgun sells for only $159.99 at Academy Sports it has a nice looking wood stock and silver receiver with some scroll engraving. The day I was in Academy they had them on the daily hot deal for $129.99. I am a sucker for bargain guns so one came home with me. This single shot has a 28 inch solid ribbed barrel with a brass bead and modified choke. The safety is an unmarked manual thumb safety with the forward position being the ready to fire position. The shotgun breaks open by pulling a lever in front of the trigger guard which also cocks the firearm. Let me say this gun is light, really light weight. It weighs about half of what my over under weighs. The gun weighs only 4 3/4 pounds and has a three inch chamber. I don't think I would fire a three inch shell in this gun unless I absolutely had to. Light dove loads were punishing in this firearm. I shot about half a box of the new Winchester AA Super Sport Sporting Clays loads provided by Ammo to Go for testing. They patterned very well and at 1350 fps they reached out and powdered clays with the one ounce load but the recoil of the 3 1/2 dram load in the 4 3/4 pound firearm with no recoil pad was punishing. I will be shooting these shells next week in a Stoeger M3k race gun and will report more on the load. As far as this folding lightweight shotgun I would recommend one of the new recoil absorbing recoil pads if you will be shooting it much.
If you think by now that I don't like this lightweight gun you are very wrong. I am not going to stand and shoot a round of trap with it but I would like to carry it under the back seat for whenever I need a shotgun. It will fit into small areas and would make a great survival gun with a few of the different caliber inserts. It could be carried in a backpack or bug out bag without adding a lot of weight. All in all it seems a quality made lightweight shotgun for not a lot of money. Mine is folded and under the backseat of the truck. I will be ordering a new recoil pad for it. Wild Ed
PS: Some of you are going to look at this gun folded and think wouldn't it be neat if the barrel was cut off even with the stock when folded. Two things stop me from doing this, one is you would lose the modified choke and the other is I would not want to be the one to test fire it because of the weight lost with that extra barrel length. If any of you cut one down let me know how it works out.
Thank you for the review. I have a very similar shotgun in .410 and the recoil feels almost like a 20 gauge. The 12 gauge model's recoil must be 'substantial'. It surely does look very compact for the pack / vehicle trunk and you can't beat that price($129) - you got a great deal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review.
I hope that Yildez considers making a 20 gauge version of this one. One of my brother's favorite guns of his teenage years was a H&R 20 gauge that he carried as a woodsroamer. Killed quite a few whitewing / mourning dove during season, as well as a few buzzworms.
ReplyDeleteThe prices seen on those discontinued single shot 'Farmer's Friends' are pretty outrageous. Last time I looked, going for $200 and up. Thats just crazy when you can buy a used pump for the same price.
Savage/Stevens is coming out with the model 301 single shot hammer fired shotgun in the old "Farmers Friend" style. I will retail for under $175.00 But looks to have a plastic stock. Ed
ReplyDeleteI recently purchased a 1979 Gun Digest which had an article on how to DIY constrict shotgun barrels which had been bobbed. The short story - heat barrel muzzle with propane torch and lightly (LIGHTLY I say !) tap the barrel muzzle until you get the desired choke constriction.
ReplyDeleteWas stated in article that many barrels had been repair in the past from shotguns fired with muzzle plugged barrel - might be worth investigating if you have a damaged shotgun you want to rescue.
Another suggestion with a related topic - person in response to my stating wanting a 20 gauge folding gun might want to investigate purchasing one of the 20 gauge - 12 gauge converters to get BOTH chamberings in one gun. That does sound like an extremely versatile gun that gives you many options in shell choices.
ReplyDeleteMy interest in this one is beginning to peg on 'Go Buy This You Fool Before They Discontinue It!' - my eye is beginning to twich, lol.
Thanks again for the post.
Well by golly, I couldn't stand it and I am blaming YOU for this purchase of the Yildiz TK-12, lol. I am hoping that drilling the spot where opening lever hits the forearm will allow it to fold even more. May even decide to do the suggested and remove entire triggerguard forearm recess is that helps as well. Also plan on adding a Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad (again, as noted above on your post) on that back of it because this bad boy feels like it WILL hurt you shooting standard 12 gauge ammunition.
ReplyDeleteMy 6th Farmer's Friend (2 each in .410 - 20 and 12) shotgun - this one could be particularly fun.
I know this is an inexpensive shotgun but I can't bring myself to cut or grind on this little lightweight. I am going to put a pad on it but otherwise I think I will leave it the same. By the way it is shooting very well but kicks a lot so the pad will be coming. ET
ReplyDeleteIt (and other Yildiz shotguns) have OUTSTANDING wood, the persons in line with me at the Academy (quite a few Friday night - dove season opened Saturday) all expressed 'Wow' statements when they saw the stock of it. I don't know how or where Yildiz gets their stocks, but they are a very handsome species, whatever it is.
ReplyDeleteI don't like drilling the wood either, but it already had a small nick where the end of the lever struck the forearm, so a hole of maybe 1/8" - 3/16" in recess of forearm would be okay with me. And if the firearm folds a bit more, no problem here either. Someone suggested a rubber hose sleeve on end of lever to reduce eliminate, but THAT would probably bother me more than the hole bored.
Found another folding shotgun on the 'net. MIDLAND BACK PACK SHOTGUN. Worth taking a look at, it appears to take this idea to another level.
ReplyDelete