16 SHOOTING SPORTS MAGAZINE
GENERAL | GUN TEST
P
edersoli is a name that shooters
mostly associate with high quality
replicas of old classics and what I
have here is their take on the 1878 Colt
hammer action 12 gauge shotgun which they
call La Bohémienne. As one would expect
with a gun from that time period it is basic in
looks but solid and elegant in build. The
wood is walnut and although not of such
quality grain that I have seen on some of
their other guns is well fi nished.
The butt offers a 14” length of pull with
a rounded, Prince of Wales type pistol grip,
the forend is broad and comfortable. The
usual diamond cut chequering to both can be
found with a positive grip provided without
feeling too sharp to the touch. The stock has
a very well shaped steel butt plate which is
comfortable in the shoulder and although
this gun is too short for me as I have long
arms it came up very well! Even more so
after I added a rubber, slip-on butt pad which
took the length to 15 ½”; making it about
perfect for me!
THUMB BUSTER
The action is lightly colour, case-hardened
with small engraving on the borders as one
would expect. The external hammers cock
crisply into place with no discernible wobble
to them, they are of the rebound type
meaning once they hit the fi ring pin they
bounce back. Though copying an older
design Pedersoli saw fi t to include a
tang-mounted safety catch, which is probably
sensible. It’s unobtrusive and pushes
forward to FIRE and reverses for SAFE and is
of the auto return type on opening.
One well thought out safety feature is
that the hammers cannot be de-cocked while
the safety is in the fi re position, although
one can never put absolute faith in safety
catches this certainly eliminates some of the
chance of an negligent discharge (ND) whilst
de-cocking. The top lever is fi rm and does its
job, there is no play when moving it and the
gun opens smoothly. The triggers both broke
evenly and without any undue play.
The 28” barrels are fi nished in traditional
Damascus type brown as shotguns of that
era often were. Strangely but most welcome
is the full set of fi ve, fl ush-fi t chokes from
Cylinder to Full that come with this gun, they
certainly give the shooter more options when
combined with the 76mm (3”) chambers.
Pedersoli have certainly given thisreproduction a modern twist with the choke/
chamber combination and made a shotgun
that can be used for many different types of
shooting. The La Bohémienne weighs in at
7.71lbs, is well balanced and handles
smoothly despite not looking like an elegant
best English game gun.LOAD UP
For the test I used 28, 30 32 and 36 gram
loads in various shot sizes. As one would
expect the 28-32 grams felt pleasant to shoot
and did not kick at all. The 36 gram were
somewhat more noticeable in the shoulder
but unless shooting an extreme high bird day
at pheasants it would be unusual to fi re
enough heavy cartridges in a day that one
would feel the effects of the extra recoil. As
mentioned earlier the gun handles well and
was a joy to shoot, for me using a side by
side is something of a change from the norm
and going back to a hammer gun felt more
than a little strange. This is something I have
not done since my fi rst shots with a shotgun
using a .410 single barrel with my father
when I was nine years old.
On to the test. At this time of year
pigeons have the ability to cause us a greatAndrew Johnson looks at
a classic reproduction of
an 18th century sporting
double from Pedersoli
School
Old
Pedersoli La Bohémienne if
you want old school looks
with modern performance an
interesting combination