Silma M80 12 Bore/gauge Over and Under

A good Silma M80 12g un/ov sporter shotgun.

SILMA M80 SPORTING

The Silma name may be less well known today, but the company has sold plenty of guns into the UK over the past 55 years. It makes shotguns in a range of brackets but is best known in these Isles at the lower end of the price scale. In this highly competitive area, the choice among brands and models ensures all makers must be on top of their game. With several international market areas seeing a downturn, life has become tougher still and, as the recent closure of the Lanber plant in Spain clearly shows, only the fittest can survive such times. Ardee Sports believes Silma is the ideal gun to fill the gap Lanber has left in the market. The market is certainly there for a decent gun in this competitive area, if it has the right credentials.

INTERESTING DIFFERENCES

One way to get noticed is to be different. The Silma M80 stands out in several ways. It offers genuine options that differentiate from other competing models. But before discussing those differences in too much detail, let’s look at theM80’s overall specifications.

This is Silma’s entry-level competition clay gun, the review model being in Sporting clay configuration. Styling is conventional enough with Sporter-style stock that has a close-radius pistol grip and a 10mm-wide raised and ventilated top rib on the 30in barrels. The barrel tubes have been well struck off and highly polished prior to blacking, providing a good looking, deep gloss blacked finish. The trigger guard is highly polished contrasting nicely against the matt nitride type finish of the action body. The barrels are of monobloc construction with a nicely machined breech unit with the recess for the locking wedge machined under the bottom barrel. Strength is assured by twin bifurcated lumps that extend downward to engage in slots machined into the receiver. A wide, flat, tapered locking bolt emerges through the breech face base to engage in the barrel slot, operated by a conventional lever on the top tang.

The receiver is made from a steel forging and is neatly machined for an excellent fit. The barrels hinge on large side trunnions in the receiver walls. These are of hardened steel and replaceable. The outer ends, visible on the receiver outer faces, are polished to provide another nice contrast with the receiver. The latching fitments and forend iron are all machined from steel, with the latter featuring sturdy spring-powered ejectors with lever trips. These operate efficiently and look as though they should provide long and reliable service. Engraving is plain, simple and perfectly adequate. This is a clay gun and the semi-circular swirls emanating from around the highly polished hinge pin trunnions alludes to clays in flight – sensible adornment that adds to the visual appeal without adding undue cost. Clay shooters will prefer what the money saved has been spent on. The barrels are bored to the standard 18.3mm bore diameter and sensibly chambered for 2in cartridges. Cones are of conventional shorter length. As this gun is likely to be chosen by more shooters seeking a nice Sporter to get into clay shooting on a casual or club level basis, rather than more serious competition the grounds are most likely to include a high proportion where fibre-wad load ammunition is required. In my experience, those guns with chambers to suit standard length clay ammunition (70mm), not over-bored and without elongated forcing cones, tend to get the best out of fibre-wad ammunition. Long chambers, extended forcing cones and over-bored barrels can lead to some additional gas blow-by, causing leading and fouling to build up in the barrels, which can prove harder to clean and may even affect patterns. I personally view this 70mm chamber/standard bore diameter arrangement as a good one for the type of use envisaged.

The barrels take Silma internal choke tubes: five are supplied along with a good wrench for inserting and removing them. Once properly installed, choke tubes showed no signs of loosening in use. The wood is plain, as expected in any gun of modest price, but will improve with occasional application of a good gun stock oil. The chequering is laser applied

with the diamonds not quite precisely formed, but neat enough, performing the task of providing a gripping surface well. The forend is of a modified Schnabel form, with a less pronounced beak at the tip, a more modern approach.

One Browning user tried the gun and shot well with it, only commenting that he preferred the thicker forend of his Browning – a personal comment within a positive response. The same shooter compared it to another well-known brand at a slightly higher price: “this Silma blows it out of the water.” The overall feel is surprisingly good with its balance about 20mm ahead of the hinge pin, which isn’t unusual in a 30in sporter.

Upon taking a shooting stance with the M80, the fact it has a good palm swell becomes evident. A look inside the action reveals