The Top 5 Shotguns on a Budget

Hello and welcome to The Gun Shop! Today, we're here with our top five budget shotguns. This I should say is not our top five budget guns, they're just sort of mass generalisations, however, they’re all representing good value for money and they're good quality guns.

Armsan Semi-Automatic

I'm gonna start with this; the obvious choice in a budget shotgun. This is an Armsan semi-automatic, brand-new for around the 400-pound mark. You can go out and buy this with three years warranty - that's warranty against it not working for three years. Under most circumstances, as long as you clean it and maintain it somewhat, it’s a gun you can buy and never have to spend any money on for the next three years.

Armsan or Hatsan; one of those two probably could really pick up a second hand one for about a hundred quid! Personally, I’d buy it new for about the 400 mark but you can find some really good deal sometimes for about three, three and a half hundred-pounds new - brand new for three years warranty.

They're not hideous always a bit front heavy, well front heavy but you know we've played and you can stick about five or six ounces in the back of one of these and they turn into a real formidable gun actually really really nice.

The rubberised stock is really good quality and you know both of them - the Armsan and the Hatsan - are great guns. Personally, I’d buy new, but as I said for one hundred and fifty quid you can find a pretty scrabby secondhand one. I mean that's alright that's pretty good we don't mind that!

Lanber Sporter

Moving on. Lanber. So Lanber went bust back in 2010, 2011? That was a sad moment you know, you've never heard a bad word said about a Lanber shotgun - built in Spain, built like tanks but with a touch of refinement, unlike a lot of the other budget brands. They worked and they shot very very well. It copied some of the stars and designs of some of the more popular guns, so you end up with although now out of date, very good looking, good shooting guns. Lacking perhaps in refinement but not too bad. They do a lot of different designs; they do your standard model there the Standard Sporter, they do a Sporter Deluxe, they do a Game and a Game Luxe. There are a lot of different models you can get - non-ejector versions, double trigger versions but a nice sporting example like this will set you back well under 500 quid. If you look pretty hard I think I saw one on Facebook the other day - not that you’re allowed to advertise on Facebook but somebody was - a hundred and eighty quid. 180 quid. That's not bad you know I’d buy one of these all day long as a first gun. I’m a great Lanber lover and anybody who says they're no good probably never owned one. Yeah they're not lovely, but that's certainly good enough for a first gun, a backup gun, or just a gun on a budget. Brilliant.

Problem with that obviously is spares are gonna become more of an issue as time goes on, but it's a four hundred quid gun and they don't break. You know I've had to fix a half-dozen Lanber's as opposed to many many Beretta’s and Browning's so that's not bad.

AYA Yeoman

Next in line is this beauty - this is an AYA Yeoman. Double trigger, non-ejector, seventeen mil chamber two and three quarter inch chamber side by side. There is literally nothing to go wrong with this gun. You know, back in the 60s they were about 40 quid - there weren’t a lot brand new. Very essentially a hand-built gun. Yes, they're not the prettiest; you’ve got no engraving, a boring-ass wood, but there’s a variety of barrels, we’ve got the step up rib there you can get ones with scallops - I say a step up rib it’s small with a parallel flat-filed rib - you can get ones with scalloped ribs, you can get them with Churchill ribs; they come with all manner of rib on this AYA Yeoman. They also make an over-and-under version but the side-by-side, you can pick one of these up for about twenty quid if you go to an auction and want something a bit scrappy.

This, which I’d describe as a minter, its absolutely lovely. The colour-hardening is spanking and this gun from fifteen-twenty yards away looks just as good as most other side-by-sides in the line. It’s a gun that can stand up next to any other gun from 15 yards away and look very acceptable. 175 quid on the shelf. That’s pretty good.

So they do Magnum versions, 400 three-inch chambers, they do pistol grip versions but this is the most common that you'll find: The flat file top and the straight hand stock, double trigger, non-ejector. It’s probably what I’d go for as there’s nothing to go wrong and plenty of spares available because it's such a generic Spanish boxlock action. Brilliant, brilliant guns. Try and get something a little bit later if you can rather than earlier, the later ones have this flat face and the early ones have little sort of rounded bars on the side. Just as I say a bit more generic and a little bit more reliable perhaps? Maybe not more reliable but certainly easier to fix if they do go wrong. Mostly because they have the disc set striker which is a nice feature - a very nice feature.

Baikal Over and Under

Everybody knows we love Baikal here at The Gun Shop and this one here is no exception. It's a hundred and fifty pounds. I really think they’re truly gopping guns but for 150 quid you can get an over and under that handles adequately enough. And if you don't mind sticking all this stuff over it to make it fit, there’s something quite beautiful about having a gun that you actually don't love. I've got a car that I don't love, but I love that I don't love it because you can treat it like shit and that's fine, that is absolutely fine. Because at the end of the day it's a beater. You can go and kill stuff with it, you give it a quick wipe over, throw it back in the cabinet and you're not gonna feel bad if you beat it half to death.

You know there's a certain bit of comedy value I suppose to a Baikal in their existence. Like I said you have to think very much about the English market; this is something we don't use very much anymore. Everybody is more into their sporting shotguns and it's rare to see a gun that's worth less than 500 quid on the circuit really, however stupid that sounds. There's a few don't get me wrong on the more local clay shoots, but clay shooting being the main reason people own shotguns in the UK, not many people are gonna own a double trigonometric duct over and under, when you can go and get yourself a Beretta or on tick for 100 quid a month and be at the same level as your friends.

Great gun, one hundred and fifty pounds again they just represent such great value for money and if you get a really ratty one you'll pick it up for well under a hundred quid. You pick up a nice one and it might cost you a bit more than that. You can go and buy new ones but I probably wouldn’t recommend it as they are a lot of money.

SKB 500

And last but definitely not least - in fact probably my favourite of the bunch. This is an SKB 500. I love it, they're such refined guns for the money. It’s getting on a bit now so they do represent great value for money in the regard that nobody really knows what they are. Leaf springs, really well-made barrels, a very nice setup. Big strong actions and absolutely fantastic trigger pull with a single selective trigger. There’s not much more to say about SKB’s - watch our review on one! In fact all of these there are reviews on so go check them out and see what you think if you want a bit more in-depth information.

But in terms of refinement, there are a few things like the SKB, the Nikkos; guns that just aren’t popular at all. People don't know what they are hence people don't know what they're worth, so you can pick them up for 300, 400, 500 pounds for a really nice one and have a gun that people might not appreciate to look at, but Jesus they shoot really very very well.

Right there you have it, that was my top 5 budget shotguns:  

• The Armsan A612 or cheap semi-automatic

• Lanbers - brilliant brand for on the budget

• The AYA Yeoman's side by side, one of the best cheap guns you can buy hands down

• The Baikal one of the guns that you can generally not fall in love with

• SKB 500 or just general SKB, a fantastic brand with fantastic value for money

Thank you very much for watching, I hope you enjoyed! Take care.