AYA: The most popular side-by-side shotguns in the UK

Side-by-side shotguns seem to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity in the last couple of years - we take a look at the Spanish gunmaker beloved of so many.

According to this year’s Game Shooting Census, carried out by GunsOnPegs in association with Lycetts, one of the long-running trends of the shooting world has reversed. After years of over-and-under shotguns dominating the game shooting world, this year we have seen a slight uptick in the use of side-by-side shotguns for game shooting, up from 25% last year to 27% for the 2020 Census. Whether this indicates a surge in interest in side-by-sides that will continue in years to come remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: if you are in the market for a well-priced side-by-side, there’s one name that won’t be far from your thoughts. AYA.

The home of Spanish gunmaking

The Basque Country, or Pais Vasco, is one of the less well-known regions of Spain. I’m fortunate enough to have visited the region on several occasions, and it could not be much further from the Spain of the Costa del Sol, both geographically and culturally. Trapped between the Pyrenees and the Atlantic Ocean, and with a distinct culture and a language, Euskara, so ancient that it predates all other European languages - the region is a fascinating place that’s given the world many cultural icons: the festival of San Fermin when bulls charge through the streets of Pamplona; New Basque Cuisine, the cooking style that influenced chefs all around the world; the wines of Rioja.

But for the game shot one of the most important Basque exports must be the fine shotguns made by Aguirre y Aranzabal, or AYA as they are more commonly called. The company was formed in the early twentieth century, when two young gunsmiths - Miguel Aguirre and Nicolas Aranzabal - left their native Eibar, the centre of Spanish gunmaking - to perfect their skills in Barcelona under the instruction of a German gunmaker named Eduardo Schilling, who had a great reputation. Upon their return to Eibar in 1915, Miguel and Nicolas founded the company together, making a straightforward range of entry-level and mid-range guns.

How AYA came to the UK market

Fast forward a few decades, to the mid 1950s. An English family, on holiday in Barcelona, happened upon a gunshop and were impressed by the quality and price of the Spanish guns on show. This was the King family, and the events took place a few years before the birth of Edward King, who today is managing director of Anglo-Spanish Imports, the UK distributor of AYA shotguns. Edward recently joined us for an episode of our podcast and told us what happened next. Here’s how he told us the story:

“My father contacted the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in London and asked for a list of Spanish gunmakers, expecting to get back a list of 30 or 40 but what he got was more like 250 names. They decided to narrow the list down to those with more than about 30 employees, got appointments, arranged an interpreter, and got on a plane, and went to see some of these people.

At lunchtime on the second day they found themselves at AYA. The Chairman at the time was Augustin Aranzabal, a diminutive, nervous twitchy sort of chap - very charming - who spoke not one word of English and not really that much Spanish, but was proudly and obstinately Basque. The translation had to go from English into Spanish into Basque and then back again, but they talked about shooting - partridges in Spain, pheasants in England, grouse and all the wonderful things that Britain has to offer, and also about guns, because the Spanish were very much admirers of the English gunmaking tradition.”

This then led to lunch, after which the Kings were given a tour of the factory, which was on four floors, with tree trunks and steel going in at one end and shotguns of all different qualities coming out the other. Edward again:

“Having shown them the factory, Augustin said something which stuck in my father’s mind, he said: “You’ve seen what we can do, you guys make the best shotguns in the world. Ask us to make something, and we’ll make it for you.”

AYA: shotguns designed for English game shooting

This, says Edward, seemed like a rather better idea than just importing existing Spanish models, so they got hold of a Holland and Holland Royal, a Westley Richards boxlock and sent them to the factory, asking AYA to make a boxlock ejector, a boxlock non-ejector, a nice sidelock and a slightly more affordable sidelock. The “nice” sidelock would become the AYA no.1, the affordable one was the no.2, the boxlock ejector was the no.4, and the non-ejector was the no.3. This would form the basis of the AYA range of guns designed specifically for the English market, but a fraction of the cost of an English-made gun.

A 1970s AYA no.2 owned by the author

The most popular side-by-side shotguns

It turned out to be an inspired decision, as, according to the Game Shooting Census, carried out by GunsOnPegs in association with Lycetts, some 7% of game shots in the UK use an AYA, making them the third most popular brand of shotgun in the UK, after the behemoths that are Beretta and Browning. 25% of all game shots who use a side-by-side as their main gun use an AYA. If you imagine a line of 8 guns, all using side-by-sides, two of those guns are likely to be an AYA.

In The GunsOnPegs office AYA are slightly over-represented, with two of the five game shots using an AYA for most of their game shooting. Both I and Director of Sales Frank Stephenson use an AYA no.2 - the affordable sidelock.

I really appreciate the engraving on the colour-hardened sideplates

Why we love AYA shotguns

Speaking for myself, I absolutely adore my gun. It has the air of a classic English-made gun. The straight-hand stock is made from a nice - but not flashy - piece of wood, with hand chequering, but what I love most about its looks is the lovely English-style scroll engraving on the sideplates, which have that gorgeous oil-slick iridescance that colour hardening provides, giving it a timeless look. The foreend has a lovely low profile that’s both elegant and sits nicely in the hand.

The AYA no.2 is smart without being flashy

Like all No.2s, the gun and action are modelled on the Holland and Holland Royal. It is well-balanced and swings beautifully, it comes to the shoulder easily and seems well suited to what I shall loosely term my “style” of shooting. Much of my shooting is driven partridge in Hampshire - nothing stratospheric, but fast, whippy birds pushed from cover over a shelter-belt - and for this sort of quasi-snap shooting it is ideal. As well as partridges at home I’ve also used it (with varying degrees of success) on pheasant, pigeon, duck and rabbit. In over 20 years I can’t think of anything that’s ever gone wrong with it, and since it was made in the late 70s, it did plenty of work before I became the owner.

Frank is just as fond of his No.2 and when I asked what it was that he loved about it, he told me: “Above all it's the reliability. It has never let me down, and I have used it for a huge variety of quarries and types of shooting so I feel very comfortable shooting with it: I know if I pull the trigger and the bird doesn’t come down it is me and not the gun.

It is this combination of looks, style and reliability, and a fairly affordable price (a new AYA no.2 will set you back less than £9K) that means that tens of thousands have been sold over the years.

A modern AYA no.2

Since that original 4 gun range - the two boxlocks and the two sidelocks - the AYA offering expanded to many more, including round-action and “de luxe” versions of the No.1 and No.2, plus models like the Sfera, with its curved lockplate, the Anniversary - a hammer gun designed to celebrate the 50 year relationship between AYA and ASI, and the Centenary, a limited edition sidelock designed to celebrate the company’s 100 years of gunmaking.

The AYA Anniversary celebrates the company's relationship with ASI

Always moving with demand, AYA will soon be releasing an over-and-under - the Classic. We don’t have a lot of information to go on at present but we understand that it will be designed to withstand the rigours of modern game shooting, heavy loads and all that. If you’re an existing AYA side-by-side owner but feel you need an O/U for some purposes, such as extreme high bird shooting, this is likely to be worthy of your consideration.

And if you’re wondering, if you were to buy a new AYA today, you could do so safe in the knowledge that it would be “future-proof” - they have all been steel proofed as standard since the 90s. Mine, being from the 70s, won’t take high performance steel, and owing to having full choke in one barrel, won’t take standard steel either. One day, perhaps sooner rather than later, I shall have to replace my beloved no.2, but when that day comes, there’s a good chance it will be another AYA that takes its place.