The William Powell Phoenix - an over-and-under shotgun for side-by-side users

As Guns many of us start out at a young age with a side-by-side four-ten, before progressing on to a larger side-by-side (perhaps one’s grandfather’s old gun) when we get a bit older. But as one starts to do more and more shooting one may begin to find that the heirloom can’t quite stand up to the demands that your shooting places upon it: Since your grandpa was a lad birds have got higher, and loads have got heavier. It is at this point that you start to consider moving on to an over-and-under to better equip you to tackle those screamers.

 

 

William Powell, conscious of this, have designed their Phoenix over-and-under to suit guns making the transition from a traditional side-by-side game gun to a modern over-and-under. But this can be a scary time. It is widely accepted that it is easier to shoot with an O/U, but there are enough differences to mean that, at least to begin with, it could take some getting used to. Having used a side-by-side for 99% of all my shooting to date, I’m fairly well placed to document what these concerns might be - typically O/Us have longer barrels, are a bit weightier, have different styles of stock and forend, and single rather than double triggers - and to see if the Phoenix hits the mark as a gun for those making the transition.

 

When I first assemble the Phoenix the night before our first little driven day at home, where I will be putting the Phoenix through its paces on my brother’s whippy Hampshire partridges pushed over shelter-belts, all of these concerns spring to mind. For this sort of shooting my 70s-built Spanish side-by-side is ideal: lightweight, smooth to mount and maneuverable. In order to get a feel for how the two guns compare, I lay them down next to each other. There’s no denying that the Phoenix looks bigger, and that’s because it is. The 30” barrels are 2” longer than those on my own gun, and it weighs more.

 

Top: the Phoenix, Bottom: The author's side-by-side

 

However, when I mount the gun all of these concerns melt away. The Phoenix is very well balanced - with a couple of shells down the pipes it balances more or less over the hinge, and the extra weight is hardly noticeable, and although the ‘picture’ I get when I sight down the rib is, not surprisingly, somewhat different, it doesn’t feel too alien. A few practice swings on pigeons scudding over the house confirm that it mounts really comfortably and easily, and that the swing feels natural and effortless. Dry runs, though, only get you so far.

 

 

And what better way, I think, to give a gun a proper go than on a day when I may only fire a box of cartridges or two? On days like these every opportunity counts, and you have to have absolute confidence in your tools - there are no ‘warm-up’ drives, and if you miss a bird, that might be your only chance for that drive. There’s no room for ‘getting to know the gun’ or time to make adjustments.

This being a small sort of shoot, it is not unusual to be a spectator for a drive, and it just so happened that I would have to wait until the second drive for the opportunity to pull the trigger. At peg four, about forty yards from a hedgerow, I watched as partridges nipped around the end of the hedge and curled right-handed away from it, eventually presenting me with an opportunity - a straight-flying bird over my left-hand shoulder - potentially one to leave for one’s neighbour but since he was reloading… go for it. As I tracked the bird, the gun came up to my shoulder effortlessly, as if I had been using it for years, not minutes. Bum, belly, beak… BANG… Missed. Getting back on the bird in a split second, I urge myself to keep the barrels moving… bum, belly, beak… the partridge folds, dead in the air. Lesson learned - just because you have slightly longer barrels doesn’t mean you don’t have to swing though properly, especially with these speedy little red-legs.

 

 

William Powell have really thought about what someone making the switch from a side-by-side might want and need, and have made both the round-body and fore-end slim and low-profile, ensuring that the Phoenix doesn’t feel unwieldy - quite the opposite in fact. The pistol-grip, which, again, fits the hand nicely without being too fat, ensures that I have a consistent mount.

 

Of course this gun was not made for hedge-hopping partridges, but for higher birds and that became apparent when the odd partridge that missed the “low and fast” memo or unwise pigeon came over the line - I really noticed the advantage of the longer barrels on the taller birds.

 

 

Sure, the Phoenix is not quite as “pointy” as my little Spanish gun, nor as whippy, but if anything everything feels more sedate, more relaxed - the additional momentum that those two extra inches of barrel and those few extra ounces provide helping to keep the gun moving.

Since this was a family shoot, I was also able to (COVID-securely) give the Phoenix to my brother, who was back-gunning for the day. Having shoo-ed him a few pegs away from me, I enjoy watching him tidying up some of the partridges that proved too testing for my fellow guns - we don’t really have the contours for showing mega-high birds, but these are some of the highest I’ve ever seen on this ground and he knocked them down with apparent ease. At the end of the drive, I asked him how he found it. “I really like it,” was his reply… “I might have to get one.”

In addition to handling beautifully, the Phoenix is rather beautiful. The stock on this particular example is chestnut dark with tiger-stripe figuring. The deep-cut hand engraving on the body is an elegant acanthus-leaf design with the “maker’s name” on one side and the model on the underside - a nice touch. To my admittedly untrained eye the wood to metal finish looks excellent. The gun was naturally something of a talking point throughout the day, and received several complementary comments from the rest of the team guns, including from someone who had just bought himself a new model from a well-known Italian gunmaker - he looked like he might have been regretting his choices.

 

 

Overall, I was very impressed with the Phoenix. The slim round-bodied frame feels comfortable in the hand, and the balance is pretty well spot on. It handles effortlessly and, once I had got to grips with only having one trigger, was snappy and easy to open, load, fire and eject.

Priced at £6,495, the Phoenix is one step up from the entry-level Perdix (£3,495) and one down from the “created for high birds” Prestige (£7,495). For your six and a half grand you get a gorgeous gun, carefully made to your specifications. All the internal parts are stone-finished, and you can choose whether to have a single or double trigger, and from a variety of gauges (410 - 12) and barrel lengths (28", 29", 30" or 32"). You can also have the gun made to measure, so you’ll take it out of the case knowing that it will fit you perfectly.

 

 

Speaking for myself, I think the slightly shorter 28 or 29” barrels would be more suited to the style of shooting that I usually take part in, but the 30” tubes didn’t hinder me, and the transition from SXS to O/U was fairly seamless. If you’re in the market for a new over-and-under, and have a reasonable budget, the Phoenix should be in your calculations. And look! I’ve managed to get all the way to the end of this article without making some sort of pun about “rising from the ashes” or a Harry Potter reference, a small mercy in these trying times.

 

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