With Shane's thoughts turning back to wildfowling, he takes a look at the Winchester SXP - a good fowling gun with lots of great features
Winchester SXP reviewed by Sporting Gun
The action is well-made, all the edges were nicely finished with no burrs or rough edges
Closer inspection
On closer inspection I now see that the barrels are made in Turkey as opposed to Belgium, Portugal or the USA like other models. Not a problem for me as most of the barrels made today come from Turkey, who are fast becoming one of the biggest arms manufacturer on the planet. Quality control and standards have increased 10-fold, so the “dodgy” Turkish guns of 10 years ago are long gone. So many manufacturers are outsourcing to Turkey it’s difficult to keep up.
The barrel is chambered in 2¾in to 3½in, which is great for standard 2¾in pigeon loads, 3in duck loads and has the option to go up to proper goose loads should the chance arise. It comes with three chokes supplied (full, half and cylinder) with the option to buy the remaining ¾ and ¼, all you need to look for is Invector plus. The hi-viz red bead finished it off nicely.
Shane’s top tip is to clean the gun as soon as you get off the marsh
The action and slide were well-made. All the edges were nicely finished, with no burrs or rough edges. With a few tools (the trusty Leatherman to take out the trigger pin) you can do a full strip and clean in under five minutes. All I recommend is to keep the slide greased, and then clean the gun as soon as you get off the marsh. I never keep mine wet with oil. I made the mistake once of dropping one in the sand! Sand and oil do not bode well for guns and slidey mechanisms.