For The Birds

During the 2005 Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, Austin & Halleck had a prototype muzzleloading rifle in its booth designed to look and feel like a Winchester Model 94 Carbine. I liked the idea and was anxious to shoot one to see if it could live up to the concept.

I remember one other muzzleloader years ago that was supposed to look and feel like a 94. It had one of the most atrocious ignition systems ever conceived and was notorious for misfires and malfunctions. This I know for a fact, as I still have one of the guns in my vault. I also have the memory of a big whitetail buck staring at me with a "thanks for the misfire" smirk on his face stored in my personal nightmares collection. I had higher expectations for the A&H rifle and hoped it would have all the charm and none of the flaws.

Then one snowy night shortly before Christmas a brown truck pulled into my driveway and its driver left a box with the A&H return address. I was busy writing, so I buzzed my son on the intercom. "Hey, Nathan, that muzzleloader I've been telling you about just showed up. How about taking it out of the box and logging it into the books?"

I didn't think much more about it and was lost in my article when I noticed Nathan standing behind me in my office. "Dad, one of us is confused and it's probably you. You never told me about this gun," he said.

Clearly, he was holding an Austin & Halleck muzzleloader--there's no mistaking their very distinctive look. But this one was a shotgun. I really wasn't expecting that.

The new A&H Model 520 12-gauge muzzleloading shotgun features the company's trademark curly maplewood stock by Boyd's. These striking stocks help to give the muzzleloaders their unique look--they're among the best-looking muzzleloaders on the market.

The Boyd's stock features GET grip inserts in the pistol grip and fore-end. These tacky rubber inserts provide an excellent gripping surface in any weather. The stock has a classic rifle-style comb with a small cheek piece that should help reduce perceived recoil. This makes the stock a bit thick for my full face, but others who tried the gun found that it was fine. A one-inch rubber recoil pad and sling-swivel studs are standard equipment.

The blued 26-inch Pattern Perfect barrel has a ventilated rib with a fiber optic front bead. There is no rear bead, but A&H offers a set of adjustable fiber optic sights to mount on the rib for turkey hunting. The barrel is threaded for screw-in chokes and will take any tube with WinChoke-style threads. The Model 520 is shipped with two Carlson flush-mount screw-in chokes. One is an improved-cylinder (.720 in.), the other a modified (.710 in.) choke.