Krieghoff K-20 Victoria over-under in 20/76 ga: the high-quality ladies' shotgun under test

Krieghoff , a family business based in Ulm, Germany, since the end of the Second World War, has been manufacturing shotguns and rifles – seen not just as tools, but also as an attitude towards life – for more than 130 years with experience, innovation and precision. A stock measuring method patented by Krieghoff contributed not least to the particularly good shooting characteristics of its guns. Old, proven, traditional things are taken up, revised, developed and, if possible, improved again and again at Krieghoff. Those who choose a gun by Krieghoff choose something classic that was created for the modern age. Just like the new K-20 shotgun for ladies.

Krieghoff K-20 Victoria: our test gun

The slender, light leather case of the Victoria K-20 is so beautiful that you want to travel with it immediately, or at least go to the next shooting range to make all the other ladies green with envy. The Victoria comes from the K-20 series, which has its origin in the K-80 series. Barrels are 30” / 76 cm long, with an overall length of 46.8” / 119 cm. Total weight is 7 lb /  3.18 kg. The test gun was made available in 20/76 gauge. Further options include 32” / 81 cm barrel length and 28/76 gauge. The barrels are factory blued-black and soldered. The shotgun shown has a ¾-choked top barrel and a ½-choked bottom barrel. Interchangeable chokes are not included as standard, but can be retrofitted. The stock of the shotgun is dark walnut. The oil-finished buttstock is simple and elegant and ends with a color-matched rubber butt plate. The comb of the straight buttstock can be adjusted. The pistol grip is narrow and features fish-skin checkering with floral designs along the edges. The wood class can, of course, still be chosen at an extra charge, as can the lacquer finish of the stock.

The crisp, excellent single trigger doesn't creep. However, the trigger pull weight can't be adjusted. If you have any wishes, a Krieghoff gunsmith will fulfill them. The safety acts classically on the trigger and sits on the top tang. Whether the shotgun is cocked can't be seen from the outside. The Victoria also has a barrel selection switch. This is mounted in the trigger guard and protrudes from the receiver. It allows to choose the right barrel in a flash, depending on the situation, in order to achieve the best possible result. To break open the gun, the lever is located on the top strap. The receiver is made of steel with a nickel finish. The Sovereign Scroll engraving is particularly striking. The hinge screws, top latch as well as screws and pins are blued. When open, the ejectors clearly stand out. After firing and break-opening the gun, the ejectors pull out the shells and throw them in the air with a lot of momentum. Krieghoff relies on a classic box lock. This makes a short construction possible, because the lock parts are mostly inside the receiver.

The forend is also made of oil-finished walnut (with fish-skin checkering on the sides). Here too you can see the particularly discreet extras in form of delicate border carvings only if you look closely. If you look at the forend, you will find a decoration on every metal part, no matter how small: on the little screws, the forend release and even on the sides of the forend itself. On the barrels sits the rib. It's 0.27” / 7 mm wide. A brass auxiliary bead is in the middle of the sighting rib, the HIVIZ Pro being at the very end. 

Based on Ludwig Krieghoff's motto "the barrels shoot, but the stock hits", the Victoria has received a corresponding female makeover. It's not enough to make all things a little lighter, narrower and shorter, of course: everything has to harmonize. The stock length of the Victoria from the middle of the trigger to the middle of the butt plate is 14” / 35.5 cm for this shotgun and 14.5” / 37 cm for the men's version. If you want to fire a successful shot, the trigger should be perfectly reachable with the index finger. The measure for this is the grip length, i.e. the distance from the trigger to the front edge of the pistol grip. Krieghoff chose 3.7” / 9.5 cm as the optimum for this distance. The drop at comb influences the shooting position in elevation. This value describes the vertical distance from the comb to the imaginary extension of the upper edge of the sighting rib. This measure affects how the eye is aligned in height with the line of sight. In the ladies' shotgun it has a value of 1.49” / 38 mm (1.57” / 40 to 1.77” / 45 mm for men). The drop at heel is reported with a value of 2” / 52 mm. The cast influences the shooting position laterally. If you look along the shotgun from the buttstock in the direction of the barrels, cast refers to the deviation of the butt away from the imaginary center line of the gun. This is very important because the eye should look straight over the line of sight. With the K-20 Victoria, the cast at heel is 0.27” / 7 mm, 0.66” / 17 mm at toe. The pitch is 7 degrees. It indicates the angle at which the butt plate is positioned in relation to the bore axis.

Krieghoff K-20 Victoria: technical data

Test firing the Krieghoff over-under shotgun

The test on the shooting range was intended to show whether the Victoria also shines in practice. We shot the Victoria with slugs (Rottweil Exact, 26 g, 400 gr) and found that by firing 5 shots from the upper barrel at a distance of 25 m, a group diameter of 3.8 cm could be achieved. Then we went to a local clay pigeon range to test the potential of the Victoria. Enthusiasm was born there. Not only because the shooters there, including the supervising personnel – and everyone knows that these people have really seen everything –  had never seen such a gun before. Then live, in color and in action – and also here the Victoria fully impressed. Although not exactly the testers' paradise discipline, the clay pigeons burst from different directions at regular intervals. A great feeling. The gun nestled gently into the shoulder, the swing behavior was excellent and – even if it may sound greasy – body and shotgun merged into one thing.

Krieghoff K-20 Victoria: our test verdict

Yes, for the Krieghoff K20-Victoria you have to dig deeper into your pocket. And yes, it's "just" a shotgun. Nevertheless, the customer here has a gun that turns out to be first-class and which many will envy. But the Victoria shotgun must not be a cabinet firearm, you have to "work" with it. The slender stock with its special design and flowery embellishments, which only appear at second glance, is a visual piece of art. In addition to the fact that the stock looks great, Krieghoff's outstanding experience in sporting and hunting gun stocks is also evident. Everything fits together and works. The butt plate nestles perfectly into the shoulder without being spongy. The pistol grip adapts well to female anatomy. The selective single trigger proved to be a pleasure during operation. The switching system was particularly well thought out. The test gun was easy to assemble and disassemble. The opening lever for breaking the gun worked smoothly. The perfect tuning of the individual parts to each other was another highlight. Thus the slot of the hinge screw fits into the overall picture of the receiver engraving. This creates an extraordinarily harmonious overall picture. The ejector system works with an incredible amount of momentum. Shells fly out quite far if you leave them free space.

Further information about the K-20 Victoria can be found on Krieghoff website .

Company portrait: Krieghoff hunting and sporting guns

The good long-term quality of Krieghoff's guns was demonstrated in our test of a K-80 from 1983 .