It is winter and the hunting season is drawing to a close, but some young dogs still need a few days of training, encounters with wild animals that may consolidate the fundamental aptitudes of freezing in place and retrieving. I decided to head for the Umbrian hills of Montenero di Todi, in Italy, where there is no shortage of pheasants on the G&G Hunting Service farm to ignite the dogs' adrenaline and at the same time, give them the right opportunities to learn and correct any mistakes.
These training days are also pleasant opportunities to get to make acquaintance and review the firearms that manufacturers entrust to us so that we can show and tell our hunter readers about them. I received the 12-ga F.A.I.R. Jubilee Prestige over-and-under in the Tartaruga Gold version, a very rugged gun beyond the elegant appearance that I decided to take with me. Recognisable by their long sideplates embellished by deep laser gold-inlaid engravings, these over-and-unders are distinguished by their robustness thanks to the receiver machined from solid steel billet, scaled to gauge. These features provide not only aesthetic advantages in the harmony of the lines, but also greater stability and improve swing when firing.
Hunting with the Jubilee Prestige over-and-under from F.A.I.R.
I got ready to go, choosing to load cartridges from the Baschieri & Pellagri Privilege range, curious to see the ballistic performance of the barrels with both traditional lead and steel shot cartridges. The F.A.I.R. barrels with 76-mm magnum chamber also feature the X-Cones system with lengthened forcing cones to guarantee fast and well-distributed shot patterns. Chokes can be either fixed or interchangeable thanks to the Technichoke set. Available barrel lengths are 68/71 and 76 cm.
In our case, the shotgun came with 71-cm barrels and I choose 4-star chokes in the first barrel and 3-star ones for the second barrel. The dogs' search proceeded at a good pace through uncultivated land and woods on the edges of olive groves and vineyards. The often intense pointings at a good distance from the fleeing pheasants alternated with sudden stitches prompted by the frequent emanations of the many wild animals present. The beauty of the area lies in the variety of its environments that led me to conclude actions and therefore release shots sometimes at close range at the edge of woods, sometimes at rather long ranges when the pheasants decided to get some distance from the dogs and then take off, often taking advantage of the slopes of the hills making rather high and quick swooping flights towards valleys and gullies.
Personal errors aside, the main actions ended with satisfaction on a beautiful swarm of red partridges. I decided to shoot the birds furthest from the bunch, with two cleanly-hit pheasants and above all retrieved by the dogs after rather long shots at over 40 metres. There is no need to go further or a larger game bag to see the balance I was expecting from the dogs in working in pairs, and above all to enjoy the pleasure of the Jubilee Prestige over-and-under that accompanied me, performing its duty to the full. The weight of the F.A.I.R. over-and-under is standard; it is certainly not to be counted among the super-lightweight, at around 3.1 kg in 12 gauge, but there is no particular fatigue when stalking. I imagine, of course, that such a well-constructed rifle is all the more appreciable in hide hunting. In smaller gauges, the weight will naturally drop to around 2.8 kg.
Trigge is single selective, but the more classic double trigger version is available on request. Shell ejection is automatic and selective. The wood of the Prince of Wales buttstock and Schnabel forend is select walnut and oil-finished, well matched to the color case-hardened finish of the receiver. We ended our day appreciating the beauty of a shotgun that with its ruggedness and classic lines can occupy a prominent place in the rack for many hunting seasons to come.
For more information on the Jubilee Prestige over-and-under please visit the F.A.I.R. website.
