You may not be able to afford a classic “best gun” for hunting upland birds — who among us can? — but that doesn’t mean you can’t have the experience of shooting with a traditional English style side-by-side. CZ’s Bobwhite G2 has a the look of a classic field gun with the straight hand stock and double triggers.
CZ has just announced that they’re bringing these beauties back in 12, 20 and 28 gauge at very affordable prices.
Here’s CZ’s press release . . .
Kansas City, KS (April 15, 2019) – Back by popular demand, and better than ever, the CZ Bobwhite G2 is still a traditional, double-trigger, side-by-side shotgun with an English-style grip. For 2019, CZ-USA has added a lighter CNC-ed receiver, has upgraded the internals, and given the receiver a hardier finish.
CZ-USA’s done all this at a price that’s hard to beat.
The Bobwhite G2’s straight stock makes busting brush easier, and the double triggers allow for quick choke decisions when that quail, grouse or pheasant busts at distance. The Bobwhite G2 has 28-inch. barrel and can be had in 12, 20 or 28 gauge. Also included are five different screw-in choke tubes to modify your pattern for any bird hunting adventure.
For 2019, CZ-USA added floating firing pins, coil-spring operated hammers and redesigned the sears.
Between the straight stock and the updated CNC-ed G2 receiver, the Bobwhite is downright dainty in the smaller gauges; in 28 gauge, it tips the scales at an easy-carrying 5.5 pounds. CZ-USA gave the Bobwhite’s barrels and receiver CZ’s own tough black chrome finish, making this handsome side-by-side less prone to rusting than a blued gun.
The Bobwhite GR is outfitted with a Turkish walnut stock and forend, featuring laser-cut checkering and a rubber butt plate.
Light and rugged, the Bobwhite G2 mounts quickly, swings well, and brings home birds. It’s a shotgun made to work in the field, day in and day out.
My next turkey shotgun?
Bummer. No sweet 16
I thought it was strange that CZ offers it 12, 20 and 28 but not 16. If you’re going to offer it in 28 why not 16?
the 16 offers little/nothing over the 12 or 20 . . . duh . . .
Why do people call it that? Is a 12 gauge recoil really a problem for people?!
There is no difference in the shot weight, velocity or recoil between a 12 and 16 gauge gun. Matter of fact, you’re apt to perceive more recoil from a 16 gauge gun than a 12. The reason why people liked the 16 was that the 16 weighed at least a pound less than the 12. When you’re afield all day, that pound adds up over time.
Using weights from the Fox guns as an example, you’d lose a pound of gun weight between the 12 and 16, and another quarter-pound of weight between the 16 and the 20. Ergo, you’d lose most of the weight differential by going to a 16.
With today’s 20 gauge loads for upland game, you can throw as much shot in a 20 as you can in many 12 gauge field loads (eg, 1 oz to 1 1/8 oz) . There’s enough overlap between a 20 and 12 that the 16 has been eclipsed.
The G47 comes in 16.5 gauge Creedmoor
Tax stamp host.
I’ve been checking pawn shops for a beater SXS to use in SBS ‘project’ I’ve been considering…
Honest question, what’s the point of a 28″ barrel for upland fowl? Personally I think 26″ seems too long.
Slight bump in shot velocity for fast moving fowl. Maybe some strange import restrictions I some other countries?
Considering the enormous volume of a 12ga barrel, I can’t imagine there’s much velocity to gain beyond 2 feet.
For me its easier to get the proper swing and follow thru with a 28 inch barrel. Shorter barrels have their place. Back in KY, Ohio and WV my favorite rabbit and grouse gun was a 20 ga sxs. It had 26 inch barrles and combined with the lack of a repeating shotgun action made for a handy, short gun. We hunted in thick cover there and the overall shorter gun was a blessing.
I’ve never owned a double. My shotgunning experience comes from pheasant hunting with a 22″ Winchester 1300 12ga, which is about 44″ long and a couple inches shorter would be nice. I’ve never had dogs so it’s always been creeks and waterways with road ditch hunting in between. Fields mostly get plowed in the fall so they hang out in the ditches. Ride around in your nice warm truck, when you spot one you jump out, unsheath your shotty, run back and blast him. A shorter shotgun works best. The double would also be nice so you can carry a short and long range shot and choke combo. I’ve thought about going with a coach – Stoeger’s supreme has interchangeable chokes. But they seem maybe a bit too short.
“Ride around in your nice warm truck, when you spot one you jump out, unsheath your shotty, run back and blast him.”
Roughing it, eh? 😉
Beats the hell out of climbing a tree stand at 6:30am in sub-zero weather.
Was your window crank broke?
“Was your window crank broke?”
Yeah, screw “… run back and blast him.”, when you can roll the window on down.
(The game warden will *never* see ya…)
*snicker* 😉
Unfortunately in the state of Iowa it’s only legal to shoot from a vehicle while hunting if you’re handicapped.
100 years ago, in the heyday of side-by-sides, typical barrel lengths available were 26, 28, 30 and 32 inches. Barrels less than 26 were typically a special order item, unless on a coach gun (which would be 18 to 20″).
Yes, 22″ and 24″ don’t seem to exist. Curious though if this is a relic from the black powder days. Rifle barrels used to be 30″-48″ typically. I can’t imagine there’s much velocity gain between 24″ and 28″ with modern powders.
Just wish someone would bring back external hammers.
And cost less than $5,000… under a grand would be awesome.
I believe they did, already. There was a review on TTAG about it awhile back, can’t remember the company.
CZ has done that. – https://cz-usa.com/product/cz-hammer-classic-12-30-5-choke-tubes/
https://cz-usa.com/product/cz-hammer-coach-12-20-fixed-cyl-bore/
CZ has a version of their ringneck with hammers however they are just cocking levers,not true hammers that impact the firing pins. However it does qualify for the black powder SASS categories as hammered because if you do not pull them back it will not cock and go bang.
Actually, the CZ Hammer Coach and Hammer Classic are side-lock guns and the hammers are fully-functional. The external hammers are in fact the hammer that strikes the firing pin, and when you remove the side-plates everything but the safety and trigger mechanism is contained there.
To really bring back hammer guns, you’d need to bring back side lock guns, and that’s going to be a stretch, since the only American side-lock gun was the LC Smith. The LC’s lockwork was dated when it was still being made – today, most people in the shotgun market would probably insist that a new side lock gun use an interrupting sear mechanism, ala the AyA’s and H&H guns.
With a bit of smoothing and tuning it makes a dandy shotgun for SASS/CAS competition and it looks the part of shotguns of days gone by also.It holds up well to the rigors of CAS/SASS and that isn’t a leisurely life for a shotgun. It can easily go from match to field or I should state it the other way around because I shot a CAS match and then we went pheasant hunting that late afternoon and the next day and each of the three of use took three birds.
The best part of all is it is not made in a country where soft metals rule the day and if not competing with it for a sport,it’s ready to go from the box.
Quail hunters around here look down on guys who hunt with repeaters. I’ve hunted two plantations that wouldn’t let you shoot unless you had a twice barrel. 20 ga. max of course. My favorite bird gun is a Remington 1100 Special Field LT 20 ga. Twenty four inch barrel. Straight English stock. Handles like a wand. Those elitest wish they knocked down the birds I do.
Sometimes is more then just the killin. .
I wonder if Clark custom guns out of Louisiana will start making double rifles out of these again?
Old skool cool
Just wanted to point out, since it wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the article. Don’t let the name fool you. This is not actually made by CZ. It’s made by Huglu in Turkey for CZ. Not an issue to me personally, but may be to some.
Overall I hear their guns are fine for general use. But it won’t stand up to real competition-level round counts, like a real English double would.
I’m looking to pick up one of the Hammer Classics in the near future.
I think I’m in on this one. I’ve always wanted a 28.
This is the year of nice looking guns for me. The Steyr Zephyr 22 was last month.
Leaves out the actual important specifications.
Automatic safety, yes/no?
Extractors or ejectors. Probably safe to guess extractors.
Manual safety, single extractor.
Part of the reason for some upland bird clubs requiring double guns is to keep from littering up thier fields with spent shells coming out of an automatic or slide action shotgun. That being said, my personal favorite quail gun is a Remington 11-48 28g. with a modified choke. I have three of these 28g. 11-48 shotguns in skeet, mod, and full choke barrels. I use the full choke gun on pen raised preserve pheasants and some times on dove. Someone asked “why a 16g. instead of a 12g”? It has been, in my case sith my 16g guns that given a similar load and, the 16 will pattern better than the 12g. I have also found the same when comparing 20g. and 28g. loads that are similar in size, speed, and shot weight.
I just got a G2 Bobwhite in 28 gauge w/ a 28″ tube. Having hunted pheasants with a 28″ 28 ga here in SD, I found the extra bbl length a plus on flushing roosters at 20 to 35 yards.
I also like 26″ inches for bbl length, but for the wide open plains here in Dakota, the 28″ probably is a nice plus. The G2 is a great gun and I really enjoy it. It is a shame that a decently priced sxs isn’t produced in the US anymore, but as removed as the general shooting/hunting public has gotten vis-a-vis sxs shotguns, getting an American-made gun is probably a pipe dream anyway. Regarding the world of doubles, the average American wouldn’t even mention the sxs; it is the O/U that dominates the field, IMHO.
I won’t ever buy a Turkish made gun, as long as they are an Islamist caliphate nation vs the more secular nation they used to be!
I’ll bet you buy a lot of crap from China without ever knowing it. The Turks are becoming very good producers of firearms.
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