. Cat.logo_AYA(1-15).fh8 - AYA, Aguirre y Aranzabal

A fondness for AYA
by Michael McIntosh
W
hen I was a young man I lusted, among other things, for a
Matador model gun by Aguirre y Aranzabal. It was a
handsome piece, perhaps not quite as lissome as a London-style
sidelock (or as some of the other things I was lusting after at the
time), but it was well-made and well-finished—and it was a sideby-side,
a form that fascinated me beyond words.
I eventually owned one and liked it immensely. But that was in
the days when I was determined to own at least one specimen of
every gun ever built, operating on a budget that demanded the
frequent exchange of hardware and minimal amounts of cash, so it
finally went away in trade for something else. Even so, the memory
of a good Spanish gun remained.
In the early 1990s, after Terry Wieland let the rest of us know how good
Spanish guns really were, I had Aguirre y Aranzabal build a gun to my specifications,
a Nº 2 sidelock ejector made in the image of an English gun I owned at the time. As
my reasoning went, the AYA would serve as a traveling version of the London gun
that I could in no way afford to replace. Now, almost fifteen years later, there aren’t
many London guns you could offer to trade even-up that would tempt me to part
with my AYA Nº 2.
– 5 –
Spanish Treasure
It has accompanied me on at least 14 shooting trips to Europe, five
or six to South America, traveled with me from Alaska to Mexico,
and from Minnesota to the pinewoods of the South, and has digested
about 80,000 cartridges. All with a single hiccup: A striker broke
while I was shooting doves in Argentina. A striker can break in
any gun. I had a new one made along with a set of spares, just in
case. Now I don’t have a clue where the spare ones are, because I
see no indication that I’ll ever need them.
What I do see, and feel, each time I pick up my AYA is the most
faithful, reliable, and by now familiar gun I’ve ever owned. I’d know
it blindfolded or in the dark. It is an extension of my hands and my
will to shoot—not to mention that sweet old yearning to own an AYA,
which in the end proved to be one of the few young lusts that could truly
stand the test of time. ✦
Michael McIntosh