After uploading last couple of videos on YouTube I got a few enquiries about the gun I used shooting three wild boar in September. I realised combination guns are not really popular outside continental Europe. Quick look on Guntrader and at the time I checked there were only 15 combo guns listed, only 2 drillings and… 3101 rifles…  I thought it might actually be a good idea to show the combo gun I used for the last 5 years together with Schmidt and Bender 2.5-10×56 IR Klassik riflescope. At the time, I was not really convinced it was a good idea to buy this gun, but my dad really wanted one and as we share some of the equipment I agreed. I had a good look what was on the market and at that time there were two nice Italian makes: Fair and Bettinsoli. From the two, Fair was readily available and looked a bit nicer and better built. I selected nice .308 Win+20/76 gun, but my dad wanted .30-06 Spr so I traveled to another gun shop and got one chambered in .30-06 with 12/76mm shotgun barrel.

Fair Combi De Luxe

The model we got was Fair combi de luxe in .30-06 + 12G with 3″ chambers. There were three different variants of the gun: Combi, De Luxe and Prestige. De Luxe just felt the best of them all and had quite nice wood. Prestige model was not much nicer but good bit pricier. It is a typical combo design with rifled barrel at the bottom and shotgun barrel at the top. Traditionally break barrel guns were always chambered in rimmed cartridges and I thought about getting 7x65R or 8x57JRS. I was quite surprised it was possible to get a combo in .308 Win or .30-06 Spr… 🙄

The gun is quite heavy at 3.4kg, but could have been lighter with 20G shotgun barrel. It has nice open sights with fiber optic front sight and collapsible rear sight. Front trigger fires rifle barrel and rear trigger is for shotgun barrel. Front trigger when pushed forward sets the trigger. It is nice and light, but not too light and a trigger finger can be rest on the blade. There is also typical shotgun safety catch.

Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10×56 Klassik illuminated

The scope that is on top of the gun might not be the best suited for it. Probably any x42mm objective would be better, but a good deal on S&B Klassik illuminated scope was too good to let it go. It is 2.5-10×56 Klassik model with L3 reticule, which is a variation of 4A cross hairs with a dot. The reticule is in a first focal plane and at the lowest setting is good enough on a driven hunt and at x8 brilliant in low light.

There are 11 settings of illumination intensity, but mainly 3 lowest settings are most useful. I found it to be useful feature, but not in all conditions. Sometimes it was better not to use it, especially on wild boar at dark night, but it proved to be good at dusk and dawn on deer.

The mounts used are Leupold quick release mounts. They are one piece detachable mounts that are very easy to take off and re-attach. I tested it a couple of times and it shoots to the same point of aim every time.

Summary

After I got the gun I quickly went to christen it 😆 It was very light winter night with a lot of snow and full moon. I went to the mature woodland with old oak and beech trees I suspected to meet pigs. I was not wrong and soon spotted two pigs digging under trees after acorns and beech nuts. It was -10C and I was making a lot of noise with every step.

I was slowly getting closer to the pigs, but they were on the move. I could not get to them close enough and decided to wait for them to get to me. They were getting a bit closer, but I was getting really cold. My feet were getting numb and my fingers as well. When one of the pigs was finally close enough on the edge of the road I pulled the trigger… and missed.

I was unhappy with the gun and more often I would get my old Brno rifle with even older scope than the new gun, My dad on the other hand had more luck with it.

I eventually forgot the missed pig and started taking it out more often. I remember one misty morning at end of July. I was waiting for a wild boar coming back from the fields to the forestry and soon spotted a big boar in the oats. He bumped on my tracks and ran back and then towards me. I shouted and he paused and I shot him between the ears which was the only part I saw in the crop. I was very happy with the shot and he was 98kg and my biggest boar so far. After the gralloch I went to the place were I agreed to meet my dad when an old roebuck appeared and I managed to take it as well. My dad also got a boar that day…

It was my best outing with the combo and I am taking it out more often nowadays. It is a good gun and well built I can honestly recommend.

Video

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