Full Of Great Features
Recently, I received a Spartan 310 Sporting over-under in 20 gauge as a sample of what we'll see from the new line. Cosmetically, this gun is strictly business with functional hand-cut checkering, an oil finish that should adequately protect the wood from average exposure to the elements, blued barrels, and a plain, nickeled receiver--all of which should stand up well to normal use. Bores are chrome-lined for durability. The walnut stock is more American than European in style.

An automatic tang safety is engaged every time the top latch is pressed to open the action.

While it lacks features such as sling swivels so often encountered on European shotguns, its slight shad belly betrays the Spartan's origins. A ventilated rubber recoil pad will take some of the kick out of the gun, and barrel ports near the muzzle should tame muzzle rise and help keep you on target.

Functionally, the surprises come in the form of features I did not expect in this price range. The list ranges from a ventilated top rib complete with mid-rib bead to a single "sort of" selective mechanical trigger. I was expecting at best a single nonselective ejector and more likely a single extractor, which is why I'm impressed to find selective ejectors that are so easily converted to extractors.

Another surprise was the automatic safety. It's linked with the top latch so that when opening the Spartan 310, the safety automatically engages. There is no practical way for an owner to convert the safety to manual. There is also a full complement of interchangeable choke tubes rated for lead shot only--and, no, they're not Rem Choke pattern. Heck, the stock is even noticeably cast-off to better center the eyes of right-handed shooters to the boreline and has a palmswell.

As for that "sort-of" selective trigger, the Spartan 310 is manufactured so that the default configuration is the bottom barrel fires first. You can select the top barrel to fire first by simply pressing the trigger blade forward on a loaded and closed gun. There's no apparent way to reset the trigger back to bottom barrel first unless you open the action, so barrel selection is a per-shot proposition. Each time you open the action, the trigger automatically resets to the bottom barrel.

The SPR310’s boxlock action incorporates coil mainsprings, an automatic tang safety, and a single selective trigger.

Lockup is the proven Browning style whereby a breech-width bolt extends from the bottom of the standing breech to engage a corresponding bite the width of the monobloc. A forward lug on the monobloc extends through the bottom of the receiver to help eliminate fore and aft movement. Instead of separate right and left trunnions, a full-width hinge pin serves as the pivot for the barrels. There are no apparent means to compensate for wear, though the hinge pin appears replaceable.

Conversion from ejector to extractor utilizes a method first seen from Baikal in the early 1990s on the Model IJ-27E-1C when KBI Inc. was the importer. Using a slotted screwdriver, simply rotate a pair of screws on the knuckles to change between extractor and ejector.

You can make the change even with the gun fully assembled and broken open. Rods passing through the bottom inside of the action body serve to cock the hammers as the barrels are lowered, or to trip the sears of the ejectors when the action is opened. Turning the knuckle screws parallel with the boreline prevents the rods from tripping the robust ejectors but allows the extractors to gently lift the shotshells from the chambers. The two rods/screws/ejectors/extractors are independent of each other, so if desired you could set one to eject and the other to extract, though I can't think of a possible reason why you would.