Distinguishing Simplicity
Recently, I had the opportunity to field test a variety of Spartan shotguns on pheasant and quail during a traditional Southern Plantation-style hunt. On these hunts, shooters are carried over hill and dale in a mule-drawn wagon. At various fields known to hold birds, a pair of shooters gets down from the wagon with a dog handler, and a couple of bird dogs are turned out to point birds. Though it's more a social event than a hunt, you still have to find birds, have good dogs, and be able to shoot. If you lack any of those things, you'd better have business to discuss in the wagon.

Pressing forward on the trigger selects the top barrel to fire first. Each time the action is opened, the trigger resets to the default setting to fire the bottom barrel first.

Fortunately, we had as much shooting as talking, so the shotguns got a good workout. If I had to choose an ideal value-priced upland shotgun from the Spartan side-by-side, single-shot, or over-under 20-gauges I tried on that trip, I'd have to go with the single trigger stack-barrel. For an entry-level gun I like its automatic safety, and shooting it is as intuitive as pulling the trigger. Really, the only thing you have to think about is where you point the muzzles when shooting and what chokes to install before leaving camp.

The Spartan SPR310 has a 14.5-inch length of pull, snaps smartly to the shoulder, is light enough to get on target quickly, and has enough weight to stay on target and follow it through for successful shooting.

My experience from that field test was backed up at home when I patterned the Spartan 310 Sporting at the Winchester, Virginia, Izaak Walton League's range using Remington's new STS Low Recoil loads. These loads are real powder puffs to the point that they may not reliably function in all autoloaders. But put them in a fixed-breech gun such as the Spartan, and they make great loads for teaching new or small-stature shooters. Don't let the low-recoil moniker fool you: These loads can shoot. You only give up 65 fps of muzzle velocity over Remington's Premier STS Target load as part of gaining the benefit of lower recoil.

Patterns from the Cylinder and Improved Cylinder tubes showed percentages on the low end for those constriction markings but still within industry specifications. While I didn't pattern the Modified or Full tubes, I measured them and found the Full choke tube ran a little tighter than Full specifications and that the Modified tube measured almost Improved Cylinder.

Firing Remington 20-gauge Game Loads, the Spartan SPR310 was a great performer in the field on quail and pheasant.

Considering the price range of the Spartans, I don't have a problem with its tubes being on the high or low end of specifications but would definitely want to pattern it with the loads I intended to use afield or on the range. That's something every shotgunner should do anyway, regardless of whether they spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a shotgun.

Patterning also showed that regulation of the barrels was not perfect but still exceptional. At 40 yards both barrels hit dead on as far as elevation was concerned, but the top barrel patterned slightly to the right. That deviation was not enough to matter when shooting clay pigeons, even when shooting at Champion Minis that dart from the trap and seem to disappear almost instantly.

Through patterning and shooting several boxes of shells at clay pigeons, I didn't have any malfunctions with the Spartan 310 Sporting. During the shooting, I switched between ejectors and extractors, so they both got a fair workout, and I often switched to the top barrel to fire first. There were no obvious shortcomings, and performance was essentially unremarkable. The Spartan performed every bit as good as one could expect and never left me wanting for something like a Remington Peerless shotgun save for when I got curious looks from other shooters as I first uncased it or put it in a rack next to their Berettas or Brownings.

So what about the name "Spartan"? Well, I have to hand it to those crafty marketing types for that one. If you look up Spartan in the Oxford English Dictionary, one of the definitions includes "...distinguished by simplicity, frugality...." And so it seems with Remington's Spartan line of firearms. No obvious frills here, just pure functionality at bargain prices. Look deeper and you'll also find functional surprises to make the line an addition that Remington--and a Spartan owner--can be proud of.