Gun review William Powell Pegasus technical data and shooting impressions

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William Powell Pegasus gun review: technical data and shooting impressions

By Mike Yardley of The Field

Wednesday, 30 September 2009

William Powell Pegasus technical data and shooting impressions

Technical data

The jointing of barrels to
action was carried out to a high standard. Internally and externally the
barrels were well presented, too. The joints between tubes and monobloc were
exceptional. They have 76mm (3in) chambers and Italian proof marks. Both bores are
18.3mm internal diameter - a little on the tight side.
(I would say 18.5mm would be about ideal in a game-gun.) Chambers were neatly
machined and forcing cones a little bit longer than the average.

The action is of typical Italian pattern with split hinge-pins
pivoting on bifurcated barrel lumps. Coil springs are used to power the
tumblers. The design is of reasonably low profile and uses a browning-style
full-width bolt which comes out of the bottom of the action face and engages a
wide bite beneath the bottom chamber mouth. The single-trigger mechanism is of
the reliable inertia type and there is no selector. The top barrel fires first,
which encourages faster reloading. A gun that fires bottom first can be a pain
to stuff in a hot corner.

Shooting impressions

I shot the Pegasus at the West
London Shooting Ground with Jim Dalke of William Powell, Jonathan Irby and Ed
Sandys - an interesting and knowledgeable crew. I liked the handling of the
gun. It had a certain finesse. The grip was full but not bulky. Trigger pulls
were good - about as good they could be with this type of coil-spring action
design. The gun had that good quality of shooting where you looked and doing
what you expected it to do. This may not sound a lot but few production guns
manage to achieve it. The fixed-choke barrels were lively but the gun had
enough weight to be steady. It was well balanced and did not seem heavy at 7lb
4oz - significantly less than average for

a 12-bore over-and-under. Overall,
I thought it attractive, well made, and offering good value for money
considering the level of finish and competence of the gunmaking.