A couple of months ago my grandad and I were looking for a new gun, specifically a nice game gun, something nice for him to spend his pension on and light enough to carry all day. Originally we had something like a Silver Pigeon IV or V in mind but after handling them we weren't to impressed, they certainly don't feel special enough to justify their pricetag. Anyway, we went to Game & Country in Leominster after hearing good things about them and the first thing we were shown was a Casear Guerini, they have quite a selection there with a good few in the smaller bore sizes too.

Anyway, to cut a long story short we went for the Essex Limited in 12 bore, 28" barrel flavour. It just felt great and the fit and finish, especially the wood to metal fit was brilliant. The sideplates look great too, we had the Limited version which apparently means better wood and case hardening. The rose and scroll engraving looks good, I certainly prefer it to the ostentatious little gold birdies on the side of an SP V The forearm pops off with the push of a button and its adjustable for tightness too. The whole thing feels 'tight' actually, its obviously made to some very tight tolerances. The stock is oil finished, no 'orrible laquer. The checkering is very deep and grippy. Even the chokes look pretty

In the end we got it at 'last year's price' with a bit of a discount on top of that - after looking at prices elsewhere it seems like we got an absolute bargain at £1950

I've been shooting it at every possible opportunity, I love it to bits. It weighs 6lb 11oz yet its not uncomfortable to shoot at all, its certainly a bit more than my sporter but my grandad shot a round of 75 clays with it and barely noticed. The balance is somewhere between a Beretta and a Browning, at least thats how it feels to me. The trigger pull is fairly light too. Obviously durability in the long run is unproven with a very new company but posts on shotgunworld look good - they are apparently very popular in the US and standing up to heavy use very well. If more people new about them here then I think Browning and Beretta would lose a lot of business

Here's some crappy camera phone pics -

Side view
Ooooh look at my wood

And heres a link to the CG USA site which is far better than the international one.