RBL CSMC

[Gary Laudermilch]

I'll pass along my experience with the RBL. I bought it new from existing inventory late in the production run. It is a 20 with 28" barrels, BT forend, and single trigger. As most guns I own it was purpose bought for late season grouse when it is too cold for me to manage my preferred double triggers with heavy gloves. I like the gun. It is well built, balances well despite being a bit light for my tastes at 6-6, and has functioned flawlessly. I do not care much for the self opener feature but have left it in place to retain what little bit of weight it adds.

Now for the nuts and bolts. I kicks with standard 7/8 oz loads. No problem hunting but anything more than 25 shots on the clays range and I've had enough. As a result, I load 3/4 oz loads for it when shooting clays which has tamed it down considerably.

The big downside was that I did not shoot it well at all. And I could not figure out why when the stock dimensions match my Parker repros that I do shoot well. My Robert Louis laser indicated it was pointing very low, but why. I fiddled with it quite a bit and it was not until I checked the pitch and found it significantly different from all of my other guns. So, I shimmed the butt plate to match my other guns and, viola, it put the gun right on target. I will add here that I also checked barrel regulation and found this gun to be one of the best regulated of those I own. I had the stock cut to change the pitch and it is now a shooter for sure.

An interesting side note is that a friend of mine received one from his wife as a birthday present and he also had trouble shooting it. We checked his pitch and found it matched my gun exactly. We shimmed his butt plate with the same results. He was reluctant to cut the stock so opted for a wedge spacer instead. He now shoots the gun quite well but also complains about the recoil.

A note about the RBL double triggers. My friends gun has two triggers and I found that the distance between the triggers is much more than my Parkers. So much so that I believe it would be usable with heavy gloves. However, getting that space comes at a cost which is pushing the front trigger further forward. I have short fingers and find it difficult to reach the front trigger without a hand position change. My friend whose hands are much larger has no issue whatsoever.

So there are my two cents worth of RBL wisdom.

[mobirdhunter]

Boy, Gary, you should write gun reviews! Pitch is an often neglected stock dimension, as is checking the regulation of barrels.