Lincoln 16g jubilee

Lincoln is the name given to the guns that are distributed by David Nickerson of North Ormsby in Lincolnshire. They have been in the gun trade for many years and over that time have built up a solid reputation for distributing good value for money guns in both OU and SS configuration.

Their guns are made in Spain and the OU guns come from the gunmaking quarter of Brescia in Italy.

I don’t think they have ever represented a gunmaker using that name but have instead had guns made to their specification and then sold them under their own name of Lincoln.

The benefit of this is that they have been able to dictate what they believe is required by the market, rather than representing a gunmaker who thinks he knows the UK market better than they do; consequently making guns that would be unsuccessful on our market, which has peculiarities that are not shared by the rest of the world.

To this end David Nickerson have always held on to a corner of the market that they know well. Their range of guns does cover all aspects of shotgun shooting, but they do cover the tastes of the game shooter just a little more comprehensively than that of the clay enthusiast.

Over the last few years the general trend has been towards OU’s. Obviously it had always been the standard for the clay shooter, but they are now far more popular for game shooting. As well as this, small gauge guns have

become seen with far greater frequency in the field over the last few years, so many distributors have followed and fuelled this trend with ever expanding ranges of smaller gauge guns. This has usually meant 20 gauge and smaller, with little regard for the 12’s slightly smaller brother, the 16 gauge.

In fact I think Lincoln are probably the only range of guns on the market to address this gap. They have 3 models to chose from: the Jubilee, the Premier and the Jubilee Prestige.

This one, the Jubilee Prestige, is the top of the range model. It has a side-plated action, which gives more scope for a greater amount of engraving. With the exception of the game scenes, the action is covered in a very fine scroll work that is acid etched into the metal giving a fine relief effect. The game scenes include pheasant, snipe ducks and dogs, all of which are highlighted in gold. This really makes them stand out from the silver background.

Similarly the trigger guard has a woodcock, and there is a crown in the top lever, also in gold. The furniture i.e. forend iron. trigger guard, top lever and safe are all finished in black to give contrast. Just to set the gun off the top lever is pierced through the thumb piece for a more decorative look.

The mechanics of the action are built on traditional lines with sears suspended from the top strap and hammers pivoting from the bottom. The sear lifter is inertia so the first shot resets for the second and the barrel selection is made by a button that moves from side to side on the safety catch. The safe is, of course, automatically returned on opening the top lever.

Mainsprings are coil type and are captive on their guide rods to allow the hammers to rebound slightly and so prevent striker drag as the gun is opened after firing. The ejectors are activated by the forward motion of the cocking levers that move with the hammers. The cocking levers push forwards small trips that engage in the spring-loaded extractors. These trips are retracted slowly by the action itself as the gun opens and allow the extractors to kick at exactly the right moment.

Lock up is provided with a full width bolt in the bottom of the action that engages the bites in the barrel lumps.

Barrels hinge on stub pins on either side of the action as is commonly found on Italian guns. These appear to be replaceable in the event of the gun becoming loose and because of their addition to the action ensure a slim design to the action.

The barrels are made on the mono-block principle, and appear to be particularly well constructed. There are well struck up and shine well when held up to the light for both concentricity and straightness.

The chambers are for 70mm cartridges and are proofed for magnum loads- if you can find any.

The top rib is cross cut to reduce glare and is ventilated to disperse heat. It is 6mm wide to provide that narrow sighting plane preferred on game guns and obviously to keep the weight down. Multi chokes are fitted to make the gun truly universal.

The barrels are nicely finished with a deep gloss black and the sides of the lumps are engine turned. The woodwork is very good on this gun, matching well with nice dark walnut. The shape of the stock is one of my favourites on an OU gun; namely a rounded pistol grip. The grip is slim and is very positive in the hand. Chequer pattern and cut is good on the stock. The stock is finished with a wooden butt plate, which gives the gun a classy look and is worth particular mention as it really does finish the gun off well. It is also interesting to note that you can spend more than twice as much on a Beretta EELL and it won’t have a butt plate finished as well as this. The stock is also furnished with an oval that appears to be gold.

The forend I am not so keen on. Only because of its shape; it is schnabel which I concede most will prefer, but to me the shape is not quite right, being, I think, too bulbous. I would prefer to see a rounded semi beavertail.

Also I don’t think that the chequer pattern compliments the stock. On the stock the pattern finishes in points yet on the forend the pattern follows the edges of the wood, and I feel would be better pointed as is the stock.

I do like the forend release though, which takes the form of a traditional button on the front of the forend and gives the gun more of an English look.

Overall I like this gun and have to say that it is really in a class of its own as there no other makers I can think of that offer a 16 bore. It is well balanced and will handle well because of it.

I think the 16 bore lost popularity in this country because they can weigh about the same as a 20 but with a cartridge load about the same as a 12 they could be a little punchy. But this gun could easily change that view.

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