Description
The Retay Ace Upland Ultralight is a 6.3 pound inertia gun built for people who walk. Twenty four inches of barrel, a Turkish walnut stock and an aluminum receiver put the whole package under what most 12 gauge semi autos weigh, which is the difference between carrying a gun all day and noticing you are carrying a gun all day.
What the Retay Ace Upland Ultralight Is Built Around
Weight is the Retay Ace Upland Ultralight design brief, and everything follows from it. The receiver is aluminum with no polymer components inside it, the barrel is deep bore drilled rather than hammer forged, and the 24 inch length keeps mass off the muzzle. In 12 gauge the result is 6.3 pounds, which is genuinely light for a gas or inertia semi auto and lands closer to a good over and under than to a waterfowl gun.
The Retay Ace Upland Ultralight action is inertia driven, which is the right choice here. There is no gas system to foul, nothing to clean out of a piston after a wet day, and inertia guns run lighter because the whole operating mechanism lives in the bolt. Retay calls their version Inertia Plus, and it uses a rollover torsion spring to drive the bolt head into battery so it cannot be jarred out of lockup when the gun is slung or bumped. Anyone who has carried an inertia gun through brush knows why that matters.
The Retay Ace Upland Ultralight trigger group comes out at the push of a button, no tools, in about two seconds. That makes field cleaning realistic rather than theoretical, and it doubles as a storage safety feature, since a gun with the trigger group removed cannot be fired. Few semi autos in this price range offer it.
Handling, Recoil and Real World Notes
A light gun kicks harder, and that is simple physics that no marketing copy can repeal. Retay addresses it with the AIRY pad, which uses an internal air pocket rather than a solid rubber slab, and with a factory lengthened forcing cone that spreads the pressure spike. It helps. Shooting heavy pheasant loads out of a 6.3 pound gun is still a 6.3 pound gun, and you will notice by the end of a long clays session.
Capacity on the Retay Ace Upland Ultralight is 2+1, which is plugged for migratory bird regulations out of the box and is plenty for upland work over a dog. Sighting is a single fiber optic bead on the rib, which is the correct arrangement for instinctive shooting on flushing birds. Five flush chokes ship with the gun, covering cylinder through full.
Length of pull is 14.5 inches and a Retay Ace Upland Ultralight ships with a shim kit in the box, so drop and cast can be adjusted without a stock fitter. Spend the twenty minutes to set it up properly, because a light, fast gun rewards good fit more than a heavy gun does and punishes bad fit just as quickly.
Specifications
- UPC: 193212035899
- Model: ACEUL-24
- Gauge: 12, 3 in chamber
- Barrel: 24 in, deep bore drilled, factory lengthened forcing cone
- Capacity: 2+1
- Action: Inertia Plus rotating bolt with rollover torsion spring
- Trigger group: Push button removable, no tools
- Sight: Single fiber optic bead
- Chokes: Five flush tubes, cylinder through full
- Stock: Turkish walnut, shim kit included
- Recoil pad: AIRY air pocket system
- Length of pull: 14.5 in with shims
- Weight: 6.3 lbs
- Warranty: Retay USA limited lifetime
Who It Suits
Upland hunters who cover ground are the clear audience. A Retay Ace Upland Ultralight is aimed at grouse in thick cover, sharptails on open prairie and pheasants in cut corn, and the weight saving is felt after mile three rather than in the gun shop.
It is also a sensible first semi auto for a smaller framed or younger shooter, with the caveat about recoil above. A Retay Ace Upland Ultralight with light field loads is pleasant to shoot and easy to mount, and the shim kit means the stock can be fitted properly rather than grown into.
Where it is the wrong tool is high volume waterfowl or serious clays. Light guns are harder to swing smoothly on long crossing targets, the 2+1 capacity is limiting outside upland use, and a heavier gun will treat your shoulder better across a hundred rounds. Retay builds the Gordion Waterfowl for that job.
A few practical notes before you order a Retay Ace Upland Ultralight. Fit the stock with the included shim kit before the first hunt rather than after it. Run the gun with reasonably stout loads during break in, because inertia actions need a certain amount of recoil energy to cycle reliably and very light target loads can be marginal in a new gun. Keep a spare set of chokes and a wrench in the vest.
And take advantage of the removable trigger group at the end of a wet day, since the whole point of it is that cleaning does not require a bench. Full factory specifications are published on the Retay USA product page, and you can compare it against our other shotguns or browse the wider firearms selection.
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