Description
The TriStar Bristol Silver 20 Gauge SxS is a true steel-frame side-by-side dressed the way boxlock doubles were meant to be: a nickel receiver covered in laser engraving with 24K gold inlay, oiled select Turkish walnut, and a pair of 28-inch blued barrels. It is a game gun in the traditional sense, but it arrives with modern conveniences that older doubles never had, including five interchangeable chokes and automatic ejectors.
A Steel Frame, Not an Alloy Shortcut
Plenty of doubles in this price range use an aluminum receiver to hit a weight target. The Bristol does not. Its frame is steel, which is why the gun holds up under a long season of shooting and why the standing breech keeps its fit over the years. At an average 6.4 pounds it is still light enough to carry all day in the uplands, and the mass sits between the hands where a double should carry it.
TriStar Bristol Silver 20 Gauge SxS Barrels and Chokes
Both barrels are chrome lined through the chamber and bore, which resists wear from steel shot and makes cleanup after a wet day much easier. The three-inch chambers accept everything from light one-ounce upland loads to heavier magnum shells. Five Beretta-style choke tubes ship with the gun in Skeet, Improved Cylinder, Modified, Improved Modified and Full, so the same gun can be set up for quail one weekend and pass-shooting the next. Automatic ejectors throw the empties clear when the action opens, which speeds up a reload on a double flush.
Wood, Engraving and Trigger
The stock and splinter forend are select Turkish walnut with an oil finish and cut checkering, and length of pull is a standard 14.25 inches. The receiver’s scroll engraving is laser cut and accented with 24K gold inlay, paired with a gold-finished single selective trigger that lets you choose which barrel fires first. A brass bead sits at the muzzle.
Shooting a Side by Side
The flat, wide sight plane of a double is the reason many hunters never go back to a stacked barrel. Both muzzles sit in your peripheral vision at once, which makes a crossing bird easier to read and keeps the head up on the stock. Recoil in 20 gauge is mild enough that a full day of walking and shooting does not leave a mark, and the splinter forend keeps the support hand well forward for a controlled swing rather than a snatch at the target.
Specifications
- Model: Bristol Silver SxS (38120)
- Gauge: 20 gauge, 3 in. chamber
- Action: break action, side by side
- Barrels: 28 in., blued, chrome lined
- Capacity: 2 rounds
- Weight: approx. 6.4 lbs.
- Length of Pull: 14.25 in.
- Receiver: steel, nickel finish, laser engraved with 24K gold inlay
- Stock: select Turkish walnut, oil finish
- Chokes: 5 Beretta-style (SK, IC, M, IM, F)
- Trigger: single selective
- Ejectors: automatic
- Sights: brass bead front
- Hand: right
- UPC: 713780381206
Why Buyers Choose the TriStar Bristol Silver 20 Gauge SxS
Side-by-sides sit in an odd spot in the market. A comparable English or Italian boxlock starts several thousand dollars higher, while most guns under a thousand are alloy-framed and plainly finished. The Bristol lands between those, offering a steel frame, ejectors and real engraving at a working hunter’s price.
What it does not offer is a hand-fitted action or the resale ceiling of a heritage name, and the fixed stock dimensions will not suit every shooter without a pad or a fitting. For a hunter who wants a handsome double to actually carry in the field rather than keep in a safe, those are easy trades.
Who Should Buy It
Upland hunters chasing quail, grouse, woodcock and dove, shooters who prefer the wide sight picture of a side-by-side, and anyone stepping up from an entry-level double will get real value here. High-volume clays competitors and 3.5-inch waterfowl shooters should look at a different platform.
Learn more from TriStar Arms, or browse the rest of our firearms selection.
Every firearm we list ships to your chosen FFL and is transferred there after a background check.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.