Field Tested: Spandau S2

Rarely will you find something that is less expensive today than it was five or 10 years ago. Although technology does have the potential to lower the cost of manufacturing and components, better technology usually produces goods that come with more features or greater benefits, which in turn carry higher price tags.

There is an exception, however, and it comes in the form of the inertia-operated shotgun. Semi-autos built on inertia operating systems have established themselves as workhorses among bird hunters because they can handle a wide range of loads and shoot them day in and day out with little maintenance. They may never win a beauty contest, but there is something to admire about one gun that can go from dusty, 90-degree Texas dove fields to icy, 30-degree Maine shorelines without needing much attention other than a cursory cleaning (or not). Inertia guns run, whether the birds and conditions call for light loads or magnums, and they do it more cleanly than their gas-operated counterparts. No fussing with gas pistons or their rings, either.

Gas guns certainly still have a place in the fields and marshes, but inertia guns continue to gain popularity. Part of that is due to many more manufacturers producing shotguns with inertia-operated actions since Benelli no longer has a patent on the system—and some of these are priced well within most hunters’ budgets. Take the Spandau S2, an inertia-operated shotgun that, in basic black, retails for less than $400.

Spandau is a relatively new brand of hunting and sporting shotguns belonging to the Knoxville, Tenn.-based SDS Imports family. The S2 is Spandau’s first semi-automatic shotgun (the brand has a few over/unders, too) and is made in Turkey by Ozerbas, an ISO 9001-certified manufacturer.

Spandau currently offers four variations of the S2, all of which are 12-gauge guns with 3-inch chambers and synthetic stocks: black with a 24-inch barrel, black with a 28-inch barrel, Realtree APX with a 24-inch barrel and Realtree MAX-7 with a 28-inch barrel. The camo guns are dipped, and the only external components not covered in the Realtree patterns are the bolt, bolt release, trigger guard, magazine cap and recoil pad. These guns are equipped for the duck blind as well as the turkey woods, and their weight of less than 7 pounds is easy enough to tote in pursuit of pheasants while not being so light that recoil becomes an issue with heavy loads.

Despite the affordable price of the S2, Spandau did not neglect details that will be appreciated afield. The safety, located at the rear of the trigger guard, is a large triangular button that’s easy to press with wet fingers in the rain or gloved fingers in the cold. Both the checkered charging handle on the bolt and the bolt release are enlarged to make operation fast and positive. A curved relief cut at the front of the carrier helps with the smooth loading of shells into the magazine. The rear sling-attachment point is molded into the synthetic buttstock, while the front swivel stud rotates freely in the end of the magazine cap so a sling doesn’t become twisted.

Areas of molded checkering along the bottom of the fore-end and around the buttstock grip improve purchase. Spandau includes a shim kit to alter the stock’s drop and cast. The rubber recoil pad is contoured to fit the shoulder pocket and distribute recoil over a wider area for greater comfort.

The barrel has a ventilated rib, and a red fiber-optic bead sits atop it. Threaded for choke tubes having the Benelli/Mobil pattern, the S2 comes with three of them: improved cylinder, modified and full. The receiver is drilled and tapped for optics, adding versatility to the S2 as an upland, waterfowl and turkey shotgun.

I spent a couple days hunting teal and doves and shooting sporting clays with four S2 shotguns, and my hunting partners and I didn’t experience a single failure of the guns to feed or fire a variety of shotshells. Later, I shot more clays with the 28-inch-barreled Max-7 version of the S2, including in temperatures that topped 100 degrees. In about three cases of shells and over several months of testing, I have yet to see the gun fail. The Spandau S2 offers multi-species hunters reliability across the seasons at a bargain price.

Specifications: Spandau S2

Type: Semi-automatic, inertia-operated shotgun

Gauge: 12

Chamber: 3”

Capacity: 3+1 rounds

Barrel Length: 28" (tested)

Overall Length: 50 3/4"

Weight: 6.9 lbs.

Stock: Synthetic

Finish: Realtree Max-7

Length of Pull: 14 3/8"

Drop at Heel: 2 3/8"

Drop at Comb: 1 3/8"

Sights: f\Fiber-optic front; receiver drilled and tapped for optics

Choke Tubes: 3 Benelli/Mobil (IC, M, F)

MSRP: $499.99

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