The first firearm I ever purchased was a shotgun, a Mossberg 500 to be exact. And I think that’s how a lot of gun owners got started. With shotguns. Now, I’ve learned a lot more over the years and have plenty of shotguns at this point in my life, some for hunting, some for home defense.
Fabarm L4S Review: The Basics
The Fabarm L4S caught my eye a little while ago and I knew I wanted to take a look at it. It’s a semi-auto shotgun very much designed with hunting in mind. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and find out if this thing is worth buying.
As far as shotguns go, this is an extraordinarily beautiful firearm. I purchased the “Deluxe Hunter” variant so I ended up with a gorgeous Turkish Walnut stock and forend as well as an engraved titanium-finished receiver. As is typical for hunting shotguns, the L4S is pretty long, but it breaks the pattern by being lightweight. The L4S is nice and light. Carrying was not an issue in any capacity. Other than that, it’s just like any other shotgun in looks, but it’s a lovely package overall, so much so that I really didn’t want to shoot it, but I went ahead and put it through its paces.
Included is a new feature that really brings some great quality-of-life improvements. The L4S shotguns can have their forends removed without any disassembly of the firearm which makes it trivial to clean. This also means that the wood forend is no longer a part of the shotgun’s structural assembly which makes it “stronger and more accurate.”
The L4S is a great field gun. I initially broke it in with some assorted range shooting as well as a little clay shooting. I found it to be a pretty smooth experience even with some hotter loads. The only thing I wasn’t really fond of was the kind of weak recoil pad. It’s just hard rubber and didn’t really do much for me. I might end up replacing it if I can. I usually don’t enjoy shooting shotguns recreationally for this exact reason. It’s not like it’s injuring or bruising me; I just don’t want to shoot guns that don’t have proper padding and kick like a mule.
I primarily ended up using the L4S to hunt since that’s what it was really designed for. I did some dove hunts, but I’m really looking forward to taking this thing against some pheasants and putting some nice game bird on the table.
Fabarm promised accuracy and they sure delivered on that. My shot was on target all of the time and I felt like I could start driving tacks with slugs if I wanted to. It might actually replace my main hunting shotgun, which is saying a lot. I don’t like switching first-choice firearms like that.
The L4S is reliable too. I didn’t have a single malfunction, which is high praise coming from me since I have an oddly high propensity for having malfunctions on semi-auto shotguns. This firearm ran flawlessly though and smoothly might I add.
Fabarm L4S Review Results: A Superior Field Gin
I’m not a pro hunter or anything. I mostly do it to put food on the table and some bleeding-heart environmental reasons, but I think that the Fabarm L4S is an excellent shotgun. It’s beautiful, in my opinion. It’s accurate, relatively light, and just feels like a high-quality firearm. It is a little pricey though at over $2000. But if you’re serious about getting a superior field gun, this is probably the path you want to take.
Richard Douglas writes on firearms, defense, and security issues. He is the founder and editor of Scopes Field, and a columnist at The National Interest, 1945, Daily Caller, and other publications.
