Lanber Sporting 97 LCH: A middle-price shotgun from Spain

Eric Sof

Lanber Sporting 97 LCH is excellent shotgun manufactured by Armas Lanber

Lanber Sporting 97 LCH is a middle-price shotgun manufactured by Armas Lanber SA. It is a double-barreled, superposed 12-gauge with a beautiful design and finishes.

Introduction

The Lanber company of Spain has, over the past 20 years, built up an outstanding reputation for middle-price shotguns throughout Europe and is now beginning to export them farther afield. Their current range includes four grades of over-and-under guns (Expert, Aventura, Aventura Light, Rivaland Sporting) and three semi-automatics (Victoria I, II, and IV), which are between them cater to practically any shooting requirement.

Design

The Lanber Sporting 97 LCH was their “best-seller,”, particularly in the trap-shooting fraternity. The barrels are of high-grade steel and fitted into the usual monoblock breech end, which carries the ejectors and locking system. The barrels are joined by a ventilated rib, and the sighting rib has a slight tapper and a white front beat, giving a very well-defined sight picture. The bores are somewhat loose, at 18.6mm diameter, rather unusual on a European gun, but tend to reduce recoil slightly and shot deformation.

Lanber Sporting 97 LCH shotgun
Lanber Sporting 97 LCH shotgun (Photo: XY)

The action is of steel and uses twin stud hinges, as on the Beretta system described elsewhere, rather than the more usual full-width hinge pin. One advantage of this construction is that it reduces the height of the action and gives the entire gun a sleeker appearance. A combined safety catch and barrel selector are mounted on the action backstrap, just behind the lever. The action locks the barrels by a full-width flat bolt that engages on a groove on the barrel block. The action side-plates are machine-en-graved with a decorative pattern.

The barrels are fitted with multi-chokes, and five different chokes are provided with each gun. The multichoke units fit unobtrusively; there is a slight enlargement of the muzzles to make room for them, but this is scarcely noticeable. The Lanber Sporting 97 LCH handles well, shoots accurately and with a good pattern, and well merits its popularity.

Lanber Sporting Shotgun Review

Technical specifications

Manufacturer: Armes Lanber SA, Zaidibar, Spain
Type:  double-barreled, superposed
Gauge: 12
Barrels: 28in (710mm)
Weight: 7.5lbs (3.4kg)
Magazine capacity: two rounds

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