Franchi's Instinct Sideplate SPLX 2 is a 12 gauge over-under field gun that weighs 6.3 pounds with 28-inch gloss-blued barrels, 3-inch chambers and a 45.5-inch overall length. The receiver is aluminum with sideplates, engraved and inlaid in gold, and the trigger is gold plated. AA-grade walnut is shaped into a Prince of Wales stock with a Schnabel forend and a 14.5-inch length of pull. A ventilated rib ends in a red fiber-optic front sight, and five extended black chokes cover Cylinder through Full.

This is an upland gun first, but it is also a 12 gauge with 3-inch chambers, one of the shotgun gauges Connecticut allows for deer with single-projectile loads on private land from November 18 to December 8, and on state land during the same no-lottery shotgun season. A hunter who wants one gun for upland birds and a late-November slug stand has the choke range to do both, and at 6.3 pounds it carries all day.

Key features

• 12 gauge over-under, 28-inch gloss-blued barrels
• 6.3 pounds, aluminum sideplate receiver
• AA-grade walnut, Prince of Wales stock, Schnabel forend
• Red fiber-optic front sight, ventilated rib
• Five extended chokes: Cylinder to Full

It ships to the Connecticut FFL dealer you name at checkout, who finishes the transfer with you in the shop.