The Kings agreed to help AYA design and produce an ‘English range’ of shotguns specially made for the British market. They visited the majority of the gun makers and, with one exception, they were met with uncompromising ‘take it or leave it’ attitudes, along the lines of ‘this is what we make, how many do you want?’ The sole exception was AYA.ĪYA not only had the largest and best equipped Factory in Eibar, but its Chairman, Agustín Aranzabal, was an incomparable host and was prepared to listen to all the suggestions from the King brothersconcerning a possible development of the British market. Armed with a list of gun making firms in the Basque Country, Andrew and Peter King returned to Spain and started making calls. The guns they were shown impressed them by their honest quality and they saw in them great potential in the British market. In the mid-50s and event took place which would change the course of AYA’s fortunes and future: two English brothers, holidaying in Spain, happened to visit one or two of the gun shops in Barcelona. They were entry-level and middle-market guns which sold at competitive prices, both abroad and domestically. While their guns were well made and reliable, they could not be classed as ‘best’ guns. I n 1938, AYA was making a straightforward range of shotguns, mainly side-by-sides in boxlock and sidelock configurations, with a few single-barrel guns thrown-in.
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