Turkish Invasion Part 2 –The Traditions ALS 2100

FRONT SIGHT • January/February 200348

BY PATRICK KELLEY, A-14401

Hopefully our last issuepiqued your curiosity, andyou are ready for the nextinstallment of the Turkish

shotgun tests. In case youmissed our last issue, Turkisharms manufacturers have re-cently begun invading the U.S.market through American-owned importers, affixingwestern-sounding names tosurprisingly strong Turkish de-signs. Hence Huglu, Sarsilmaz,

Hatsan, and Matsanguns have arrivedbearing the namesLegacy Sports Inter-national, Traditions,Verona, andStoeger, among oth-

ers. For the budget-oriented 3-gunconsumer, these Turkish designs offervalue at a discount price – some muchmore so than others.

Today our focus falls on the Tradi-tions ALS 2100, a lightweight, gas-op-erated self-loader that has real poten-tial as a budget 3-gun blaster. Again,my local gun shop www.davesguns.com provided the tool for thetest—-thanks Dave! Manufactured byATA and imported by Traditions, theALS series includes an entire family ofvariations on the same basic platform.Available in both 12 and 20 gauge with

S.W.A.T.®MagazineTRAIN WITH THE PROS 9 TIMES A YEAR!

Now under new ownership, S.W.A.T. Magazine is more dedicated than ever to bringing its readers the insideinformation they can trust. Subscribe now andsave 40% off the newsstand price* — only$26.95 for a full year (9 issues)! Subscribefor 2 years/18 issues andsave even more.

❏ 1 year/9 issues for $26.95 ❏ 2 years/18 issues for $49.95NameAddressCity State ZipE-mail❏ Payment Enclosed • Charge my ❏ VISA ❏ Mastercard

❏ American Express ❏ Discover • ❏ Bill Me

Credit Card Exp.

Signature

Mail to S.W.A.T., P.O. Box 5263, Beverly Hills, CA 90209Credit card orders, call toll-free 1-800-673-4595Use our secure server at www.swatmagazine.comForeign add $10 per year, U.S. funds drawn on U.S. Bank. YOUR FIRSTISSUE WILL ARRIVE IN 6 TO 8 WEEKS. * Cover price $4.99. USP002

• Firearms and Accessories T&Es — no puff pieces!• Training and Tactics for Personal Defense• Armed and Unarmed Combat• Specialized Unit Exclusives• First Responder Issues• Second Amendment and Bill of Rights Issues

barrel lengths from 24” to 28”, all areequipped with screw-in chokes andyour choice of synthetic or handsomewood stocks. They even offer a plain-barrel 20” fixed cylinder bore homedefense model that wears a syntheticstock and could be readily adapted toour sport.

To make it easier for resale at thistime of year, Dave ordered in a 26”field model with a Turkish walnutstock. My initial impression was“Wow, this is a beautiful shotgun. Itcosts how much!?” With a suggestedretail price of $479 and a street price ofconsiderably less, if this shotgun workshalf a good as it looks we might have awinner here. I am happy to report toyou that the ALS 2100 does work verywell indeed.

Let’s look at the inside of this self-loader before we take it out for a drive.Weighing in at close to 6 pounds, thisoffering from Traditions is built on awell-polished and deeply blued alu-minum alloy receiver. The 26” vent ribbarrel is chrome lined and comes with

what seems to be the indus-try standard in chokes; im-proved cylinder, modifiedand full. The buttstock andforearm are of nicely fig-ured Turkish walnut with ahigh gloss finish. This gunwould fit right in on yourlocal sporting clays course.Since we are going to useand abuse the finish wewon’t dwell on this, but it isa rich-looking gun for littlemoney.

On to the gas systemQuickly put, it’s too simple.How can this gun workwithout the pressure com-

pensating multi-valve, spring relief,and O-ring replacement gas parts?Again, very well indeed. This gun’s gassystem looks like it has taken a stepback in time. Do any of you rememberthe touted virtues of “twin actionbars?” “No twisting or binding,” etc?Well the 1897 Winchester and theIthaca 37 got along fine for many yearswithout “twins,” and so it goes for theALS 2100. The gas flows as follows:Gas diverted through two holes in thebarrel ring impinges on the one-piecepiston/action bar assembly, driving itrearward to run the action. The gassesare prevented from leaking around thebarrel ring at the front by a seal and anO-ring held in place by a plug. At therear of the barrel ring are the two sta-tionary piston rings that seal the inter-face between them and the moving pis-ton/action bar (the manual labels thispart “cartridge sliding bar tube”). Thelast two seals are within the “cartridgesliding bar tube.” These seals preventthe gas from blowing through the areabetween the tube and the magazine. In

looking at it you would only see twopieces, the stationary piston rings onthe barrel ring, and the reciprocatingpiston/action bar assembly. Pretty sim-ple eh?

The trigger group is straightfor-ward as well. The housing itself ismade of plastic while most of the firecontrol parts are of stamped steel. Onecross pin at the front and a tongue-and-groove joint at the rear fastens the as-sembly to the receiver. An interestingfeature found on the ALS 2100 is a car-tridge drop lever. Benelli owners arefamiliar with this item, as are BerettaFP1201 users. In use, the manual cy-cling of the bolt will not draw a shellfrom the magazine tube unless thedrop lever is used. Located on the leftside of the trigger guard and forward ofthe trigger, this device allows the userto change loads without disturbing theremaining rounds in the tube. A sec-ondary trait of this feature is that of acocking indicator.

Ergonomically this gun is the bestof the three Turkish self-loaders I havehandled to date. Unlike many otherself-loading shotguns, the ALS 2100 isblessed with a free shell carrier. Nobuttons to push or parts to add to gainaccess to the magazine tube. Addition-ally, the carrier release button is on theright side of the receiver (where itshould be). The carrier itself is unusualin that it rides lower in the receiver (asviewed with the gun turned upsidedown for loading). If you were to set aloose round on the carrier, you couldlet go and the shell would rest in a kindof “shell well” formed the by the sidesof the receiver. This can only help inour quest for quick reload since thecarrier is staged to direct the shell intothe magazine tube.

49January/February 2003 • FRONT SIGHT

Easy loadin’.The ALS 2100’s shell carrier stays half-de-pressed between shots, forming a kind of “shell well.” It’sone of the easiest designs to speed-reload this side of aMossberg pump.

Simple Simon. The ALS 2100’s gas system looks too simple to survive. Why doesn’t it break?

Simple seals Solid steel piston Single action bar

Let’s shoot!Gathering up an assortment of

shells with 7/8 ounce to 1-¼ ouncepayloads and dram equivalents from 3to 3 ¾, I headed for my local shootingarea. I had not removed the capacity-limiting plug so all my shooting was inthree round bursts. Well, not reallybursts because the gun would not cycleanything but the 1 ¼ —-3 ¾ loads!

“Great, a six pound shotgun thatonly shoots heavy pheasant loads,” Ithought, massaging my shoulder.

Back to the house I went, steamingwith angry thoughts of a shotgun thatdid not work. Every gun deserves asecond chance (some people don’t, butguns do) so I decided to let the gun sitfor a week with the bolt locked back,hoping for a quick and cheap break-in(I’m shooting my ammo, after all). Iguess the second chance was a goodidea, because on the second time outthe gun ran all the ammo I had on handfor the test plus what another gunwould not run — in all about 220rounds.

This time out I really started to likethis thing. What’s not to like? It’s fast(.12 splits), it seems reliable, it’s light(is that a good thing?). The gas systemis very simple. The controls are cor-rectly laid out, with a free carrier and acool “shell well” to boot. It will accepta Remington 1100 magazine tube ex-tension and the gun itself is inexpen-sive. OK, so where am I going withthis? I’m concerned about long-termdurability. I don’t have the time ormoney to see how this gun will hold upover the long haul but there are somethings that may give us some insight.Most of the current crop of gas gunshave some sort of buffer system to keepthe reciprocating parts from batteringthe stationary parts. It may be a soft orhard material at the rear of the receiveror bolt, or between the action worksand the receiver. This gun has neither.Maybe it can take the abusive contactof steel on aluminum but I don’t know.

I placed a call to the folks at Tradi-tions. After talking with customer ser-vice rep Jeff Brenneman and marketingdirector Jim Bruno, I was assured that

this gun has had a good reputation fordurability during its two years of im-portation. Not only that, but all partsand service are available in house viathe Old Saybrook, Conn. facility. Noapparent worries about service afterthe sale with this Turkish shotgun.

What does it need for speed?If I were to set up this gun for 3-

gunning, the addition of an 1100 mag-azine tube extension, a www.3gungear.com sidesaddle, and a Pachmayrdecelerator clays recoil pad would beabout all that is needed. Given a choiceof any of the ALS shotguns, I wouldpick up the home defense model andadd the same parts plus a set of riflesights. It’s cheap, easy and good to go!

If I had to go to a match with oneof the three guns I have tested so far,this one would get the nod, but I stillhave one more to test and two more toreport on. So until then, hit your localdealer and check out the offerings fromTraditions. Tell them you heardabout it in Front Sight!

FRONT SIGHT • January/February 200350