Shotgun Review: Fabarm ELOS N2 RS Sporting

The ELOS N2 RS Sporting over/under shotgun is purpose-built for clay games but makes an exceptional dual-purpose gun for the field as well.

July 08, 2024 By Brad Fitzpatrick

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High-quality sporting clays shotguns are about the most versatile firearm you can own. Outside of hunting season, they offer you a good excuse to head to the local clays course and sharpen your skills for fall. During hunting season these guns serve double duty as field guns, and since you’ve spent the last seven months tracking and breaking clays, there’s a good chance you’ll be prepared when the actual feathers start to fly.

If you’re looking for a good all-season shotgun that’s suitable for winning clay competitions and killing birds, then I have good news for you: The team at Caesar Guerini/ Fabarm is releasing a new over/under sporting gun that is durable enough and versatile enough to serve as your year-round gun.

Fabarm ELOS N2 RS Sporting Shotgun

Just when you think that Fabarm has created the best gun they can, Wes Lang and his team dig into the details and find some small ways to improve these firearms. That’s exactly what has happened with the Elos N2 RS Sporting.

“The Elos N2 Sporting was introduced a few years ago, and it’s been great,” says Lang. “But we have a lot of shooters that are shooting heavier guns, especially for higher-level competition.”

Enter the N2 RS. It comes with the same great action and barrel design as the original N2, but Lang says they concentrated on adding a few ounces of weight right where it needed to be—between the hands. Add weight toward the muzzle, Lang says, and the gun becomes nose-heavy. Add that weight at the rear of the gun and it doesn’t swing smoothly.

Fabarm took a closer look at the Elos N2 to determine where they could sensibly add weight. I say sensibly because they didn’t want to lose any of the gun’s premium handling and didn’t want to make any changes that would mess up its stylish profile. The first and best option was to extend the mid-rib. If you remove the forearm from the Elos N2 you’ll see that the mid-rib terminates near the front of the forearm. If you remove the forearm of the Elos N2 RS the mid-rib runs all the way to the receiver. It’s the perfect place to add weight when you want to make a gun softer shooting because it doesn’t negatively impact balance. Heck, you can’t even see the mid-rib extension with the forearm in place.

A carefully trained eye will, however, notice minor differences in stock geometry. The Elos N2 comes with a traditional Schnabel-style forend. The RS version comes with a semi-Schnabel, which means that the curvature at the front of the fore grip is less pronounced. That’s beneficial if you’re shooting with the popular finger-forward grip. The new forearm also adds a bit of size and weight, and it’s clear that engineers spent plenty of time working out the fine details of this forearm. Hunters and competition shooters will both love it.

There have been minor additions made to the pistol grip as well, primarily increasing the radius and the palm swell so that the hand locks firmly into position. Of course, the stock is available in a left-handed version as well for an additional $185. The stock comes standard with a 14 3⁄4-inch length of pull, but you can swap out the thickness of the Microcell recoil pad from 12mm to 27mm, allowing for a maximum of about 15 1/8-inches maximum LOP. Best of all, switching recoil pads doesn’t impact the overall look of the gun like the ugly spacers included on cheaper guns.

The trigger is fully adjustable as well, and a Micro-metric 3D adjustable comb that allows you to fully customize this gun for a perfect fit. Yet somehow the Elos N2 RS with its rich, hand-oiled matte walnut stock still manages to look like a field gun. It’s truly a master of both the sporting and hunting disciplines.

Four EXIS HP hyperbolic choke tubes come standard with this gun, as does a hard carrying case. The rib tapers from 10mm to 8mm and comes with a Bradley front and silver mid bead. TRIBORE HP barrels are available in either 30- or 32-inch lengths, and that keeps gun weight around eight and a quarter pounds. You can also adjust the action tension, loosening it if it’s too stiff or tightening the gun after many, many thousands of rounds.

Adding a few extra ounces of weight and changing the stock geometry slightly may seem like minor changes to the overall design of this gun, and I doubt that other companies would even worry about making such small adjustments. But that’s what shooters love about Fabarm and the other Guerini brands. Wes Lang is a shooter, and he has his finger on the pulse of the shotgun sports industry perhaps better than any other executive. Lang sees the trends, makes quick adjustments, and his customers are better for it.

All that makes the Elos N2 RS a very good sporting gun, but it’s also a great field gun. The handling is superb and the adjustable stock doesn’t add a lot of weight that could hinder shooters in the field. At just over eight pounds, the Elos N2 RS is heavier than the average field gun, but not outrageously so. It wouldn’t be my first choice as a chukar hunting gun, but for the average shooter that spends ten times as many rounds breaking sporting clays as he does firing at live birds, this gun is all you need.

Guns like the Elos N2 RS make me repeat what I’ve said about Fabarm for years, which is that they are the most underrated shotgun manufacturer in the country. But slowly I am seeing shooters catch on to what this company has to offer, not the least of which is the CG/Fabarm/Syren customer care specialists that make Fabarm one of the most trusted names by shooters. MSRP for the Elos N2 RS in 12 gauge (the only chambering currently available) is $3,575, which is a solid value for a gun with this level of build quality and such a long list of features.

For the shooter who wants one gun that accomplishes everything, I can’t imagine a better choice, and of course the Elos N2 RS is backed by Guerini/Fabarm/Syren’s outstanding customer support and care. This truly is an exceptional gun and further proof that Fabarm is one of the best shotgun brands available today.