Profiles in Firearms: CZ-USA Bobwhite G2 All Terrain Shotgun

CZ’s elegant double barrel is a tough-as-nails workhorse that won’t break the bank

by Larry Case

In case you haven’t noticed by now, different people like different things. You like Fords, I like Chevys; and please, let’s not even bring up that GLOCK versus 1911 pistols thing.

It is much the same in the shotgun world. Many of us may like a sleek, stylish-looking double barrel of European descent. Your buddy may favor the cheapest, ugliest pump gun or semi-auto to be had. He doesn’t care as long as it goes BANG when he pulls the trigger, and the gun is more or less indestructible.

Is it possible to have both? Maybe.

CZ-USA makes several different shotguns for many applications. Today, we are looking at the Bobwhite G2 (Generation 2) All Terrain double barrel shotgun. CZ-USA has produced a “standard” model of the Bobwhite for some years, and, for the money, this is an elegant shotgun. (MSRP on the Bobwhite is $675. You will find it on the street for $600 or less). The standard Bobwhite G2 is just the ticket for those of us who lust for a stylish double but don’t want to drop a couple thousand for it…at least right now. Dave Miller, the shotgun guru and Pro Shooter at CZ-USA, took the Bobwhite G2 in all its glory and made it better.

In the Field: We put the Bobwhite G2 All Terrain through the English Torture Test. I have talked about Dave Miller at CZ-USA on these digital pages before, but in case you don’t know him, let me explain. If ever there was a person who eats, sleeps, and thinks about shotguns 24/7 (when he’s not shooting them), its Dave Miller. Miller is the Shotgun Product Manager and Pro Shooter at CZ-USA, and he has a string of scattergun accomplishments for his street cred. He holds two Guinness Book of World Records titles for shotgun-related deeds and is a Master Sporting Clays shooter. In other words, Mr. Miller knows his way around a shotgun.

Miller basically selected five different CZ-USA shotguns, including the Bobwhite G2, and took them to the next level. His first idea was to give these guns a Cerakote coating on the barrels and receivers. Cerakote is a ceramic and polymer coating applied to hard finishes for protection—in this case, a firearm. Cerakote was developed in the 1980s and the coating protects against abrasions and, even more importantly, is a virtually bombproof shield against corrosion. If you hate to clean guns as much as I do, this is huge. The color for the Cerakote on these guns is a muted green and it looks good. Can you say “already camo’d for turkey and waterfowl hunting?”

Next, Miller added factory sling studs. My take on this is that you carry a shotgun a lot more than you shoot it. Most of my shotguns have slings on them. Miller then added a feature that you have never seen on a shotgun before. Inserted in the extractors or ejectors of the break action shotguns is a set of rare earth magnets (you can’t see them). If you are working with a dog, moving around in a duck blind, or doing something in the field with the gun safely open, the shells will not fall out—even when you turn the gun upside down. This is just about pure genius, and really handy.

Miller knew that I would want a grueling field test for this shotgun, and he had the place. The Green Acres Sportsman’s Club in Roberts, Illinois, was just the ticket. This club offers a variety of upland hunts on live birds but also had something new to me—a simulated British-style Driven Shoot. You know, the kind of shoot they do across the pond, ten guns total, standing in pairs at designated shooting positions (known as “pegs”). Other than the difference that the birds are clay and not live, this is an authentic driven shoot. English Shoot Captain Keith Coyle is your host, and every effort is made to make the various types of driven shooting authentic, from grouse to pheasant to partridge.

The shooting is so fast and furious that, while you are shooting, your partner stands next to you and does your reloading. So, it’s BOOM BOOM with the CZ double gun. I quickly break the gun open; Miller inserts two shells into the smoking barrels, I slam the gun shut, and here we go again. This goes on for 15 or 20 minutes. The barrel gets so hot you can’t touch it and, finally, our Shoot Captain Mr. Coyle calls a halt. (This is repeated several times during the day). Everyone is out of breath and out of shells and if there is a better, more fun way to test a shotgun, I would like to know what it is.

Conclusion: The CZ-USA Bobwhite G2 All Terrain model preformed without a hitch during this shootout. The gun mounts well and functioned great with no hang ups in loading, unloading, and extracting spent hulls. The Cerakote coating is tough as a pine knot. You don’t have to baby this gun; it will take it.

Primary Mission: This is a moderately priced, well put together double gun that can serve as a “one gun does it all” shotgun. Turkey hunting, waterfowl, small game, and upland birds are all in this gun’s wheelhouse.

What We Like

The Cerakote finish is a home run. This makes the gun’s exterior like armor, and you won’t worry about nicks and rust problems. Now, under full disclosure, some will lament the use of a colored coating on a stylish double shotgun. To me, this just comes under the heading of different opinions. If you can’t live with the All-Terrain model of the Bobwhite G2, CZ-USA makes a standard model without Cerakote.
The magnets in the ejectors/extractors are great…one of those things you wonder why nobody did it before.
The English style straight grip, splinter fore end, and slim receiver is reminiscent of pricey English and European shotguns. The fit and finish on these guns are excellent.

What We Would Change

This is only me, but I would probably prefer a single selective trigger. Many double gun shooters will scoff at this. Truthfully, getting used to shooting the double triggers doesn’t take much time after you have been away from them for a while.
I can’t think of anything else I would change, so the gun must be pretty well put together.

Comparable Models