AYA is the most famous name in Spanish guns. Like Holland & Holland in England, it is the quality standard against which others are measured. The problem for any writer attempting to tell the story of AYA is deciding exactly where to start. The obvious place might be 1915, when Miguel Aguirre and Nicolas Aranzabal joined together in business. But gunmaking in the Basque country began three centuries earlier, and it is difficult to understand the one without knowing a bit about the other.

To most people, “sunny Spain” is a land of olives, castles, and matadors, but the reality is a diverse country with regions so distinct from one another you wonder how they have stayed together for centuries. The answer is: not easily. In the case of the Basque Country, it has mostly been against the will of the Basques…

This is an excerpt from the August-September 2015 issue.