The Shooter’s Companion

Shotguns·makers·models·history

An independent reference on sporting shotguns, for shooters, collectors, buyers and sellers.

Lanber

Drawing of a winding lane passing farmhouses and meadows beneath the wooded hills of Zaldibar.
Drawing: Zaldibar and the surrounding hills.

Origins

Lanber Armas was incorporated on 14 September 1962.1 It made shotguns at Zaldibar in Spain’s Basque country.2, 3 The factory’s range included and .3 Gunmark, later GMK, worked with Lanber to develop a Sporter for the British market.4

The company ended in insolvency and liquidation.5, 6 On 20 December 2012 the Bilbao commercial court declared Lanber’s voluntary insolvency.7 The court opened the liquidation phase on 17 June 2013, and the register recorded the company’s extinction on 3 November 2015.8, 9

Factories and partners

Lanber’s factory stood in Zaldibar, in the Basque country’s Bizkaya region.3 Gunmark chose a Lanber over-and-under and worked with the maker on its Sporter.4 GMK imported the guns into Britain.10 Lanber USA later had its headquarters in Westfield, Massachusetts.11

Timeline

14 September 1962

Lanber Armas is incorporated, according to the company-register index.1

Before October 1977

Lanber guns reach Australia, more than twenty years before the October 1997 review.12

October 1997

Australian Clay Target Shooting News reviews the 97 EST Sporter.12

By June 2007

The British range includes Field, Field De Luxe, Sporting De Luxe and Sporting Gold De Luxe.13

24 September 2008

Gun Tests reviews the 2097 Sporting Lux.14

By December 2009

Lanber USA moves to expanded headquarters in Westfield, Massachusetts.15

8 March 2011

Lanber registers a capital increase to €480,629.38.16

10 April 2012

Lanber registers board re-elections, including president Agustín Zabala Alberdi.17

20 December 2012

The Bilbao commercial court declares voluntary insolvency.7

17 June 2013

The court opens liquidation proceedings.8

7 November 2013

The court issues a notice opening the classification section of the Lanber and Comlanber insolvency proceedings.18

21 October 2015

The court concludes the insolvency proceedings because assets are insufficient and orders extinction of the debtor company.19

3 November 2015

The register records Lanber Armas’s extinction.9

Families and models

The 97 EST Sporter, tested in Australia in October 1997, used a .12, 20 The 2097 Sporting Lux, tested in September 2008, was a competition-grade gun.14 In Britain the range also carried the names Field, Field De Luxe, Sporting De Luxe and Sporting Gold De Luxe.21

Reading the names and numbers

Lanber’s British range had Field and Sporting versions.21 Its model names included De Luxe and Gold De Luxe.21 Gun Mart’s test gun, named ‘Lanber Sporter Mod.2097 Sporting Lux’, was a 12- Sporter with three-inch .22, 10

Marks

Gun Mart’s 2097 test gun carried the Lanber name in gold at the bottom of the action walls.23 It also bore Spanish for 76 mm shells at 1,370 bar.24 Spain’s 1979 proof regulation required a symbol on smoothbore barrels for the year of proof.25

Drawing of the action of an over-and-under shotgun.
Drawing: Detail of an over-and-under action.

Sources

  1. Lanber Armas: company-register index, incorporation. Empresia. magazine
  2. Gun Tests: Lanber 2097 Sporting Lux, competition. Gun Tests, 2008-09-24. magazine
  3. Lanber Sporting De Luxe: British collaboration and factory, factory. ShootingUK, 2007-06-28. magazine
  4. Lanber Sporting De Luxe: British collaboration and factory, collaboration. ShootingUK, 2007-06-28. magazine
  5. BORME: Lanber voluntary insolvency. Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil, 2013-02-05. maker website
  6. BORME: Lanber Armas liquidation order. Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil, 2013-07-19. maker website
  7. BORME: Lanber voluntary insolvency, insolvency. Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil, 2013-02-05. maker website
  8. BORME: Lanber Armas liquidation order, liquidation. Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil, 2013-07-19. maker website
  9. BORME: Lanber Armas extinction, extinction. Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil, 2015-11-12. maker website
  10. Lanber Sporter Mod.2097 Sporting Lux, name-and-importer. Gun Mart, 2016-12-13. magazine
  11. Lanber Grey Stone Light, us-operation. American Hunter; Phil Bourjaily, 2009-12-15. magazine
  12. The Lanber 97 EST Sporter. Australian Clay Target Shooting News, 1997-10. magazine
  13. Lanber Sporting De Luxe: British collaboration and factory. ShootingUK, 2007-06-28. magazine
  14. Gun Tests: Lanber 2097 Sporting Lux. Gun Tests, 2008-09-24. magazine
  15. Lanber Grey Stone Light. American Hunter; Phil Bourjaily, 2009-12-15. magazine
  16. BORME: Lanber capital increase, capital-increase. Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil, 2011-03-21. maker website
  17. BORME: Lanber board re-elections, board. Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil, 2012-04-23. maker website
  18. BOE: Lanber and Comlanber insolvency classification section. Boletín Oficial del Estado, 2013-11-30. maker website
  19. BOE: Lanber and Comlanber insolvency concluded. Boletín Oficial del Estado, 2015-11-10. maker website
  20. The Lanber 97 EST Sporter, action. Australian Clay Target Shooting News, 1997-10. magazine
  21. Lanber Sporting De Luxe: British collaboration and factory, range. ShootingUK, 2007-06-28. magazine
  22. Lanber Sporter Mod.2097 Sporting Lux, page-model-name. Gun Mart, 2016-12-13. magazine
  23. Lanber Sporter Mod.2097 Sporting Lux, name-mark. Gun Mart, 2016-12-13. magazine
  24. Lanber Sporter Mod.2097 Sporting Lux, proof. Gun Mart, 2016-12-13. magazine
  25. Spain: portable firearms proof regulation, 19 February 1979, date-symbol-on-barrels. Boletín Oficial del Estado / Ministerio de Defensa, 1979-02-19. proof house

Revised 2026-10-14