All too often people only post threads when they're unhappy with what they bought which leads to a misleading amount of negative reviews for anything. I also noticed that these don't seem to get a lot of attention, which is really beyond my comprehension.
I'll just list some bullets for ease of reading.
-This gun looks fantastic! Franchi obviously paid close attention to the aesthetics. Things like the thin line of silver in the recoil pad to match the silver extended choke at the muzzle are great subtle accents.
-This gun is really light. This can be either a pro or a con, but I like it. It's very well balanced as well, right where the barrel meets the receiver.
-With a 30" barrel plus an extended choke, it's very long but the long barrel coupled with the balance that it has makes it swing very smoothly.
-Workmanship is great overall. The wood of the fore-end is a little thin, but it feels natural and elegant on the gun and keeps the weight down.
-the gun is really slim in the fore-end. Some people enjoy a fatter fore-end, and those that do may not appreciate the Franchi. In my opinion it fits well with the overall long, slender and light build of the gun.
-Inertia driven. This is a set of pros and cons no matter what gun uses it. Expect that no shells under 1&1/8oz of shot will cycle the gun and it will recoil noticeably more than a gas gun. That's the nature of the beast. To me it was a logical choice for this gun and functions flawlessly with proper ammo, and in this case "proper" does not mean expensive. It loves Wal-mart bulk pack ammo.
-I'm fairly average-sized at 5'10" and this gun fits me quite well. It also comes with shims to adjust the pitch of the stock if necessary.
-Comes with 4 extended chokes IC, M, IM, and F I believe.
-Fiber optic front bead is nice and bright, but not too distracting for clays.
Overall, I love this gun for skeet and especially for sporting clays. It swings quickly and smoothly and cycles every time. This isn't something I can say of many of my guns, but it is truly worth more to me than what I paid for it.
I'm not seeing many of these for sale and even Franchi's new website doesn't list it so it may have been discontinued, which would be a shame. In any case for those thinking about getting one, here's the observations of one happy owner.
I'll just list some bullets for ease of reading.
-This gun looks fantastic! Franchi obviously paid close attention to the aesthetics. Things like the thin line of silver in the recoil pad to match the silver extended choke at the muzzle are great subtle accents.
-This gun is really light. This can be either a pro or a con, but I like it. It's very well balanced as well, right where the barrel meets the receiver.
-With a 30" barrel plus an extended choke, it's very long but the long barrel coupled with the balance that it has makes it swing very smoothly.
-Workmanship is great overall. The wood of the fore-end is a little thin, but it feels natural and elegant on the gun and keeps the weight down.
-the gun is really slim in the fore-end. Some people enjoy a fatter fore-end, and those that do may not appreciate the Franchi. In my opinion it fits well with the overall long, slender and light build of the gun.
-Inertia driven. This is a set of pros and cons no matter what gun uses it. Expect that no shells under 1&1/8oz of shot will cycle the gun and it will recoil noticeably more than a gas gun. That's the nature of the beast. To me it was a logical choice for this gun and functions flawlessly with proper ammo, and in this case "proper" does not mean expensive. It loves Wal-mart bulk pack ammo.
-I'm fairly average-sized at 5'10" and this gun fits me quite well. It also comes with shims to adjust the pitch of the stock if necessary.
-Comes with 4 extended chokes IC, M, IM, and F I believe.
-Fiber optic front bead is nice and bright, but not too distracting for clays.
Overall, I love this gun for skeet and especially for sporting clays. It swings quickly and smoothly and cycles every time. This isn't something I can say of many of my guns, but it is truly worth more to me than what I paid for it.
I'm not seeing many of these for sale and even Franchi's new website doesn't list it so it may have been discontinued, which would be a shame. In any case for those thinking about getting one, here's the observations of one happy owner.
