Salvineli sporter - 05 March 2002

This month's gun for the new gun test is something of a newcomer.

It is called the Monza and is imported and sold by Avalon Guns of Street in Somerset. The main driving force behind this project is Kevin Gill, the well known and very accomplished trap shooter. Kevin is working closely with Avalon to provide the expert knowledge as to what the shooters want. Mostly that comes down to value for money, and they certainly seem to have come up with a gun that provides that.
The Monza, as the name suggests owes its heritage to Italy, and is made by a gunmaker called Salvinelli, who are based in the Gardone valley above Brescia.

At first glance the gun appears very similar to others that come from that area; such as Perazzi and Gamba. But on closer inspection there are many features that do set this gun apart from the rest of the crowd.

The obvious similarity is the locking system, often referred to as the Boss style locking system.
Basically the gun is locked up when close by a horizontally positioned bolt that protrudes the action face on either side. The bolt engages with bites that are positioned roughly level with the centre of the under barrel.

This gives a very strong lock up that ensures a long working life. The barrel lumps also come down when closed and are supported by the walls of the action.

The barrels hinge on stub pins so giving a very low profile that is favoured by the Italian gunmakers.
The top lever hold over is by a small pin in the top of the action face. When the barrels close down onto the action face, the pin is pushed back and releases a peg in the top lever spindle, so allowing the gun to close.

The action frame itself is very well shaped, with nice flowing lines that give the gun a quality look and match up nicely with the lines of the barrel and fences.

The frame itself is finished a deep gloss black with lines engraved around the borders and a rosette on the stub pins. The name Monza is inlayed in gold on the side of the frame and compliments the makers name-armi Salvinelli- inlayed on the top of the barrel tube at the breech end. The gold plated trigger blade also adds to the overall effect.

Unlike some of the other guns of its style, the Monza does not have a drop out trigger group. The trigger plate is permanent. On balance I prefer this arrangement. There are a few reasons for this;

Firstly there is no real practical use for a drop out trigger group. If the gun needs repair then the stock can be removed fairly quickly to gain access to the mechanism.

Perhaps most importantly, having a permanent trigger plate allows the stock to be thicker at the head and so inherently stronger.

Also the gun is usually lighter because of the small but significant reduction in steel used in the action frame.

The mechanism of the Monza certainly appears to be strong and well built. The hammers and sear arms look particularly rugged. The hammers pivot at the front bottom of the trigger plate, with the sears suspended from above to engage with bents in the top of the hammers. The sears to bent relationship is very neat and results in crisp, clean trigger pulls. The firing of the second barrel is changed over to by inertia.

Mainsprings are large strong coil springs that power from the back of the action frame. On this gun the mechanism is selective though the gun can come with non-selective trigger. The selector button is in the middle of the safe and pivot from side to side to engage whichever barrel is required.

When the gun is opened there is a rod that comes back to totally disengage the sear lifter and so make the gun completely safe until the gun has been reloaded and closed.

The gun is cocked by a plate in the floor of the action that is pushed back by a cam in the forend as the gun is opened. Cams or dogs under the front of the hammers then transfer lift to them, in order that they engage with the sears. The safe button is large and feels very positive as it travels. It is not auto safe, as would be expected on a competition gun.

The barrels are made on the monobloc system, with the tubes being silver soldered into the block for maximum strength. The barrel tubes are not chromed, though the chamber does appear to be. Which is wear can become evident if the gun is not cleaned properly.

Ejectors are big to give good support to the cartridge rim when throwing out the spent cases. They appear very powerful, being directly powered by large coil springs fro underneath. The ejectors are tripped by rods that travel through the sidewalls of the action. The rods are directly connected to the hammers and move backwards and forwards with them as the gun fires and is recocked.

The top rib is tapered from 11 mm at the breech down to 8mm at the muzzle. It is file cut to minimise glare and ventilated to disperse heat. The side ribs are also ventilated, which has the two benefits of reducing weight and allowing the gun to cool quicker still.

The black on the barrels is a deep gloss to compliment the action.

Chokes in this gun are multi, though you can have fixed chokes should you prefer.

At this point perhaps I should underline that the Monza is a gun that can be bought off the peg, or if you prefer there are a host of options that can be chosen through to create a truly custom gun, tailored to your exact requirements.

The stock and forend are well matched for colour and the wood is of very good quality. In fact the gun is supposed to have grade 5 wood, and this one certainly seems to have it. The wood to metal fit is very good as would be expected. There is a very fine chequer pattern on both the stock and forend, which is well executed and affords good grip.

The pistol grip is very full, but fills the hand well and is very comfortable; important when shooting those big competitions so as not to fatigue. The forend shape is Schnabel and again feels very comfortable and allows the gun to point with ease.

Drop at comb and heel are 38mm and 50 mm respectively, with a slight right hand cast at heel of 2mm with approximately 4mm at the toe.

Weight is 8lb, not heavy for a gun of this type, and of course with a gun of this quality the balance makes it feel a whole lot lighter than that.

The gun comes with a set of 5 chokes and a nicely finished ABS travelling case.

In my opinion this gun has a good future and will probably carve itself a significant niche in the market. Italy is the most exciting place in the world for gunmaking, and anything of good quality coming from there needs to be taken seriously. And priced from £2550 you have to take this one seriously.

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