Franchi Alcione

Franchi will be a familiar name to many shooters though to some it may be the first they have heard of this company. This is largely due to the fact that for much of the last fifteen or so years they haven’t had the backing of a major distributor behind them. In the seventies and early 80’s Franchi were imported by ASI who are perhaps better known for their success with the Spanish maker AYA.

Franchi have quite a long history within the Italian gun making community and have actually been in business for about 150 years, so they have a wealth of experience on which to draw, and that certainly does come through looking at the guns they now produce. One significant moment was a few years ago when they were bought by Beretta, who need no introduction as almost certainly the largest gunmaker in Italy. This union has certainly helped to consolidate Franchi’s position within the trade and allowed them to re-invest in the latest computer controlled machine tools and produce very well made guns.

The Alcione is a model from some years ago, mainly just in name as I can see much that has been done to refine its design. The gun is slightly unusual for an Italian gun in that the gun is hinged on a full width hinge pin; most shotguns from Italy hinge on stub pins that are set into the wall of the action. The action frame itself is machined from a solid piece of steel giving great strength. When combined with a full width hinge or cross pin, and a full width locking bolt to secure the barrels into the action, this should ensure that the gun will remain tight for many years of use.

Making full use a the computer technology at their disposal, Franchi have taken the trouble to design their guns so that any barrel will fit any action, so that the shooter can change barrel lengths and make the gun handle as he or she wishes. The other obvious advantage with this is that they also produce barrels that will fit the 12 gauge frame yet are of smaller calibre and this test gun has a set of 20 gauge barrels with it.

The internals of the gun are solid and functional. Large hammers transfer plenty of energy to the firing pins. The hammers themselves are powered by coil springs that are captive on their guide rods; this makes the hammers rebounding, eliminating striker drag.

The ejectors are tripped by rods on either side of the action that work from the hammers. Sears are hinged below the hammers, and are picked up by a mechanical selector mechanism housed in the trigger itself. The selector button is located within the trigger, which though not as quick or as easy to select which barrel first, will still work very effectively.

The safe button is located in the usual place; on the top strap behind the top lever, and is automatic. It works differently from most other guns in that it works from the cocking mechanism rather than the top lever. So it is when the gun is pulled open that this comes into play. The action is nicely engraved with game scenes of partridges and pheasants on the sides, and the rest of the action is covered with a coarse flower and scroll work. Much of the engraving is made to stand out with acid etching and the result is very pleasing.

The forend contains more work than the average; as well as the ejector hammers and springs there is also a spring device which keeps the forend snugly positioned, and also allows for fractional differences between barrels. The barrels themselves are 28” on the test gun with multichokes; the system although with blacked tubes appears to be the same as Beretta’s which would of course make sense.

Barrels have a 7mm top ventilated rib and ventilated side ribs for quick cooling; the fore sight is a white bead. The barrels are of mono - bloc construction, typical and almost universal for mass production. The bloc itself has a very wide hook so there is lots of surface area to take heavy use.

The wood quality is pretty good, and the fit to the metalwork of both the stock and forend is very good. Forend shape is a slight schnabel, and is rounded throughout its depth so there is plenty to hang onto

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