Anyone Have Experience with the Antonio Zoli 1900 Rifle?

[South Pender]

Repeatedly, I read complaints about an allot floorplate on the 1900 actions....

Really? Is that that only complaint, and frankly: is it even justifiable?

Never have they known to fail, warp, rust or pit. Chip yes...however that never effected accuracy or functionality what so eveeeeeer....!

Consider all of the plastic parts used on $1K++ rifles these days, I'm find it disturbing that a well made, a well fitted alloy floor plate on such an amazing and accurate action, is such a point (more accurately - pointless) area of contention.....imho...

That depends on what aspects of a rifle you value. The alloy floorplates are generally functional (although definitely not as sturdy as steel), light, and have no effect on accuracy as you note, but are soft and easily scratched. My main complaint (and that of many others) is aesthetic. Once the rifle has had some real use, the scratches show up, the coating chips, and the gun ends up looking pretty bad. That bothers many. Much of the criticism arises from the recognition that Husqvarna could have made the bottom-metal unit of steel (as they did on their early small-ring Mauser actions), but chose not to mainly to cut costs. To many that aspect of the rifle is seen as tacky. Functionality and accuracy are important to be sure, but for many, aesthetics are important too. Just one more point: in fact broken floorplates and particularly, trigger guards have occurred on some of the alloy bottom-metal Husqvarnas. As an aside, I'd be cautious about characterizing others' opinions as "pointless." What is pointless to you may be important to others. You don't care that the bottom metal is alloy; others do. It's as simple as that!

 

[South Pender]

The early 1600's had steel bottoms, you can see a few pics in this thread, more on 2nd page.
https://www.gunboards.com/threads/husqvarna-trigger-guard-floorplate.27691/

Yes, right. The floorplate release on the all-steel units, however, wasn't the greatest. It was a cheap bent sheet-metal piece outside the trigger guard that detracted somewhat from the otherwise excellence of the rifle. The alloy units had the release inside the trigger guard, which is a better place for it.

 

[NHunter]

That depends on what aspects of a rifle you value. The alloy floorplates are generally functional (although definitely not as sturdy as steel), light, and have no effect on accuracy as you note. My main complaint (and that of many others) is aesthetic. Once the rifle has had some real use, the coating chips, and the gun ends up looking pretty bad. That bothers many. Much of the criticism arises from the recognition that Husqvarna could have made the bottom-metal unit of steel (as they did on their early small-ring Mauser actions), but chose not to mainly to cut costs. To many that aspect of the rifle is seen as tacky. Functionality and accuracy are important to be sure, but for many, aesthetics are important too. Just one more point: in fact broken floorplates and particularly, trigger guards have occurred on some of the alloy bottom-metal Husqvarnas. As an aside, I'd be cautious about characterizing others' opinions as "pointless." What is pointless to you may be important to others. You don't care that the bottom metal is alloy; others do. It's as simple as that!

I would not have made it of steel, given the choice.
Aesthetic concerns????? You stare at a floor plate? Joke really....folks have one of the finest recent commercial actions of a Swedish hunting rifle, and to hell with the incredible accuracy, and reliability,......lets shi* on the aesthetics of the perfectly fitted, perfectly functional alloy floor plate...
Show me a thread discussing a broken alloy floor plate, just how would that happen..
and dont lump supposed trigger guard failures in an attempt to justify....
And I never stated other peoples opinions were pointless, but that the overall criticism of this part was, is, idiotic....and that is imho.....
But your opinion is blurred.....

 

[South Pender]

I would not have made it of steel, given the choice.
Aesthetic concerns????? You stare at a floor plate? Joke really....folks have one of the finest recent commercial actions of a Swedish hunting rifle, and to hell with the incredible accuracy, and reliability,......lets shi* on the aesthetics of the perfectly fitted, perfectly functional alloy floor plate...
Show me a thread discussing a broken alloy floor plate, just how would that happen..
and dont lump supposed trigger guard failures in an attempt to justify....
And I never stated other peoples opinions were pointless, but that the overall criticism of this part was, is, idiotic....and that is imho.....
But your opinion is blurred.....

LOL Nice. Stay classy....

 

[NHunter]

LOL Nice. Stay classy....

 

[huntingfamily]

The alloy floorplate is a non-issue for me. I've owned a couple Husqvarna 9000's with the 1900 action. One of them had some chipping on the exterior of the floorplate. I sanded it down to the metal and then painted it with an etching primer that is recommended for aluminum alloy. Followed that with krylon black gloss enamel paint. It looked like new with a little elbow grease and time.

 

[Milt Dale]

The alloy floorplate is a non-issue for me. I've owned a couple Husqvarna 9000's with the 1900 action. One of them had some chipping on the exterior of the floorplate. I sanded it down to the metal and then painted it with an etching primer that is recommended for aluminum alloy. Followed that with krylon black gloss enamel paint. It looked like new with a little elbow grease and time.

I have one that needs some TLC, in the past I have used a spray paint that requires three coats with baking in between, I might go this way instead, I once melted an alloy floor plate (not a Husky) so maybe this is safer.

 

[Great North Guns]

While CNC sure is better most of the time in the real world, just being CNC machined doesn't automatically make something better. Plenty of crap is made by CNC.
And hand fitting even now still has its place when something needs to be the best in the world.

Consider all of the plastic parts used on $1K++ rifles these days, I'm find it disturbing that a well made, a well fitted alloy floor plate on such an amazing and accurate action, is such a point (more accurately - pointless) area of contention.....imho...

In Europe, where most of the guns you refer to are probably made, there is a perception difference. In the Americas we see plastic as always a sign of cost cutting whereas in Europe it is more often just a question of weight and not wanting to rest your fingers on cold metal. So they have 4000$ guns with plastic triggers guards, which puzzles Americans.

 

[South Pender]

Back in Post #3, I asked whether anyone knew how the engraving is done on the Zoli rifles. I decided to get in touch with an accomplished engraver, Bruce Farman (who has done engraving on some of my guns), and posed the question to him as to how engraving on steel is done on factory production guns. He said that 90% of engraving being done today on production rifles and shotguns is laser-cut. So I'm assuming that this is the case on the Zoli. He mentioned that laser-cut engraving has very little depth when compared with hand-engraving. Bruce also mentioned that the factory engraving found on alloy floorplates is often acid-etched. So I think that the floorplate patterns found on some Husqvarna 1900 rifles (with alloy floorplates) were probably done this way.

 

[Great North Guns]

Back in Post #3, I asked whether anyone knew how the engraving is done on the Zoli rifles. I decided to get in touch with an accomplished engraver, Bruce Farman (who has done engraving on some of my guns), and posed the question to him as to how engraving on steel is done on factory production guns. He said that 90% of engraving being done today on production rifles and shotguns is laser-cut. So I'm assuming that this is the case on the Zoli. He mentioned that laser-cut engraving has very little depth when compared with hand-engraving. Bruce also mentioned that the factory engraving found on alloy floorplates is often acid-etched. So I think that the floorplate patterns found on some Husqvarna 1900 rifles (with alloy floorplates) were probably done this way.

After the holidays I'll dig up examples of two different Zoli receiver engraving methods and put pictures here

 

[conor_90]

In Europe, where most of the guns you refer to are probably made, there is a perception difference. In the Americas we see plastic as always a sign of cost cutting whereas in Europe it is more often just a question of weight and not wanting to rest your fingers on cold metal. So they have 4000$ guns with plastic triggers guards, which puzzles Americans.

Lots of amazing euro designs some of which look very “ classic” with “ aluminum” and “ plastic” parts. Maybe a marketing fail for some; whatever happened to space age materials? Composite and alloys have the potential to be incredibly strong materials, welcome to the future

I love steel and wood as much as everyone else I swear.

 

[Hitzy]

While CNC sure is better most of the time in the real world, just being CNC machined doesn't automatically make something better. Plenty of crap is made by CNC.
And hand fitting even now still has its place when something needs to be the best in the world.



In Europe, where most of the guns you refer to are probably made, there is a perception difference. In the Americas we see plastic as always a sign of cost cutting whereas in Europe it is more often just a question of weight and not wanting to rest your fingers on cold metal. So they have 4000$ guns with plastic triggers guards, which puzzles Americans.

The $4000 price tag with plastic on it would be a question of what am I getting for my money, not the 2oz weight savings. Maybe Europeans are use to over paying for ####....like $100 for a plastic Tikka mag, but here we kind of question cost of manufacturing vs retail prices.

 

[medvedqc]

While CNC sure is better most of the time in the real world, just being CNC machined doesn't automatically make something better. Plenty of crap is made by CNC.
And hand fitting even now still has its place when something needs to be the best in the world.



In Europe, where most of the guns you refer to are probably made, there is a perception difference. In the Americas we see plastic as always a sign of cost cutting whereas in Europe it is more often just a question of weight and not wanting to rest your fingers on cold metal. So they have 4000$ guns with plastic triggers guards, which puzzles Americans.

the people i hunted with in europe never considered a gun with plastic a good gun ... but that is just my experience.

 

[medvedqc]

Back in Post #3, I asked whether anyone knew how the engraving is done on the Zoli rifles. I decided to get in touch with an accomplished engraver, Bruce Farman (who has done engraving on some of my guns), and posed the question to him as to how engraving on steel is done on factory production guns. He said that 90% of engraving being done today on production rifles and shotguns is laser-cut. So I'm assuming that this is the case on the Zoli. He mentioned that laser-cut engraving has very little depth when compared with hand-engraving. Bruce also mentioned that the factory engraving found on alloy floorplates is often acid-etched. So I think that the floorplate patterns found on some Husqvarna 1900 rifles (with alloy floorplates) were probably done this way.

so right on the last cut engraving for sure (you can feel how not deep it is in the case of the base zoli 1900), about the acid etched i do not know that term but i ve seen acid bath so it is certainly the same.

 

[Great North Guns]

Two different receiver engraving styles. Top is much deeper.



Those are both older rifles.

For comparison of floorplates here are the same two rifles next to my current production base Bavarian



They have somewhat nicer laser engraving on their double guns

 

[Great North Guns]

I just saw new 1900 rifles in the CATF, at 3950$

 

[Rob]

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