Franchi followed me home

[buffdog]

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Way back when, I had shot a Franchi semi-automatic shotgun. I loved it, especially the light weight for bird hunting. However, for the $260 price tag at the time, I bought a new Model 70 Winchester in .257 Roberts and a new 870 Remington Skeet gun instead of the Franchi.

Last Sunday, at a Gun Show, I finally got my Franchi. It was an older one, a Franchi Elite semi-automatic 12 guage with screw in chokes, with a 24 inch barrel, and it points like a striking snake. Best of all, it cost me only slightly more than the 1980's price of $260.

Although mine is packed away in the back of the Gun Cabinet right now, and my photographic lights are buried somewhere in the back of a closet, these pictures, ( not mine but off the internet ) are of a similar one and a twin to mine.

There are still some good bargains at Gun Shows.

 

[Denisb]

Followed? Sure.

 

[nowarningshot]

I bought a lot of ammo once. It had a few boxes of 16 ga. Luckily a 16 ga hasnt followed me home, .....yet. Shhh!

 

[1963beretta]

Excellent find...its a nice gun!! Is that Franchi a gas autoloader?

Which gun show did you find it at?

 

[nowarningshot]

Franchi 48al are basically a copy of the A5. Barrel cycles back, inertia. They are very light, nice handling, and reliable.

One has to separate them, into the old beaters, since they have been made at least 50-60 years....and these newer production with screw in chokes. Oldies can be had $150-300, new production are $1400 new.

This one looks new production and in very good shape. How much did you pay.

 

[buffdog]

Franchi 48 AL are basically a copy of the A5. Barrel cycles back, inertia. They are very light, nice handling, and reliable.

While the Franchi 48AL does indeed use the friction ring system that the Browning A5 ( and used by Winchester, Remington and Savage also,) the Franchi Elite uses a gas system acting on a piston to function. The barrel is fixed and does not recoil when fired. The Elite was manufactured after the 48 AL. I will dig mine out and post a picture of it.

As for what I paid for it, that is like an answer you give when your wife asks "Does this dress make me look fat?"........

The Gun Show was at Ancaster, (Jerseyville), Ontario.



Photo update of gas system added

 

[AntekPL]

Beautiful! And what a price!!

 

[1963beretta]

Franchi 48al are basically a copy of the A5. Barrel cycles back, inertia. They are very light, nice handling, and reliable.

One has to separate them, into the old beaters, since they have been made at least 50-60 years....and these newer production with screw in chokes. Oldies can be had $150-300, new production are $1400 new.

This one looks new production and in very good shape. How much did you pay.

The Franchi 48 remained unchanged since it was introduced in 1948. The 12g was discontinued sometime in the 80’s and a 28g was added to the lineup until the 48AL was recently discontinued altogether. There is no such thing as a beater oldie. Parts from a newer production gun can drop into an older gun and vice versa. I’ve owned enough 48’s to know that build quality was much better on the older guns then the newer ones....particularly the ones made in Spain.

The only parts thats I’ve encountered to be different were the stocks and trigger assembly from the pre 1955 guns. There were slight differences that made it tricky but not impossible to swap out. First production 48’s had rear stocks that had a ring around the collar that would mate to a grove in the receiver. Those stocks are very difficult to find, and its those guns that had a sightly different trigger assembly.

The Franchi 48 is an awesome gun, my favorite of all autoloaders. The only thing it shares with the Elite is the semi humpback receiver and the engraving

 

[1963beretta]

While the Franchi 48AL does indeed use the friction ring system that the Browning A5 ( and used by Winchester, Remington and Savage also,) the Franchi Elite uses a gas system acting on a piston to function. The barrel is fixed and does not recoil when fired. The Elite was manufactured after the 48 AL. I will dig mine out and post a picture of it.

As for what I paid for it, that is like an answer you give when your wife asks "Does this dress make me look fat?"........

The Gun Show was at Ancaster, (Jerseyville), Ontario.



Photo update of gas system added

Looks like the Elite was the predessesor to the 612 VS. The gas system looks very similar

 

[buffdog]

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Well, I tried the Franchi out on some hand thrown clay birds, just to see how it fit and functioned. This one is definitely going to remain with me as part of the stable!

Someone once said that life was to short to hunt with an ugly gun. I think he might have been right. The two guys I was with were quite envious, and I had to let them fire it too........It was either that or the threat of having to walk about five miles home.

 

[catnthehatt]

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Well, I tried the Franchi out on some hand thrown clay birds, just to see how it fit and functioned. This one is definitely going to remain with me as part of the stable!

Someone once said that life was to short to hunt with an ugly gun. I think he might have been right. The two guys I was with were quite envious, and I had to let them fire it too........It was either that or the threat of having to walk about five miles home.

Gorgeous gun!
I remember when I was young asking my father what the difference was between the two 48's in his rack and was told exactly that one was the old style recoil action and the other one was the newer style inertia drive.
Most of the ones you see for sale are the older 48AL's.
Cat