Franchi Momentum Elite in .308. Anyone own one?

thegazelle

thegazelle

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Hi there:

Just purchased a Momentum Elite in .308 today. Great looking rifle, and I am looking forward to taking it out for a spin at my club on the weekend.

There seems to be not a whole lot of feedback on this particular rifle on CGN. There are some general Youtube first impressions reviews, but nothing really comprehensive. I realize the Momentum only got released in 2018 and the Elite is only a couple of years old in shelf life so far. I'd be curious to know if anyone else here owns one and what is your impression of it?

I like the Elite model due to the included muzzle brake and detachable magazine (even though it's only 3-rounds). The additional magazines are around $85 plus tax, which seems a bit steep for an all polymer mag that only holds three rounds. I haven't seen any retailers selling any magazines for this rifle that would hold more than three...

I plan to shoot it with standard PMC 150gr FMJ, though I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had success with any particular type of ammo.

Any feedback (good or bad) from other owners of the .308 Momentum Elite would be welcome.

Thanks!
 
i'd like to hear your review of the rifle when you get a chance to do some shooting with it. The varmint model was offered with an 8 round magazine. Do they work with the non varmint models?
 
Hollow Point said:
i'd like to hear your review of the rifle when you get a chance to do some shooting with it. The varmint model was offered with an 8 round magazine. Do they work with the non varmint models?
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I've been trying to find this out this evening in looking at various websites...

From what I have read, it looks like the varmint models are .223, 22-250 and .224 (also 350 Legend) and that comes with the 3 round, 4 round or 8 round magazine and are US based.

I don't see anything to indicate that the .308 Winchester / 6.5CM Elite comes with anything but a 3-rounder. Stoeger Canada doesn't offer anything other than the 3 rounder for the .308. And the gun shop from which I bought the Momentum Elite told me only 3 round detachable mags are available for it.
 
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thegazelle said:
I've been trying to find this out this evening in looking at various websites...

From what I have read, it looks like the varmint models are .223, 22-250 and .224 (also 350 Legend) and that comes with the 3 round, 4 round or 8 round magazine and are US based.

I don't see anything to indicate that the .308 Winchester / 6.5CM Elite comes with anything but a 3-rounder. Stoeger Canada doesn't offer anything other than the 3 rounder for the .308. And the gun shop from which I bought the Momentum Elite told me only 3 round detachable mags are available for it.
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I have the varmint model in the 223 and yes it did come with a 3 and 8 round magazine. Yeah , Franchi has very limited info to be found online.

Make sure to register your rifle with Korth in case of any problems in the future with your rifle.
 
350tracker said:
I have the varmint model in the 223 and yes it did come with a 3 and 8 round magazine. Yeah , Franchi has very limited info to be found online.

Make sure to register your rifle with Korth in case of any problems in the future with your rifle.
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Thanks very much for the tip. I had registered it with Stoeger Canada and uploaded my purchase receipt. Do they notify Korth or do I need to separately register with Korth?
 
The whole trigger mechanism looks identical to the Sabbati Rover models, that's all I really noticed about them, so I'm not sure how much of it is Sabbati vs Franchi.
 
Hollow Point said:
i'd like to hear your review of the rifle when you get a chance to do some shooting with it. The varmint model was offered with an 8 round magazine. Do they work with the non varmint models?
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I had a chance to take the rifle out to my club this afternoon. It is mated with a basic Vortex 4-12x40. I used various ammo on this, but found it shot best with Federal American Eagle 150gr FMJ (the other ones I used were PMC 147gr FMJ and Norinco FMJ (grain unknown, I bought it from a bulk bag). I tried it out at our club's 50 yard lanes.

Initial impressions:

1. The bolt is super silky smooth. A real pleasure to operate. I am not quite certain why the bolt operates on a two-stage system, but it was fine.
2. Accuracy was fantastic. Of my first 5 shots, I holed two of them. The other two were really close (just a slight windage adjustment). With the PMC, even though the group drifted right a slight bit, there was lots of clovering going on. I was very pleased how well the groupings were. I probably should have had different targets for the different ammo so I could compare and contrast.
3. Maybe because I haven't shot a bolt action 308 for over a decade, but I found that the muzzle brake didn't do a whole lot for the barrel rise. I am sure with the MB there it would have been a lot worse. The stock pad was nice and the felt recoil wasn't as bad I recall over a decade ago.
4. The one and only thing I am not fond of about the rifle is the mag release. I found the mag release button inside the trigger sometimes needs a lot of pressure to unload the mag. Our club President gave a go with the rifle at at one point I was pressing on the button/switch thing while he was trying to pull out the mag. Sometimes it drops easily, sometimes I have depress it quite a bit. I definitely wish they had designed this different. Our Prez did make a good point, that having that mag release on the inside of the trigger could be problematic if one is struggling to release it, and their other fingers/parts of hand could inadvertently put pressure on the trigger.
5. The 3-round magazine was definitely a negative, especially in the cold. Seems like my hands never got a chance to warm up much as I was constantly loading 3 more rounds into the magazine. Afterwards I realized I could have loaded one in the chamber manually each time to make it 3+1.
6. The feel and texture of the rifle was superb. It really felt solid and the weight didn't seem to be noticeable.

Overall, very pleased at the .308 Momentum Elite and I look forward to taking it out with me again next time.
 
These things have been getting very good reviews out there, just not a ton of coverage overall. They look pretty good though, especially since the cost is really, really attractive. Backfire just posted one a couple days ago:

 
I have two of the varmint versions. i started out with a .223 last March and liked it so much i bought another in .22-250. These are great rifles and shoot better than I can. They are the only rifles I take to the range anymore. They are both topped with Burris 30 mm. Sig Zee rings and a Vortex Diamondback Tactical 6 x 24 x 50 mm scope.

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savage112 said:
I have two of the varmint versions. i started out with a .223 last March and liked it so much i bought another in .22-250. These are great rifles and shoot better than I can. They are the only rifles I take to the range anymore. They are both topped with Burris 30 mm. Sig Zee rings and a Vortex Diamondback Tactical 6 x 24 x 50 mm scope.

hWS3neph.jpg


JAaPrjuh.jpg
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Those look fabulous...

Is that a Harris bipod on it? I am thinking of mounting a bipod on mine as the barrel moves way too much on a Caldwell rest.
 
savage112 said:
Yes , they are both Harris bipods, a 9''to 13"and a 6" to 9" non swivel.
If you need a better rest ,try the Caldwell Rock. It seems to be pretty good quality.

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I may try the bipod with my Momentum. I had borrowed a Caldwell rest off a buddy - very similar to what you have in the photo - and I found the rifle jumped quite a bit and kept moving backwards and I had to constantly readjust the front and back rest to get it back to level with my target with every shot.
 
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