Crosseyed

Got my new replacement Alcione One this week. This new gun is smoother in ever action when compared to the first. Its breaks more easily and the safety/barrel selector performed normally. To be fair my local supplier/gunsmith did ease the break action somewhat as even this was very tight. Fired 75 rounds at a clay shoot today and overall it behaved flawlessly. Now much more confident and satisfied with this replacement. My experience does however beg some questions with respect to QC at Franchi. These guns are imported and sold in the UK by GMK. Beretta are major stake holders in this company and Franchi is now owned by a Beretta subsidiary company. I managed to speak to a member of GMK’s sales staff with respect to my first Franchi gun experiences. He was rather flippant in suggesting “what do you expect from a bottom end of the market gun”. Not sure Beretta would endorse this pejorative view.

I purchased a new 12g Franchi Alcione One two weeks ago. It's a great looking gun and fits me well. Out of the box the gun proved difficult to break due to a very stiff and tight action. The other model in stock was even stiffer. The safety and barrel switch action was extremely stiff. I was reassured that this would loosen up after a few hundred rounds. First day out on a driven shoot the second barrel failed to fire 25% of the time. Missed quite a few birds as a consequence. The trigger locked due to some problem with the selector mechanism. Very frustrating for a brand new gun. I took it back to the retailer who looked at the trigger action and claimed to have relieved the problem. Second day out, this time at a clay shoot, the very same problem. This time the trigger lock-up only happened when the barrel selector/safety catch was switched to the right side, for top barrel first firing. I have returned the gun and am awaiting a new replacement of the same. Here's to hoping that this is a one-off only problem. My confidence, as one might appreciate, is somewhat dampened.