Fabarms Semi Autos good/ bad

[Zetter]

Hi All

 

I have a hankering for another semi auto for clays and like the look of some of the Fabarm range but they do seem to drop in value like a stone second hand i.e you are looking at circa £800 new for some of them if not more and they tend to shift for about half that.

Any experience of them at all good or bad to share?

 

Cheers Zetter 

[Clay cracker]

I have a left handed farbarm auto, with 30gram+  cartridges it cycles flawlessly, but willl not cycle anything 28gram or below. Very good quality internals, only plastic on mine is the trigger guard. I would recommend them for use with heavier cartridges myself. Wouldnt recommend for clays unless your ground allows heavier cartridges. 

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, which model are you looking at? theres a second hand Euro Lion at Donaldsons for £400 as your near you could see what there like to handle, and how well engineered

[Zetter]

Hi Both 

 

Thanks for that I was looking at one of the Euro lions possibly or one of the XL range there is one with an adjustable combe down in Bath on Gun Trader. But don't want to get something I have to run 30g cartridges through to get it to function, I don't mind shooting 28g as I use those for clays presently but 30g is too restrictive as a lot of grounds don't allow them.  

[Scully]

A mate in our syndicate didn’t like his at all, stating it as being unreliable. He traded it in for a three barrelled 20 bore! 

[Zetter]

Cheers Scully 

 

This is whats making me a bit twitchy may look at Franchi which seem to be very underrated guns for the money.  

Edited June 9, 2018 by Zetter

[Scully]

I’ve had a Franchi 620 in the past. Cracking little gun.

I don’t know what the modern ones are like, but they were owned by Beretta back then and I rate them highly. 

[Farmboy91]

I brought a rough second hand A303 from a local rfd for less than £300 for rough shooting/ clays and its spot on, cycle 24g upwards, clean one's go anywhere from £400 upwards. Neve heard a bad word about them either. 

[Scully]

17 minutes ago, Farmboy91 said:

I brought a rough second hand A303 from a local rfd for less than £300 for rough shooting/ clays and its spot on, cycle 24g upwards, clean one's go anywhere from £400 upwards. Neve heard a bad word about them either. 

I’d have to agree with this also. A couple of mates have the A30 series shotguns and I’ve had a go with them. As much as I’m not a Beretta fan I can’t knock these self loaders.....great guns.

[billytheghillie]

3 hours ago, Zetter said:

Cheers Scully 

 

This is whats making me a bit twitchy may look at Franchi which seem to be very underrated guns for the money.  

I have had a Franchi Affinity One 12g for about a year now, cant fault it.

[Westley]

I would have to go with the 303 really. I had a Euro Lion for a good number of years, in fact one of the first made, I bought it to replace a Remmie 20 bore and weighing just 6 1/4lbs it was a great pigeon gun BUT as stated, it hated anything less than a very pokey 28 gram cartridge. It would shoot 30 gram all day faultlessly, but it struggled with anything less. I know a few people who still use them, but they have to use expensive punchy 28 gram cartridges for clays. I have a 391 and a 303, of the 2,  I prefer the 303. I use it quite a bit for clays and it will happily cope with 24 gram cartridges, the only cartridges it does not like are Comp X, due to their low recoil. I have been shooting 24 gram Cheddite through it for a while now with no problems. The 391 will handle 21 gram cartridges, but, it is a pig to clean. I have a shooting mate who had a Franchi and it worked well enough, there was just something about the handling that was just a 'bit off'. Earlier Franchi's liked to split the forend wood (I know of 3 that are held together with super glue), just something to watch for. I would look for a decent 303, they are out there. 

[Zetter]

Some great advice all and has prevented a mistake from my part. The Beretta is tempting although always fancied an AL391 Teknys which is a bit above the budget at the moment

[Westley]

21 minutes ago, Zetter said:

Some great advice all and has prevented a mistake from my part. The Beretta is tempting although always fancied an AL391 Teknys which is a bit above the budget at the moment

They were not without their problems either, mainly regarding the quality of the finish on some models.  

[redial]

I also had a 303, for some reason I sold it and yes regretted it.

Nice to shoot but as said previously it required a punchy 28g  load.

 

 

[farmer7]

13 hours ago, Zetter said:

Hi All

 

I have a hankering for another semi auto for clays and like the look of some of the Fabarm range but they do seem to drop in value like a stone second hand i.e you are looking at circa £800 new for some of them if not more and they tend to shift for about half that.

Any experience of them at all good or bad to share?

 

Cheers Zetter 

I have had most of the mainstream semi autos but had never had a Fabarm until recently. I took a punt on the new L4S and I absolutely cannot fault it. It is light, soft shooting and hasn't a single malfunction to date despite only having cleaned the piston once in the past 6 months or so. It's a 3" and it'll reliably cycle 21g clay cartridges too with no adjustment, granted I've only fired a few 21g as I use 28's mostly but did use a few 3" which it tamed very nicely too and did a number on some high crows! It has a decent bit of wood too and a superb trigger pull. Can't fault it.

I put a wee review on it here back in Feb if you want to see the pics.

Edited June 9, 2018 by farmer7

[hawkfanz]

for that money go for the beretta a300 outlander,ive been using one for a good few years now,some days i do use over 200 shells in a session.

[islandgun]

23 hours ago, Zetter said:

Hi Both 

 

Thanks for that I was looking at one of the Euro lions possibly or one of the XL range there is one with an adjustable combe down in Bath on Gun Trader. But don't want to get something I have to run 30g cartridges through to get it to function, I don't mind shooting 28g as I use those for clays presently but 30g is too restrictive as a lot of grounds don't allow them.  

I have a Euro lion mk 11 with the adjustable combe but have only used it with heavy steel loads so far, however the gun comes up and fits better than any other, and the adjustable combe is brilliant allowing cast and height adjustment, it is the only gun i own that I wouldnt sell.. why not go to the seller and ask to put some different carts through it

Edited June 10, 2018 by islandgun

[B B]

I had an old Fabarm eligi 12 as a pigeon and general knock about gun for 10 years, it never gave  a single issue , i kept it clean and it functioned on anything i put through it.

[Zetter]

5 hours ago, islandgun said:

I have a Euro lion mk 11 with the adjustable combe but have only used it with heavy steel loads so far, however the gun comes up and fits better than any other, and the adjustable combe is brilliant allowing cast and height adjustment, it is the only gun i own that I wouldnt sell.. why not go to the seller and ask to put some different carts through it

Sounds like a good idea. One of the ones I am interested in is down Bristol and they have a shooting ground close by owned by them so its worth a call to see if they would let me run a box through it to see how its goes on clays. This is the same model I think euro lion 2 with an adjustable stock who I have had before and found handy.

[islandgun]

3 hours ago, Zetter said:

Sounds like a good idea. One of the ones I am interested in is down Bristol and they have a shooting ground close by owned by them so its worth a call to see if they would let me run a box through it to see how its goes on clays. This is the same model I think euro lion 2 with an adjustable stock who I have had before and found handy.

It should be well worth a look, mine is the mk II competition extra, nice wood and came with 8 chokes ! . If i ever buy another gun it will be with an adjustable stock. good luck with your choice

[Zetter]

And after all this I ended up with a Winchester SX4.

I did ask the guys down in Bristol about trying the one I was looking at and the answer came back "we cant do trials", also when I mentioned my concern about cartridge cycling and jams a response of "use something quality punchy like white gold" didn't inspire me with confidence and there is now way in hell I want a gun that only eats pricy clay shells!

Although I paid a bit more for the Winchester than my budget it comes up really well and after running a box through it at Risley there wasnt one jam. Also I can use my leftover muller chokes in it .

 

Cheers for all the advice on this everyone it was much appreciated.  

[B525 LIGHT]

Franchi are a first rate gun. They just arent marketed well in the Uk. Elsewhere in Europe you’ll find they are just as popular as the “B” guns.

When it comes to light loads in autos remember most countries use far heavier loads than we do for hunting live game. If you want to use 28gram loads buy an auto aimed at the clay breaker.

Just now, B525 LIGHT said:

Franchi are a first rate gun. They just arent marketed well in the Uk. Elsewhere in Europe you’ll find they are just as popular as the “B” guns.

When it comes to light loads in autos remember most countries use far heavier loads than we do for hunting live game. If you want to use 28gram loads buy an auto aimed at the clay breaker.

I meant Fabarm......