Franchi Affinity Annivesario: Italy is still in its 150th year, and Franchi, to commemorate this special anniversary, decided to launch a prestigious limited series in December, when all the anniversaries seemed to be over.
The Affinity Annivesario offered exclusively to the Italian market in 150 numbered copies, is a 20-gauge inertial shotgun. What changes compared to the model already introduced starting from June 2011? First of all, the casing is no longer black anodized, but is nickel-plated and shows three elegant, but sober lines that represent the tricolor, almost as if they were the trails released by the Frecce Tricolore during their very famous performances.
The official logo of the anniversary is shown in the lower part. All the engravings and decorations were made by Giovannelli in his Bottega Incisioni.
The woods are of European grade IV walnut, therefore truly fascinating with a first order briar. The checkering remains those of the unnumbered version which have been very successful, as well as the designs of the fore-end and the stock. Even with the Affinity cal. 20 Anniversario Franchi remains faithful to its principles of ergonomics: the shotgun “comes out really well”, as hunters like to say.
The recoil reduction system, the TSA, is present in its most current version, without a gel insert, but with a set of polyurethane foams, which at the moment of the shot, change by expanding, and ensuring the absorption of most of the recoil. Furthermore, these foams allow the buttpad to remain non-deformable at any temperature both above and below zero and resistant to any weather condition. The recoil pads are available in different sizes to suit any need. The viewfinder is red fiber optic.
We have already written that the operating system is the classic one of the Franchi semiautomatic shotguns: the "Front Inertia". The peculiarity of this system is that the recoil spring is not housed in the stock, but at the front, housed around the magazine tube. This allows a better balance, a wheelie reduced to a minimum.
Last but not least, the low maintenance required by inertial system shotguns, which do not get dirty, having no recovery gas. The shutter has a rotating head with two wings and a shutter holder connected, with a transmission unit with double connection rod, to a sleeve invested on the magazine tube and elastically loaded by a spring which is also coaxial to the magazine tube.
The barrel of the Affinity Anniversario is 66 cm (with choke *** mounted), perfectly interchangeable with the 71 cm barrel available as an accessory. The weight is 2.680 grams.
The shotgun is offered in a case of excellent workmanship and construction, with double combination lock. Internally it is lined with orange protective material. The Franchi brand is proposed in the upper door, while the disassembled speargun and accessories are housed in the lower door: oil bottle, folding kit (50, 55, 65, while mounted is the 60), t-shirts for the shoulder strap holder and two chokes (*, *****) and the key to assemble and disassemble them. The barrel with three and five star chokes is suitable for firing steel shot cartridges. The rifle has 7-year warranties for mechanical parts. The price is € 1.949.
The Franchi Affinity cal. 20 is a modern shotgun, sober but elegant and with a sporty character, suitable for all those who want to prove that they are true hunters and who at the same time want to have a celebratory shotgun in their rack for a piece of history of our dear Italy.