“Venus” side-by-side by Armi Art: Love and passion for hunting have led to the birth of a side-by-side named after the goddess of love, that is Venus. In fact, the name of the weapon is in Latin, namely Venus, which always refers to the divinity linked to love and passion par excellence.
Venus is a safe, solid and versatile side-by-side shotgun, a real collector's shotgun in the field of smooth-bore weapons. Traditional side-by-side shotguns, given their high degree of safety, have not evolved much over time, and recent models respect this tradition by focusing on the elegance of finishes and design, but above all on the handling of these guns, which are by their nature suitable to the wandering hunt.
The “Venus” side-by-side is produced by the artisan company Armi Art, a qualified national company that produces hunting and shooting weapons and related accessories.
Despite being a small artisan workshop, Armi Art has managed to make weapons with high-precision mechanics. During the production process, in fact, the assembly of the rifles is followed by highly specialized technicians and by collaborations with external companies that supply the action frames and other essential components of these weapons. Collaboration and team spirit allow us to create hunting and shooting weapons with a high mechanical and handcrafted profile every day. The efforts made by Armi Art, to create tailor-made shotguns, led to the birth of a manufacturer capable of combining two factors that at first sight are incompatible with each other: mechanics and manual skills.
The smooth-bore guns of Armi Art are, on the other hand, the highest expression of this combination.
And looking at these weapons live, it seems that the combination has produced perfect and flawless results, both from an aesthetic and technical point of view. The Venus side-by-side is a shining example of how technique and manual skill can produce safe, versatile and highly aesthetic weapons. Armi Art operates in the Lombard province and precisely in that of Brescia, in a town of 12 thousand souls: Gardone Val Trompia.
The Armi Art company has established itself on the Made in Italy smooth gun market, producing boxlock and sidelock shotguns, both in 12 gauge and in smaller calibers.
The main feature of Armi Art is to make custom-made weapons perfectly in line with the customer's wishes. The weapon, in fact, is studied precisely on the basis of the characteristics of the hunter, his weight, the size of his shoulders and his hands. Side-by-side guns such as the “Venus” model, conceived, designed and built according to the physical characteristics of the hunter, are very practical, light and easy to carry weapons, especially on long journeys of wandering hunting. The attention to materials and design make Venus also a luxury and collectible weapon.
The technical characteristics of this side-by-side are: demibloc barrels; crampon with three turns of the compass; double Purdey closure; double trigger or single trigger; automatic extractors; internal hammer drums Holland & Holland system and availability in gauges often not very used and unavailable, namely 16 and 36. The Venus side-by-side is also available in 12, 20, 24, 28 and 32 gauges. The barrels with the demibloc system are joined with a special solder, tin or electric, which avoids overheating caused by classic soldering. The demibloc barrels are particularly robust and safe, safety accentuated also by the cramponing with three turns of the compass, or by the locking system of the speargun consisting of appendages of the barrels (crampons) placed in special seats in the receiver. The crampons, which form the crampon, prevent the advancement of the barrels under shot and the sudden and dangerous opening of the same.
In the three turns of the compass, the crampon (set of crampons that activate the locking closure) exploits the double Purdey locking system, where the same crampons, connected to the breech with notches, are crossed by a transverse pin that passes over them preventing to the reeds to open. The system is very safe, but also expensive, because it uses high-precision mechanics that must match all the internal parts of the rifle to the millimeter. Furthermore, in the demibloc system, due to the welding, it is impossible to replace the barrels. In this case it is necessary: either to completely change the barrel-crampon system or to cut the barrels at the height of the combustion chambers, transforming them into monobloc barrels.
The last technique is quite inexpensive and is used to recover old side-by-side without the need to spend too much on replacing the crampon. Of course, any modification to the shotgun must always be carried out by authorized operators or through the technical assistance service of the selling company. As far as the ballistic performance of the Venus side-by-side is concerned, the best performances are recorded for all the calibers produced, even if the most versatile gun is always the 12 gauge one, suitable for both small and large game. Since the Venus side-by-side also includes other calibers, it has been seen that the 28-caliber side-by-side, due to the low noise of the shot, is suitable for hitting small game in flight, while the 32 and 36 calibers are effective in killing birds. when they land on the ground.