Gentlemen

I thought that you might enjoy this link to some information on the Beretta 455 EELL or the Field grade 455 guns.
This double rifle is offered in the .500 NE and other big bore calibers.

http://www.beretta.com/index.aspx?m=74&idc=1&ids=59

Cheers,

André

Andre,
I thought you might find it of interest that that Beretta does not make either the 455 or the 455EELL. They are made for Beretta by Famars di Abbiatico & Salvinelli. I own a 455 and really do like it. The accurancy and performance is all that I could ever want from a double. Take a look at the picture of this double offered by A&S and then look at mine. My Beretta is the very simple model that doesn't hold a candle to the engraved beauty they have, but in form and function, I think you can tell they are identical. I had heard that A&S had made my gun but wasn't certain until yesterday. I got an e-mail then from Elisabetta Salvinelli and she confirmed that they made my gun and still make them for Beretta. I suspect Beretta has some variety of standards they request, but from what I've seen of the A&S guns, I don't think they need much tinkering in their design.

Famars di Abbiatico & Salvinelli:


Mine:


Here's a description of Famars A&S from a recent edition of Shooting Sportsman:

Sandwiched between the busy thoroughfare and the Mella river is the FAMARS factory, a spacious, well-lit two-story building built by the company a decade ago as its primary gunworks.
This is where A&S guns are made, "lock, stock and barrel." Except for bought-in barrel blanks and engraving, all work is performed in-house. The heavy work begins dowstairs, in the machine shop, at ground level. Although there are CNC machines, most of the equipment is the same conventional milling machines and lathes you'd see in any well-appointed but traditional fine-gun factory.
My guide is Marco Cavazzoni, Cristina Abbiatico's husband. Cavazzoni has been responsible for reorganizing the production flow, in part to cope with the increased orders FAMARS has taken during the past few years. It was also Cavazzoni who pushed for bringing CNC capabilities in-house. FAMARS uses no casting in its guns; actions are machined from a solid forged billet of CR2 steel (18NiCrMo5) and internal components are from GNB 2/TR (39NiCrMo3).
Presently CNC machines are used for fashioning the actions and triggerplate lockwork of the Excalibur as well as making pinless sideplates and components for the Sovereign and Pegasus models. The goal? Producing interchangeable internal components that are machined, then finished to perfect tolerances - not so much as a cost-saving measure but to ensure utter reliability from gun to gun. Even unadorned, the metal finishing on FAMARS guns is incredible. External and internal surfaces are burnished to a mirror finish, and metal tolerances defy written description.
But I learned that it's a mistake to assume FAMARS guns are computer-machined to finished shapes, then merely given a good spit & polish before heading off to the engravers. Cavazzoni handed me a roughed-out action for a Zeus. The slots for the bolts and lockwork had been milled out with traditional machines, but the action itself appeared no different than a British gun you'd see at the same stage of construction. It was unformed - essentially a rectangular hunk of a metal.
"Now this goes to CNC for shaping?" I asked. "No," Cavazzoni replied, "now it goes upstairs." Upstairs is where 13 craftsmen built the guns, using technology of the 19th Century, not the 21st - files and chisels, draw knives and gouges.
Most of the craftsmen face a bench with a view to the mountain that soars behind the factory. Salvinelli's "office" is on the bench at the head of the line of craftsmen. In his vise was a roughed-out Pegasus action. In his hand was a bastard file. He put his elboy into it and began rasping away.
Handwork like this allows for plenty of customizing to shape the actions and fences. A good example is the Zeus. There are toplever and sidelever models, and those with fully rounded shoulders or a SPALLINA - the Dicksonesque shoulder behind the fences. "Within the constraints of each design, anything is possible," Salvinelli said. "The Excalibur aside, 80 percent of the work we do is by hand or with traditional machinery."
Farther down the line I met actioners, ejectormen, jointers, lockmakers, stockers and finishers.
Although the firm is increasingly using CNC machines to make internal components, this hasn't supplanted A&S's traditional gunmaking skills. A pair of Jorema .410s was commissioned with EVERY component in each gun completely intercheangeable with the other. The theme for the commission was appropriately tiled "The Art of Gunmaker." These were built, incidentally, well before A&S began using CNC technology.
Given the ascendancy of Italian gunmakers during the past three decades, it's easy today to take their skills for granted. But best-quality gunmaking in Gardone was rarely passed down from generation to generation. It was in large part learned during the past 35 years - and then taught - the hard way. "When we were beginning, Mario and I had to instill a new ethic of craftsmanship," Salvinelli said, "an ethic where only the best work was acceptable. The Gardone tradition in modern times was mostly mass-producing guns, not making best-quality guns. It was very difficult at first."
Yet these very tribulations have been a real boon for fine-gun aficionados world-wide. Unlike many gunmakers FAMARS was able to approach the task of building fine custom made guns with fresh perspectives, unweighted by the this-is-the-way-it's-always-done prejudices inherent with many longer-established best gunmaking cultures elsewhere. Italian innovators have integrated the best elements from superb existing designs - the Boss over/under serving as a prime example - then developed mechanically superior guns by melding more-efficient production techniques with artisanal craftsmanship of highest order.



"Adapted from a feature article by Vic Venters, Senior Editor, Shooting Sportsman magazine, Nov/Dec 2001"

quote:

. I had heard that A&S had made my gun but wasn't certain until yesterday. I got an e-mail then from Elisabetta Salvinelli and she confirmed that they made my gun and still make them for Beretta. I suspect Beretta has some variety of standards they request, but from what I've seen of the A&S guns, I don't think th

Yes, A&S also makes their higher-end SO models of shotguns. I would argue that A&S' standards are above any of Beretta's current "standards" (even the old Franchi Monte Carlo Imperial Deluxe of recent fame).

I've heard (always take that with a grain of salt) from a US importer that A&S produces about 300 barreled actions a year... about 200 of which are shipped to the UK (in the white)... and the balance of which they finish as A&S guns.

It's no secret that the Italians have invested heavily into CNC machinery (expensive) and it's logical that they could produce barreled actions for the trade more efficiently than a small shop.