Some time ago I run into a used Fausti Stefano shotgun 12 guage o/u at a gun shop.
I got a good deal and bought it.

The gun was nice and tight, even if the stock did show some wear. Only two choke tubes came with the gun, imp cyl and 3/4 (I think)

The shop owner thought that this was some kind of a competition gun, trap, skeet or something..

My only concern with the Fausti is a memory of three beautifull sisters that run the firm

I ment to use this gun for duck hunting as it has 3" chamber and is steel approved.

It is marked # A852xx under the "key", and next to the trigger guard it is marked ICAM.

Any of you shotgunners who can tell me more about this gun, or about the Fausti guns in general?

Ah yes, Fausti. Don't know anything about the guns but the strategically placed magazine ads certainly catch the eye.




Sorry, what was the question again?

I am going to take a guess and suggest this is primarily a game gun

You didn't mention the barrel length

The only discipline this can double up for is live pigeon

I am no Faustian expert but if the father's name is engraved on the action then it was likely to have been made before he passed away

I would also guess it is late 1970's to mid eighties judging by the style of finish and engraving ( b25 Belgium browning

Certainly 3 inch chambers was used but never popular for live pigeon

In that era shots up mid 40 grams were used

If you look at the stock it has too much drop at heel for trap or other rising discipline

It is also unlikely for it to be a skeet gun to have improved and three quarter choke

Looks good condition and if tight and face is square then good for game

I have many friends who works near the Fausti factory in val trompia

Do you want me to ask them to verify the serial number ?

Cost nothing other than an email

Stu, the question was....oh, never mind, I see your point

Ben.
Thank you for the info.
I also thought this was more a game gun than a sport gun.
But I´m a novice regarding shotguns.

Barrel is 26 " and the full serial # is A 85296.
If you can find out more about this gun, that would be great.

26 inch will be too short to be a live pigeon gun

The one on the right is a fox....

Brian

As per your fox thread is this fox worth mounting then ?

Oh yeah, repeatedly...

I know theres 3 brothers 2 produce lower end guns 1 produces top shelf items since I cannot remember which is which I avoid them in general but nice gun congrats..

quote:

Sorry, what was the question again?

Arild,
I think you need to have all sorts of issues w/this shotgun. Those that can only be attended to at a Senior Management level ......

I've never seen a tournament shotgun that had as-issued sling swivels on it.

You are so right Gerry, but at my age, I guess I don´t aim that high (I wouldn´t mind though).
Are more comfy to get my things fixed at the badger / vixen / beaver level

Tell me, is this thread about to get way of target again (and so far without Amirs help)

quote:

Originally posted by Arild Iversen:
Some time ago I run into a used Fausti Stefano shotgun 12 guage o/u at a gun shop.
I got a good deal and bought it.

The gun was nice and tight, even if the stock did show some wear. Only two choke tubes came with the gun, imp cyl and 3/4 (I think)

The shop owner thought that this was some kind of a competition gun, trap, skeet or something..

My only concern with the Fausti is a memory of three beautifull sisters that run the firm

I ment to use this gun for duck hunting as it has 3" chamber and is steel approved.

It is marked # A852xx under the "key", and next to the trigger guard it is marked ICAM.

Any of you shotgunners who can tell me more about this gun, or about the Fausti guns in general?

Arild,

Its not a competition gun judging from the 3" chambers, the steel approved barrels and the low profile vent-rib. But It does look like a GREAT shotgun for duck hunting!!!

Congrads and good luck on the ducks.


PS: With the rath short barrels, be aware of any one in the blind next to you - You don't want it to go off too close the their ear!

Thank you Ray.
Yes, I sort of figured out the same myself, and the expert panel on this forum has made it clear that this is a game gun.
The shop owner was wrong in his estimate.

Anyway, it should be nice to know a little bit more about the model, year of manufacture, price when new etc.
Hope londonhunter can help.

Arild

Your shotgun was manufactured in 1985 as a game gun so it is very likely that the stock is original. The first 02 digit of the serial number is the last 02 digit of the year. A denotes the first batch of the year. After the first thousand it goes to B series ...

The engraving was finished by hand in mass in Brescia during that era and I am reliably informed that the price range of what you have is currently between 1200 - 1500 euro's in Italy depending on condition. It was a volume model and it did not come with a case. I hope that helps. The best indication of how much has been through the barrel is to measure the run out on the walls. Do you have facilities near you for that ?

Thank you so much Ben!

It looks like I made a decent deal as I payed approx £500 for it.

I have no facilities close to me that can measure the gun, but as I said, it looks thight and in good shape.
The barrels are shiny and I can see no scratches or dents of any kind.

I have not used it much so far, only a couple of groose this fall.

I have been looking at the marking on the chokes, and I think I have a pretty open set up?
The lower barrel is marked with 4 notches, the upper with 3.

Is there a standard regarding marking on the chokes?
I have found a table that goes like this:
4 notches = imp cylinder
3 notches = modified
2 notches = imp mod
1 notches = full

How does this compare to the other "system" like 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1/1, as I have seen on some other guns?

A last couple of question; It does nok look like Fausti have a distributor in Norway, and I would like to have a set of chokes for ducks and gees.
Is there a shop in UK that send Fausti chokes overseas and which chokes do you recommend for marsh land hunting with heavy loads?

Hi

One should be extra careful when it come to chokes. Even though shotgun are lower pressure systems as compared to rifles.

I have asked my coach and he said the best thing is to ask your gunsmith to measure the symmetry of barrel wall thickness because on these early chocked guns they are often asymmetrical.

As a result your shot pattern will be an asymmetrical ellipsoide pattern rather than symmetrical sphere.

Remember shot pattern are 3 dimensional and not 2 dimensional !

And you wonder why you are consistently missing certain birds !

Get what I mean ...........

Very few people understand this point.

This is not dangerous but annoying.

It can be re-sleeved and rectified at very little cost.

Your thread pitch might also be metric rather than imperial.

So to help you over the net is difficult and full of pitfalls.

Best to buy the chokes locally and get it measured professionally.

Bit like a silencer on a rifle.

Here is a picture of what I witnessed last year during an international competition.

This was a brand new DT10 and this shooter swapped the choke from his old gun (a 13 months DT10) and screwed it into his new gun.

This is what happened to it.

The Beretta service bus was there and since he was a factory sponsored shooter he was given a new gun and was told to keep quiet ! No name dropping here.

I will come back to you this evening about the Italian choke numbering system.

Be careful

I think you are not far off but let me check with coach.

Arild, those chokes should be 1/4 & 1/2, couldn't be better for a general purpose field gun.

Thank you so much Ben for all the great info
I guess I just let it be the way it is until I can have my smith look it over.

Brian, will try it with those chokes, thank you for your input.
As I said, I´m not much of a shotgunner, but will try to get more practice when the ranges open up after winter.

We can still shoot ptarmigans until February 28. but were I live, the mountains are not safe due to lots of wet snow and risk of avalanches.

Have the two on the left washed and brought to my room.

OK These are the choke proof marks for Italy.

There should be a number followed by a star (*)

If there is no star (*) and just a number then it is very likely these chokes are non Italian aftermarket fitted items.

1* 1/1 choke (Full)

2* 3/4 choke

3* 1/2 choke

4* 1/4 choke

I hope this helps.

Thank´s Ben.
No numbers or stars, only the aforementioned notches.
Most likely non factory then.
I also see that the upper chocke is slightly offset (non concentric) to the barrel and the barrel wall is spooky thin in the area.

Well, the gun is safe and sound and I will use it as it is.
Again, thank you so much for the information.

This forum is an Aladdins Cave of knowledge

Arlid

without my coach who is Italian I know nothing !

So when you next shoot a left bird you have to give it extra lead and shoot higher

Will do mate

Arild,

The notches cut into the end of the choke will correspond to the star system of marking with the same values Ben has listed above. The idea is that it allows the user to inspect the choking of the gun without removing the chokes from the barrels as you would have to do if the chokes were marked on the side.

The stock shape lookes like a regular italian sporter, although the forend shape harks to a skeet gun which fits to the date of manufacture as multi chokes would have been relatively early in their development.

My understanding is that many of the early multichoked sporters were based on modified skeet models with narrower ribs (not as narrow as the pure game versions which can be 4mm-5mm). Game guns are also traditionally fixed choke.

I think it would be highly unlikely that the chokes are atermarket but if you look at the barrel flats and see if the gun is reproofed (which it would have been if material was taken from the barrels)then you will get an indication. If you have only original proof marks then the gun will have come with them from the manufacture.

BTW, Ben is spot on with his comment about the patterning of early multichokes. Try patterning the gun to see if there are any flaws. They can also be tempremental with cartridges, and most definately don't put three inch steel (or any steel for that matter) through anything tighter than a half choke. Personally I only run steel trough a cylinder or quarter choke at most.

Hope it helps mate and if you want more info on how to pattern it I'm sure Dig will help when he gets back from Germany on Wednesday.

Rgds,
K

Kiri.
You got me courious, so I took the gun apart and looked over the marking.
Here is what I found:
The rib is 7 mm wide and serrated.

The upper barrel is marked CAM 76 18.4 and a shield with what looks like two crossed guns topped with star within a circle.

The lower barrel is marked KG 1,320 18,4 same shield as upper barrel.

Reciver block (wrong name?) is marked on the underside with the gun #, a square with BN, letters who looks like FINITO, letters PSF with the star in circle above, number 61, letter S and number 5.

The forend locking metall has on the inside the same number as the gun.

This tells me nothing, but might shear some light for the experts?

I do not plan to use steel, but will shoot bismuth or tungsten shots in wetlands.
And I will difinalely pattern the gun as soon as I can.

Arild ,"groose " is this a rare hybrid goose/grouse found in Norway ? I really wish my grandparents had taught me Norwegian !

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Arild ,"groose " is this a rare hybrid goose/grouse found in Norway ? I really wish my grandparents had taught me Norwegian !

Ahrrgggg...misspelling.
Not that easy to always get everything right when communicating in a foreign language.
But a rare bird it would be

Arild,

The 76 is the chamber length. 76mm so 3"

18.4 on each barrel is the bore diameter. Sounds slightly over bored to me but then I'm not entirely familiar with the metric version, but even if it is 0.2mm bigger it won't make a big difference at all.

KG1320 is the proof pressure. Again we deal in Ft/lbs but this li=ooks like a shade under 3000 ftlbs so magnum proofed for steel is correct.

The pictures are the proof marks and dependent on the exact picture will tell you roughly when it was proofed and where. I'm sure a google search for Italian proof marks will yield a match with some information. Google knows everything!!!

Anyway I hope that helps.

K

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:

KG1320 is the proof pressure.

Arlid

This is not the proof pressure but the weight of your barrels at proof which denotes 1.320 kilograms.

This is also a very good way of knowing if the barrels have been worked on since proof because this weight will change significantly if it has been re-blued.

Weigh it and see (without the forend of course)

1.3 kilograms is about right for 26 inch barrel set

I perform best with 1560 grams along 29.5 inches barrel set

Ben, the barrels weight 1,327 kilograms on my digital kitchen scale.
Pretty close I guess to testify that this is the original set up?

(A tall and handsome fella like you Ben must naturally have a bigger gun than a short and grumpy old man like me ).

Kiri.
I found a site with a truckload of European proof marks, and also those on my gun.
Very interesting.
Now I know a lot more then when I started this thread.
Again, many thanks mates for helping me out

Arlid

I did not mean that

Mine is a trap setup completely different than game so cannot compare

I should have made it clear in the first place

I think by now you have the whole genealogy of your shotgun on this thread !

Power to AR .........

Happy hunting

07 gm is probably the amount of lead deposited inside the barrels in the past 26 years !

(I was just trying to be funny Ben )

Yes, this has been a great lecture in shotgun history and standards!

And yes...Power to AR

quote:

Originally posted by londonhunter:

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:

KG1320 is the proof pressure.

Arlid

This is not the proof pressure but the weight of your barrels at proof which denotes 1.320 kilograms.

This is also a very good way of knowing if the barrels have been worked on since proof because this weight will change significantly if it has been re-blued.

Weigh it and see (without the forend of course)

1.3 kilograms is about right for 26 inch barrel set

I perform best with 1560 grams along 29.5 inches barrel set

My bad. Please don't tell my wife something I said was wrong. It will undo years of training!!

K

K

Don't worry

That's what so fantastic about AR

We are all friends here sharing what we know and what we don't know

Hope everything is OK in EIRE

Still considering your proposal for April

Can I tell my wife I won this April trip with you in a competition ?

Ben

I got a call regarding april. Gimme a call later as there have been some developments.

K