Gun

Marocchi Model 99

New Age Gunmaking?

A new gun hits the market from an Italian firm which will be unfamiliar to many readers. Richard Rawlingson tells all.

I suspect many of you will know little if anything about the Marocchi company and the guns they make, despite the fact that the firm have been in business since 1922 and that the current boss Mauro Marocchi is the third generation of his family earning his living as a gunmaker. If I  were to say Classic Doubles then things might become a little clearer, because Marocchi was the maker that took over Classic Doubles production after the demise of the original factory in Japan. The models it produced under that name were sound guns at a fair price but they failed to break the iron grip of the 'big three' brands in the volume end of the market.

In America Marocchi has always sold under its own name and it has established a solid reputation, especially for a gun called the Contrast, a Boss action gun in the Perazzi style, largely hand-made in relatively small numbers. Now the name is being unveiled in Britain on a totally new gun which promises much at prices which could give the opposition cause for thought.

Called the M99, the gun is, say importers Anglo Italian Arms, the product of 'new age gunmaking'. It is certainly true that it would have been very difficult to make this gun at the price 20 years ago, or even 10. Advances in the use of computer controlled milling machinery (usually called CNC machines) have made the precision production of every part of a gun by machine a technical possibility, eliminating the vast majority of the hand fitting and finishing which adds so much to the cost.

This is not totally new of course. BSA were mass producing side-by-sides in the thirties and the Beretta 680 series is a gun designed from the outset to be totally machine-made; which is how they achieve the combination of price and quality they do. Boss-action guns though do require substantial hand fitting even if machines have made most of the parts. Marocchi claim to have developed the first such gun which is capable of being produced in volume to sell at mass-market prices. Technically advanced it may be - how does the end product perform in the field?

The Gun

The M99 is being launched as both trap and sporting models in three grades. The Grade One as shown in our pictures will have a recommended retail price of £1,490, rising to £1,890 and £1,990 for the Grades Two and Three respectively. This will put it firmly head-to-head with Browning's XS and XT range and the Beretta 682 for anyone looking for a serious competition model in the key sub-£2,000 segment of the market.

Technically the gun has some interesting features. The action promises to be very strong and hard wearing as a result of the way the barrels lock to the action. The usual breech extension and bite either side of the bottom barrel that we associate with a Boss-type gun are there, as are the bifurcated lumps either side of the monobloc. The base of the bloc however is cut away and the shape is mirrored by the mating projections in the receiver. The locking surfaces extend as a result to the bottom of the monobloc as well as the sides, spreading the load over a much greater surface area. Only time and thousands of cartridges will tell just how well this will last, but the signs are promising for a very durable action.

The cocking rod runs along the base of the receiver in conventional fashion, while the stub pins on which the barrels pivot are removable and easily replaced - another plus point. The ejector rods in the action knuckle operate on sears in the fore end which engage the spring-loaded ejectors, a simple design with no obvious weak spots.

The barrels are nicely made and finished, weighing 1.51kg on the 302 sporter, relatively light especially on a gun with considerable mass in the action itself. Both top and mid ribs are ventilated and initially all sporters will have multichokes. The top rib is 10mm wide and parallel, with plain cross-cut finish. Marocchi have chosen to fit quite a long and pink strip foresight which is not my favourite - I would have preferred something small and white, but it's a minor carp not a big deal.

Barrel selection and safety catch are combined in the conventional H-pattern. The trigger blade can be set to one of four positions by releasing the small locking Allen screw and disengaging the blade with the sprung plunger. At about 10mm the range of movement is quite generous.

Given that Vic Harker of Anglo Italian Arms has a pedigree in the design of stocks for competition guns that extends back to the days of the Winchester 6500 series, I expected the dimensions on the new guns to be well chosen. The trap gun is in the Italian style with a full pistol grip and palm swell. Length is 375mm and drop 32mm at comb and 42mm at heel. The sporter has a noticeably slimmer stock through the comb and a much shallower radius to the grip. The length remains the same and drop is 37mm at comb and 51mm at heel. There is a small amount of cast - 2mm at heel, 5mm at toe. Few would argue with those dimensions as a good average figure for a production gun although they will obviously not suit everyone. For those who need more than minor adjustment Marocchi will be offering a custom stock service on an exchange basis. Send them your required dimensions - either direct or through a dealer - and a replacement stock will be supplied at cost of around £100. This seems remarkably good value and is again I am informed made possible by the use of sophisticated stock profiling machines at the factory which automate the whole process.

Cosmetics

The finish on the action body is testament to the quality achievable with CNC technology. The shape of the action contains many complex compound curves and styling features such as double fences and all are beautifully executed and finished to a very high standard. The exterior surfaces on the Grade 1 guns are left very plain but in highly polished chrome. There are echoes of the old Winchester 6500 on first glance. The top lever and other furniture is also very well made - the rolled edge to the trigger guard is a typical piece of thoughtful detailing.

I like the look of the basic grade gun, it has a lean and purposeful feel appropriate to a competition model. Lovers of game scene engraving can have that on the higher grades.

Marocchi have eschewed the use of polyurethane finishes on the stock, using instead a true oil finish which is as good as I have seen on a gun in this price range. The wood itself is unremarkable but decent enough and the chequering is quite fine and well done. The sporter stock is finished with a thin orange rubber pad that some might find a touch sticky although it gave me no problems.

On Test

We were lucky enough to be able to put three different guns through their paces in direct comparison, sporters with 28 and 30 inch barrels and a 30" trap gun.

I said that the trap gun was Italian in its basic set up and that carries through to the handling which was quick in the way many top Italians like their guns and ideally suited to the international disciplines. The choice of 32" barrels might steady things down a touch.

The handling of the sporters was very neutral. The action is a substantial lump of metal and that puts the bulk of the weight very much between the hands. As you might expect the 30" was the steadier of the two, although the difference was quite subtle, but the extra pointability of the longer barrels was apparent on a testing long crossing bird from the tower. It would certainly be my choice and I expect that will be reflected in the sales. I found the gun very easy to get on with almost from the first shot, without any unduly noticeable recoil; the result I think of the basic sound thinking in the stock design.

The trigger pulls I would rate as perfectly acceptable, if not outstanding. There is little apparent drag but on my gauge they measured 5 lbs for the first barrel and 51/2 for the second. A pound lighter would be my ideal.

Overall I came away from the test impressed by the new Marocchi. It has much of the look of the prestige guns costing twice the price and more, yet costs the same as a mainstream gun. Handling is good and the build quality well up to scratch for the price being asked. It also offers something distinctly different from the Brownings, Mirokus and Berettas which dominate this sector of the market. I wrote just recently that the late lamented Winchester's place in the market had never really been filled. Could this be the gun to finally do it?

More information: Anglo Italian Arms Ltd 20 Mill Street Shipston-on-Stour Warwickshire CV36 4AW Tel/Fax