Marocchi Finn Classic Classic 612s

I was really looking forward to testing this FinnClassic 612S, as I had history with its predecessors, the Valmet 412 and Tikka 512. Now made in Italy by Marocchi, rather than in Finland, the FinnClassic is one of the shotgun world’s best kept secrets.

It deserves a lot more credit and exposure than it gets, as it offers very good performance, build quality and excellent patterns from the multi choke barrels. Best of all and as with its predecessors, the 612 can instantly become a double barrelled over and under 12g shotgun, then a combination 12g rifle calibre gun with a swift change of barrels and then a double rifle with the final barrel change. These are extras but make the FinnClassic 612 the most versatile shotgun on the planet.

I had the 612S model that came in a white polymer case supplied with five chokes and key, this model also sported an elevating cheekpiece, although a standard stock is available at the same price of £1357.

Stock

Let’s start with that stock, which is available in standard walnut guise or with an elevating cheekpiece (as here) for better fit and angled sighting down the rib for differing birds or clays as you like. I get that and it makes sense to have a degree of flexibility of fit but to me it spoils the clean lines of the Finn 612S. However, the walnut used is a nice dark colour with some straight-lined figuring and grain.

The butt-plate is a solid but soft black rubber and comes as standard with a 5mm extension piece. By fitting a variety of inserts of different thicknesses and angles you can the cast and length of pull; standard was 14.25-inches to suit your frame. You simply unscrew the butt plate and alter as you like.

Fit and finish of the stock is very good around the action and the semi-rubbed oil finish is also to my liking, giving a practical finish. The pistol grip, along with the forend, has some real chequering i.e. well cut and defined, albeit by laser; however, they actually grip and are not just for looks. The forend has several angled panels of chequering, giving a modern flavour that wraps around the underside and has a laser etched Marocchi monogram to finish off. The pistol grip is well raked for a comfortable hold and again has a couple of additional chequered panels to the thumb rest area, which really do help in the grip department. The elevated cheekpiece is 8.5-inches long and allows over an inch of adjustment in height via two small Allen screws to loosen the grip on two internally set pillars; Allen key supplied.

Barrels

I had the 29.5-inch barrels that seems odd but in metric that’s 75cm, hence the barrel length. Options are 61,66 and 71cm but all are steel proofed and can shoot safely loads up to 56-grams or 2oz. The barrels are multi choke, as one would expect, and come with a full complement of five chokes. These are Maxi S170 tubes, which form a conical system of restriction that has a long taper or cone length for a tighter, more uniform pattern that keeps a good pattern further down range.

Steel shot can be used up to modified or half choke and only ¾ or full chokes with steel shot; the special S190 chokes are specially heat treated to provide 200kg/mm2.

Chokes are removed by a counter clockwise turn, using the turnkey provided; the chokes are long and rated at steel prof to ½ choke and are very well finished and polished internally.

Overall finish to the barrels is a very deep bluing with a high polish, which is really rich and good looking. The barrels are ventilated between themselves to aid in cooling, with six large vents that finish half way under the forend. The top rib is sporter type and wide at 9mm with a precise turned top and two sights. The first is a small silver bead at 14.5-inches from the muzzles and the main sight is your typical red dot Day-Glo type.

Interestingly, and familiar to all owners of this model and older Tikka/Valmets, is the very rear of the rib is widened for 2.75-inches to the action joint. This is also dovetailed with a recoil notch on top. This is to fit a quick detachable scope mount for slug use when a barrel is fitted with the open/cylinder choke.

You can also fit a red dot as is and shoot buckshot or normal bird shot if you desired; it’s nice to have that option.

Action, trigger and safety

The action is one of my favourite designs; it stems from the Remington 3200 action and Krieghoff use a similar system today. It has a very large top locking bolt that, as the top lever is opened, allows the bolt/ cover to move rearward and allows the barrels to open and drop down. This top bolt locks on two side tapered lugs and so form a very solid lock up, with a good degree of built-in wear to keep the action tight.

This top bolt is blued with ribbed facets and this contrast well with the Nickel finished alloy action sides, but the main bearing surfaces are steel inserts. These are devoid of scrolls or unnecessary adornments, which I prefer, clean and unsullied. The ejectors are very well timed and throw the spent cases a long way and the whole action mechanism is very well finished and operates smoothly.

The safety is sited where you would expect it, on the rear tang, with a small, shallow grooved silvered lozenge shape. It is automatic, not my favourite, as I tend to forget to switch off. The firing pins and sears release on each stroke of the trigger pull, which I prefer, and the barrel selector is also one of my favourites. This is a small button, inset into the trigger blade itself. There are arrows moulded into the trigger; so, when the button is push to the left, it shoots the bottom barrel and, to the right, it shoots the top barrel.

It’s a very slick system and easy to access and makes it fast to alter if you change your mind which barrel to shoot.

Field test

As usual, I set some pattern boards at 30-yards and fired the bottom barrel fitted with the ½ choke.

First up, where the Hull High Pheasant that shot a 30-gram load of No. 6 shot. I had a total of 214 pellets strike the board with a slight high bias but a small adjustment of the cheekpiece and I was all centralised, proving the point of the rising cheekpiece.

The No. 6 shot was distributed 157 pellets to the outer 30-inches and 57 pellets within 15-inches with a very good overall coverage; a great game load.

Gamebore’s Clear Pigeon is a trusted pigeon load, shooting 330-grams of No. 6 shot. At 30-yards, I had a total of 215 pellet strikes with 139 outer hits and 76 inner strikes with another dense, even pattern from the FinnClassic bores.

Finally, a more clay shooting cartridge and the Eley Superb load of 28-grams of No. 7.5 pellets threw a superb swarm of pellets on the boards. Total pellet count was a whopping 339 with 236 No. 7.5 pellets around the 30-inches and a mean 103 pellets with 15-inches, that’s smoking a clay right there.

Conclusion

The FinnClassic 612S is a very versatile gun, with the double rifle and combo barrel sets if you desire. But just as a double over under shotgun this gun really shoots and for less than £1400.

Build quality is very good, being Italian and it shows, good wood quality, excellent chequering and design and metal to wood fit. Handling is really natural and comes up effortlessly and made more user friendly by this model having the adjustable cheekpiece fitted.

Don’t overlook a FinnClassic for another shotgun, as that would be a mistake; they shoot as good as they look, see the pattern boards, a great value O/U for the money.