Franchi affinity max 5

Established around the mid-1860s, the company that bears Luigi Franchi’s name has seen its fortunes wax and wane. Based in the famous Italian town of Brescia, a part of the world that holds a very special meaning for me as the home and starting point of the famous Mille Miglia road race, an event in its modern form that I’ve had the great good fortune to participate in. The town – like Franchi – are of historic significance.

Over the years, Franchi has produced some excellent over unders, the sidelock Imperiale Montecarlo Extra, the Astore and Albatros, none of which are still in production. So it’s with a degree of irony that this once maker of fine, top-end Italian double-barrelled shotguns is best known for the large capacity Spas-12 and Spas-15 military shotguns that combine both semi-auto and pump-action facilities. Now part of the Beretta group of companies, over the years Franchi at times seem to have taken a decreasing part in proceedings, new guns not exactly a frequent occurrence, the brand more an R&D facility.

Similarly, given that Beretta and sister brand Benelli produce some of the most desirable semiautos on the market, it comes as no surprise that when a new Franchi comes along, especially a semi-auto, it owes a significant part of its being to one or the other. The down and upside to all this is that when you take a close look at the new Franchi Affinity what you actually see is a budget-orientated Benelli, the positive aspect being it’s a Benelli that’s enormously affordable.

Don’t Be Seen

The Affinity on test was the Max5 camo model which meant that apart from the black polymer trigger guard, trigger, bolt and mag cap the rest of the Franchi was cloaked in Realtree’s reed based disguise. Complete with a set of three steel proofed, flush-fit choke tubes and additional stock shims that you stand a chance of needing, what you get is what you find in the cardboard carton.

Synthetic from front to back, the game stock features a deep, sculpted black rubber recoil pad that fits neatly into the stock, a slender, stippled, ambidextrous grip feeding into the stock head. Move forward and a long, contoured forend that, like the grip encourages freedom of gun movement is comfortable and more than long enough for the leading hand to grasp the gun in a variety of positions. A word of note at this point, when you assemble the Affinity, you need to fit the forend to the barrel before offering the barrel extension up to the receiver, otherwise the gun won’t go together.

By sliding the barrel ring into the front of the forend, taking care to ensure the barrel ring flange seats correctly, lift the rear of the forend into position and then slide over the magazine tube as the barrel extension slides into the receiver. Similarly, the bolt must be in the forward or battery position for the barrel and forend to slide over the action spring and twin runner guide or once again, the gun won’t go together, the bolt needing to be drawn back and locked out as the three pieces finally come together. And be sure to dog the mag cap up as tight, otherwise it has a habit of backing itself off after a few shots.

Fixed Length

Barrel-wise its 28 inches or nothing, the three inch chambered tube featuring a vented 7mm stippled rib sat on wide stanchions, a small orange bead crowning the muzzle. Feeding into the aircraft grade alloy receiver, the unit’s low-profile and slim characteristics provide the shooter with the proven basics of this type of design, Franchi’s self-regulating ID or Inertia Drive cyclic system is based heavily around the two-piece rotating head bolt more usually found and associated with the Benelli range.

One of the fastest of its type, in conjunction with the gun’s long action spring and runner, the rotating head spins and locks the live round into place and ejects the spent shell with a degree of efficiency other makers can only dream of emulating. The ejection port is slightly longer than usual, whilst the familiar bolt release sits just below, the long shell lifter providing smooth access to the magazine, a positive feel when the second and third rounds are pushed into place.

Physically Franchi’s new Affinity should fit most shooters. Weight-wise the gun is a wellbalanced 7lbs 1oz that pivots around a point directly beneath the chamber, the Franchi inherently neutral in feel. In length the gun measures 49½ inches with a comfortable 14¾ inch length of pull to the crisp, 4lbs 2oz breaking trigger. It’s the drops at comb and heel that, in their factory setting, are a little low, 1 9/16 inches and 2 9/16 inches setting the comb a fraction below a level most shooters will look for. Fear not, the supplied stock shims allow you to lift the stock to a more comfortable position although as supplied from the factory the gun remains more than shootable, an adjustment of your mount taking care of the slight physical anomaly.

Fitting ¼ choke and with a plentiful supply of 28g Eley VIP Sporting, the first two stands of Bond & Bywater’s evening sporting weren’t exactly inspirational, that was until I modified my head position. Head down on the stock, but with my eyes rolled upwards as far as they’d go, the Franchi leapt into life, clay after clay shattering as the Affinity did the business. The benefit of the lower comb, a fact borne out after an afternoon on Huntroyde’s crows, pigeons and squirrels was that in combination with the gun’s balance, smoothness of swing and general handling, the Affinity is definitely a reactionary 12g.

Granted, without the recoil reducing refinements of its near relative, the Benelli, you can feel the Affinity going about its business, the surplus energy generated by the detonation and not utilised to cycle the gun dissipated only by the recoil pad and of course, you. This in turn means you need to pull the gun into your shoulder, each shot resulting in a physically snappy sensation that whilst far from uncomfortable means the Affinity feels active within the hands.

The Franchi moves well, the profiling of the grip and forend allow the shooter to keep the gun fluid prior to and between shots. End result is a semi-auto that flicks between targets with ease, live quarry being quickly engaged irrespective of direction or height, the Affinity nippy and able to take them on. Likewise, being inertia, apart from the gun’s dislike of 21g and 24g loads, 28g and above are all taken care of without any need for adjustment, the larger loads considerably speeding up the Franchi’s cyclic rate.

Conclusion

To keep things simple, UK importer’s GMK are keeping to just two 28 inch barrel versions of the Affinity – the Max5 camo as seen here retailing for £695, the Black synthetic version a few quid cheaper at £640. The added bonus of this new Franchi is that the shooter, especially the one on a budget, is able to purchase a genuine Italian semi-auto for Turkish shotgun money. And whilst this at times might not seem to make a whole lot of difference, it’s the fact the Affinity is Italian that significantly increases the gun’s appeal when the selection process comes into play.

Compared to others, especially those within the Beretta family, Franchi’s Affinity is definitely more ‘old school’ in how it feels and shoots. There’s no frills, no ‘look at this latest piece of technology’, no ‘look at the fancy stock or intricate internals’. Instead, Franchi’s Affinity does exactly what it says on the box, an inertia driven semi-auto 12g that sends lead or steel shot in the intended direction, the simplicity of the gun a major strong point in comparison to the rest. It’s the sort of gun you’ll assemble and go and shoot with and then shoot again and again and again, and only when it’s covered in mud and grime will you actually be bothered to clean it. In days gone by, semi-automatics tended to be one of the most neglected of all shotguns until technology took over. Now they need tender loving care or so it seems, a state of affairs Franchi’s new semi looks upon with disdain, the Affinity a semi-auto the true shooter will most definitely want to own.

Price: SRP £695
Contact: GMK Ltd 01489 579 999 www.gmk.co.uk
Thanks to: Eley:www.eleyhawk.com
Bond & Bywater: www.bondbywater.co.uk
Huntroyde Estate: www.huntroyde-estate.co.uk
CENS Digital: www.censdigital.com
Arrow Laser Shot: www.arrowlasershot.com
Maui Jim: www.davidgouldopticians.co.uk