Low prices on the Franchi Instinct Sporting 12- Gauge start at Champion Firearms-

Trust Your Instinct. Established in 1868, Franchi is a firearms manufacturer located in Brescia, Italy that earned a reputation for producing high quality shotguns.

The company would not become famous here in the United States until the release of the Franchi SPAS12 -- Hollywood's quintessential go to tactical shotgun with the distinctive hook stock -- as seen in the hands of a futuristic cyborg killing machine played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1984 thriller Terminator, or doing dinosaur busting duty in Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park. Today Franchi is owned and manufactured in house by fellow Italian firearms manufacturer Pietro Beretta.

The Franchi Instinct Sporting comes with a polished stainless steel receiver, light touches of engraving and a nice walnut stock. This handsome shotgun borrows heavily from the time proven designs of other models.

When Beretta acquired Franchi, they wanted to deliver a quality shotgun capable of capturing a more diverse market share. Instead of confusing customers with a dizzying array of various Beretta models with differing degrees of features and price structures, the firearms juggernaut decided to acquire Franchi and Stoeger to get the job done.

In the case of the Stoeger, the Condor was designed to offer the entry level shooter a reliable and affordable over-and-over, where the Franchi Instinct line was designed to be a mid level shotgun, bridging the gap between the Condor and Beretta's 686 series.

At the heart of the Franchi Instinct Sporting design is a Browning Superposed style locking bolt that emerges from the bottom of its standing breech to engage a recess machined into the barrel monobloc. Unlike the Superposed, however, with its full length hinge pin, the Instinct has a set of Beretta style replaceable trunnions located in the inner walls of the receiver.

Over time, if the Instinct is ever fired to the extent that it needs to be rebuilt, a Franchi gunsmith can easily replace the hinge pins to re-tighten the shotgun. Other over-and-under designs are not serviceable in this way, and the owner is saddled with a permanently loose firearm.

Franchi enjoys the benefits if sharing engineering technology with its parent company Beretta. For more than five centuries, Beretta has made the best barrels in the world. Both of the gun's 30- inch barrels are a unique proprietary blend of steel, chromium and molybdenum that are deep-hole drilled, cold hammer forged and then chrome lined, which provides two major advantages.

The first is to ensure the internal barrel dimensions remain perfectly concentric, providing greater precision and accuracy. The second is to add strength for firing steel shot or magnum loads. The barrels are exceptionally well made and then stress relieved by a controlled cooling process, which slowly bring the steel forging temperatures down over a period of days to maximize barrel harmonics and performance.

This results in a superior design that delivers a thinner, more accurate shotgun. Three interchangeable, extended Beretta Mobilchokes are included with the package: IC, M & F.

The combination H- shaped barrel and safety selector sits on top of the tang. A crisp mechanical trigger provides consistent shooting accuracy. Automatic ejectors send spent shells flying without a hitch, even when the chambers are dirty from many rounds of shooting.

The shotgun mounts and balances extremely well. For an over-and-under with a steel receiver, the gun is surprisingly lightweight, weighing in at 7.5 lbs. The vented mid-rib allows the long barreled target gun to swing like a much quicker shotgun. While the polished stainless steel receiver provides a sporty look, the deep blued barrels are beautifully finished and complete the gun's elegant looks.

An "A- Grade" satin oil finished Turkish walnut stock and forend feature crisp checkering. The fit between the buttstock and receiver also leaves absolutely nothing to be desired.

The cut checkering on the stock and forearm are well executed, with not a single diamond left pointing up. The beavertail forearm is attached to the barrels by a Deeley-style latch and the action's lock- up is bank vault tight. The gun's low profile barrel rib is equipped with a red bead front sight that tracks a target well.

Chambered for 2-3/4" loads up to heavy 3" magnums, Franchi is backed by one of the best shotgun warranty's on the market-- 7 years! Overall, the Franchi Instinct Sporting is rugged, well built, well balanced, well finished shotgun that will make an excellent choice for anyone looking for a reliable over-and-under shotgun.

Established in 1993, Champion Firearms is a retail gun store and indoor range located in College Station, Texas.

As a brick & mortar store, we pride ourselves on customer service, quality products and our competitive pricing.

Each listing is an item we actively plan to stock. While not all of our inventory is listed, the items contained on our website represent some of the most popular products we carry.

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From all of us here at Champion Firearms, thanks for visiting our store. For assistance, please do not hesitate to let us know what we can do to help: (979) 693-9948 or [email protected]