#Europe

Benelli manufactures most of their firearm components at their factory, but sources some others from outside companies. As an example, all Benelli rifle and shotgun barrels are made by Beretta. Wood stocks come from a variety of sources, as do some polymer parts. Mauro of Benelli explains to us how they make sure that every part is made to their specifications, and what it means to be a “Benelli Certified Supplier.”

Our first factory tour in Europe was the Beretta Armi factory in Gardone, Val Trompia, Italy. I came away very impressed with pretty much every facet of their operations, and this opinion didn’t change as we visited other manufacturers.

The second handgun I ever purchased – and the most accurate I’ve ever owned – was a replica single action revolver made in Italy. It was chambered in .45 Colt and a blast to shoot. There are many varieties of single action revolvers available now, and many are made by the Italian manufacturer Uberti.

An example of how the latest in technology has found its way into the firearm industry is Benelli’s design bureau. The engineers there utilize various CAD software programs, as well as a high speed camera capable of taking 1 million frames per second, to design, test, and analyze their weapons. One of the more interesting things we saw at Benelli was what you’re about to see in this video: high speed camera footage alongside a computer model in motion.

Beretta semi-auto shotguns are prized in the competition world, but don’t have the same presence in the “tactical shotgun” world alongside weapons such as the Remington 870 Police and Benelli’s Tactical series. Beretta is hoping to change that with the Tx4, a 12ga semi-auto with an 18″ hammer forged and chrome lined barrel, iron sights, and a top picatinny rail. Jarno of Beretta explains more in the video.

Benelli is a relatively new firearm manufacturer, especially in European terms, having been established in 1967. It’s grown to be a respected force in the shotgun business, and especially since becoming part of the Beretta Group, it’s adopted many new technologies. The level of automation is incredibly high – for example, production of the new Vinci shotgun, from processing of raw materials to final packaging, is entirely done by robots and machines.

While at IWA, I had the chance to sit down with two very knowledgeable guys from the Turkish firearms manufacturing company, Sarsilmaz. Semih, a sales executive, talked to me about the company itself and their plans to expand to the United States, while Ahmet, an engineer, discussed the various pistols, revolvers, and shotguns that the company makes.

Due to import restrictions, the Sig 55X rifle series is pretty rare in the United States. As a result, many Americans are unfamiliar with this excellent weapons system, while others around the world are intimately familiar with it. Rico Ghinolfi was the Swiss Arms gunsmith pulling IWA duty, and he took a lot of his time to discuss this and other topics with me. He’s a very knowledgeable and skilled individual, and I learned a lot from our talks – I tried to stop by every day and pester him with more questions, none of which he had difficulty answering.

In order to find out which method of rifle barrel manufacturing was best, I interviewed Jochen Anschutz (president of Anschutz) and Woody Woodall (president of Lothar-Walther). I found it interesting that although Mr. Woodall stated that all three of the major methods – cut rifling, button rifling, and hammer forging – can produce equally accurate barrels, and although Mr. Anschutz is surrounded (in Europe) by manufacturers that produce hammer forged barrels, both companies choose button rifling for their precision rifle barrels.

I spoke with the president of Steyr Mannlicher at IWA and he informed me that they will import the AUG to the United States through their Trussville, Alabama facility. This is good news for AUG fans, especially since the quality control will be under Steyr’s watchful eye, and not a corporate partner. However, I do not have specific dates or prices to report.

While at IWA, I had a chance to interview world champion pistol shooter Rob Leatham. Mr. Leatham has won the IPSC World Championship 5 times and the USPSA National Championship an incredible 24 times, among many other prestigious victories. He’s been described by Brian Enos as “the finest and most accomplished shot on the planet.”

Steyr-Mannlicher, which is located, naturally, in Steyr, Austria, has been hammer forging barrels longer than any other firearm manufacturer. They’re located in the same town as GFM, the company that manufactures the massive, complex, and very expensive hammer forging machines used by nearly every large arms maker in the world. We visited their ultra-modern facility, constructed in 2004, to compare their manufacturing processes to the other companies that we’d visited on our whirlwind tour of Europe.

As I mentioned previously, the KRISS booth was pretty impressive. They had lots of Sphinx pistols on display, as well as Defiance suppressors and pistol sights. Last but not least, they also had the KRISS Vector .45 caliber submachine gun. Before I continue, let me say that they do not refer to it as the “Super V” and do not like it to be referred to as such. Calling it the Super V almost cost me some free Swiss chocolate!

For a “gun guy,” few things are cooler than being able to visit the factory where some of your very own firearms were made. While in Europe, I had the opportunity to visit a number of different factories, including Sig Sauer’s plant in Eckernförde, Germany. The trip took many hours, and easily could have taken many more, for there was much to see and do. I learned a great deal about Sig and its employees, and even met the man who did all the hand-fitting on my Sig X-Five Tactical.

Christophe Guignard, CEO of Defiance (and VP of KRISS and Sphinx) explains the features of their pistol and submachine gun suppressors. Innovative is an overused term in this industry, but these products definitely have innovations that set them apart from practically all other suppressors on the market.