Gun Review

They are “The Gun Sisters”—the shotgun industry’s modern Dianas of the hunt. The three Fausti ladies run the Fausti Stefano Arms factory in the gunmakers’ valley of Marcheno, Italy. They inherited the business from their father, Stefano, who founded it in 1948. Under the control of the sisters, the Fausti factory is a fully modernized, CNC-based, internationally marketed producer with 40 employees.

Well known in Europe, Fausti’s presence in the US has been variable until recently. In the past four years all that has changed. Fausti has replaced SKB in producing the over/unders and side-by-side shotguns for Weatherby. Fausti now makes the L.C. Smith over/under for Marlin and the Verona side-by-side for Legacy Sports International. The company also builds a side-by-side for an English maker. Fausti-branded guns are sold through Cabela’s, which has carried various Fausti O/U and side-by-side models in the past. The latest side-by-side really caught my eye when I spoke to Giovanna and Barbara Fausti in the Cabela’s booth at last fall’s Vintage Cup.

It is called the Dea Round Body and, appropriately, “Dea” means “goddess” in Italian. Cabela’s sells the Dea Round Body for $3,995 and currently stocks it in the 20-gauge, 28", double-trigger version with English stock and splinter forend. The company expected to be carrying the 16-gauge set up the same way by the time you read this. Cabela’s also handles the more traditional looking sideplated, non-rounded Fausti Dea SL boxlock side-by-side for the same price.

The Dea Round Body’s scaled receiver is what catches your eye. As the name suggests, this Anson & Deeley boxlock is nicely rounded on the bottom edges. Fausti literature goes to lengths to say that this isn’t just grinding the sharp lower edges off. The very action was built and redesigned to accept the rounded edges. As an interesting comparison to my 85-year-old 12-gauge Webley & Scott A&D action, the 20-gauge Dea’s is actually a touch deeper in the water table but very much narrower thanks to its 20-gauge width. My guess is that the rounding of the Dea’s receiver moved some of the internals in and up. You won’t mistake the Dea rounded action for a Dickson, but the Dea Round Body certainly does have graceful lines and a comfortable one-hand carry.

Other than that, the action is pretty standard A&D. Inside, the CNC machining is purposeful but not polished. There is no evidence of extensive handwork, but I have no issues with that as long as the gun works. The emphasis is on the outside, which mostly looks pretty good. I was surprised that there were faint machining marks on the front of the receiver shoulders where they mate with the forend iron. It is probably inconsequential, but you’d think that this one area would be baby-bottom smooth.

The manual safety is a simple trigger block. The hammers and firing pins are built as one unit. The firing-pin holes in the standing breech are not bushed, because failure of a firing pin will mean replacement of the entire hammer.

Hinge-pin employment is unique. There is a hinge-pin insertion/removal cap on the right side of the receiver but none on the left. Giovanna Fausti told me that “the hinge pin is not replaceable by the customers, but we have three different locking-bolt sizes for any problem connected to the wear of the gun after years of work.”

The bottom action plate and triggerplate are one piece, unlike the two separate pieces in my Webley & Scott. The A&D action in the Robertson (reviewed in Jan/Feb) also used only one piece.

The automatic ejectors appear to be conventional Southgates but with a plus. There is a selector switch inside the forearm that converts the system from ejector to extractor with the turn of a lever. For some shooters this will be a convenience, but it is totally unnecessary for SSM readers, who already know how to keep our hunting fields pristine by catching and pocketing our empties . . . .

Although Fausti offers the Dea Round Body with a single trigger in foreign markets, the Cabela’s guns all have double triggers. The blades are nicely cut, with the rear having a right-hand bias. The front trigger is not articulated, so you’ll want to make sure your stock is long enough to avoid a dinged digit. Trigger pulls on our test gun were 6 pounds for the front and 5-1/2 pounds for the rear. Both pulls were exceptionally crisp and free of creep.

Action lockup is by the conventional Purdey double underbolt. It works. It’s proven. Everybody uses it. Case closed. The underbolt engages the two bottom lumps of the Fausti barrels’ monoblock. As is often the case with A&D actions, one lump locks through the floorplate behind the hinge for additional strength.

Generally, metal joints on our gun were good. The bottom plate seam was well done. The monoblock seam was heavily engraved, but that’s a stylistic decision, not a quality issue. The single locking lug that runs through the bottom plate wasn’t as perfectly fitted as it could have been, though I’m sure it was adequate. The Browning Superposeds could give a lesson here.

Unlike the classic A&Ds, the Dea action has no visible screws on the outside. Three rounded solid pins on each side hold the internal bits in place. This gives the Dea’s receiver a smooth look, especially compared to the 16 screw heads showing on the AyA 4/53 A&D boxlock (see Nov/Dec ’07).

The exterior of the action is silver. Fausti calls the coating Tecnifer. The result on the Dea Round Body is a classic silver coin finish that the company claims is highly resistant to rust.

The receiver engraving is a very fine rose & scroll with 100-percent coverage. It is applied by laser and, unlike some other examples of laser work, manages the curve of the rounded underbody quite well. Viewed through my unforgiving 10X loupe, the little laser craters and ridges were visible. Fausti said that the work was finish-chased by hand, but that was not obvious on our sample. The overall look of the engraving is a little hazy. Under the loupe, the definition is very clear, but to my naked eye some of it seemed to smudge together slightly in certain light. Perhaps that is the price of laser engraving that is so very fine. You’ll have to judge for yourself when you see it.

The Dea Round Body’s 28" barrels have 3" chambers and forcing cones that are longer than normal, in keeping with today’s trends. The chokes are fixed, not screw-in. The right barrel on our test gun measured .625" with a Light Modified choke of .012". The left was .624" with a Light Full choke of .021". Nominal bore diameter for a 20 is .615", so these barrels were noticeably overbore. Both chokes were 3" long, including a short 3/8" stabilizing parallel at the muzzle.

Outside, the barrels were free of ripples. The soldered ribs showed no quality holidays, and the barrels rang like wind chimes when struck. The dark medium-gloss bluing was well applied. The 11mm x 7mm tapered rib is flat and slightly raised in the European style. The top of the rib is machined to reduce glare. A simple steel bead adorns the front. The barrels weighed 2 pounds 8 ounces, an excellent light weight for 28" tubes with 3" chambers. Give thanks to those fixed chokes.

The Dea has a classic English stock and splinter forend. Dimensions are 147/8" x 11/2" x 23/8" with a touch of right-hand cast. That’s about as generic as you can get. The butt is finished with a fancy figured wooden plate. It is a straight-line cut, so a pad could be added easily for extra length if needed. The stock was hollowed out as much as practicable to improve weight and balance.

Wood-to-metal fit on all exterior surfaces was quite good, with no gaps showing. The head of the stock and rear of the forend were just proud enough to allow a refinishing or two. This is as it should be. Inside the forend, the fitting of the Anson push-rod casing was a little rough on our sample, but you’d have to be some sort of anal-retentive gun reviewer to mention it. I did notice that the inside of the head of the stock did not have a protective coat of finish like the forend did. If it were my gun, I’d remedy that to prevent any oil soaking in the future.

The wood on our gun was nicely upgraded walnut—well and equally figured on both sides. It was a butterscotch color with a low-gloss hand-rubbed oil finish: very attractive. Like on many other European guns, the wood pores were not completely filled. The checkering was excellent—too perfect to have been done by hand. Borders were correct, and there were no flat diamonds anywhere. My only slight aesthetic complaint was that the nose of the splinter forend was a little thicker than I like. That might be due to the extra wood support necessary because of the lack of a reinforcing metal escutcheon for the Anson push-button release. It’s the same way on the RBLs.

Overall, the cosmetics of the gun are quite nice. The gun has a classic look. Nothing is out of place. Everything on the gun is steel or wood; no aluminum has crept in as it has on so many other new guns.

What comes in the box? Not much. In addition to the gun, you get some cloth sleeves for the stock and barrels plus a generic manual. That’s it. Well, not entirely. The “box” is actually a beautiful Negrini luggage case that wouldn’t be out of place at the Plaza or on the QE2. Yes, it’s sturdy ABS, but it looks as though it’s trimmed in leather. Gorgeous. Negrini says it is suitable for air travel, but I wouldn’t have the heart.

Sometimes you don’t really need to shoot a gun to know what it will be like. You can just pick it up and tell that it will be good. This was one of those guns. At just under six pounds, the weight is ideal for an upland 20. Without the added weight of screw chokes and the thicker barrels they require, the tubes were properly balanced, giving the gun the neutral, lively feel so important for quick work in the field.

The grip area of the English stock was made with an oval cross-section. Although this may have been done to accommodate the draw bolt, it also lent a very welcome assist to the grip. This, along with the crisp and functional checkering, greatly contributed to a secure handhold when switching triggers.

The stock dimensions were pretty much the 42 Regular of shotgunning. The RBL comes set up the same way. Personally, I like my side-by-sides set up a little higher than my over/unders, but that’s just me.

The gun was an absolute delight to shoot once I figured it out. Side-by-side guns aren’t aimers; they’re pointers. I can try to be precise on long shots with an O/U but not with a side-by-side. When I tried to make sure of a shot with the Fausti, I often ended up disappointed because I lifted my head and stopped the gun. If you move the muzzles with the bird as you mount the gun and then fire as the stock touches your cheek, the Dea Round Body will shine. Being light and neutrally balanced, the gun has little inertia by itself. By bringing the weight of your arms and torso into the equation by swinging as you raise the gun, the Dea performs marvelously.

As to function, the ejector springs were a little uneven and threw different distances, but all else was fine. The triggers were a touch heavy, but they were so blessedly crisp that I hardly noticed. The manual safety was flawless, and that’s important. And, no, I didn’t try 3" shells in this lightweight gun. I’m sure that it can take them, but an ounce of shot from a 20 is plenty for me.

At $3,995, the Fausti Dea Round Body finds itself in a competitive market. It’s $1,000 more than the reliable, good-handling AyA 4/53 A&D boxlock but the same amount less than the very nice Arrieta 557 and AyA No. 2 sidelocks.  The Fausti is about the price of a well-optioned RBL 20 or Beretta’s more industrial 471 Silver Pigeon boxlock.

The Fausti Dea Round Body holds its own among these competitors. The few flaws I found are more cosmetic than functional. The gun is beautifully balanced and handles delightfully under field conditions. A real effort has been made to make it attractive, with classic lines, nice wood and the rounded receiver. The Gun Sisters know what they’re doing.

Author’s Note: For more information on the Fausti Dea Round Body, visit www .faustistefanoarms.com or contact Cabela’s Gun Library, 800-237-4444; www.cabelas.com/gunlibrary.