Zoli Introduces the Columbus Gold

    "Where else are you going to get a Boss locking action with fitted recoil shoulders for under $4,000?”
    That’s a good question—and one recently posed rhetorically by Steve Lamboy, President of Antonio Zoli North America. Lamboy was briefing me on the latest series of Antonio Zoli over/unders to reach US shores: the Columbus Gold, which arrived on dealers’ shelves at the end of summer. Zoli’s locking system is the company’s own design; Gun Review Editor Bruce Buck compared it to Perazzi’s. Still, Boss or Perazzi, Zoli is the only maker near that price. The maker was able to accomplish this by dropping the wood grade and engraving costs of its existing guns. The Columbus Gold is being offered at a base price of $3,850 in 12, 20 or 28 gauge, with a two-barrel set in 20/28 costing $5,800.
    The Columbus shares the robust and well-regarded barrels, action and detachable trigger group of Zoli’s Z Guns, including the Expedition (see Gun Review, Nov/Dec ’06). “We’ve used maybe one-half-step lesser wood than on the Expedition,” Lamboy said. The Columbus comes with laser-engraved game scenes, with or without gold-inlaid birds, in either color-case hardened or French gray finishes.
    Zoli stands out among its peers for making its own barrels. Lamboy credits this to the company’s drive to compete in the European double-rifle market. In its 60-plus years Zoli has developed such precise barrel-joining and -regulation processes that the company guarantees its shotgun barrels to shoot within three inches of each other at 30 meters. “We guarantee that because we can,” Lamboy said. “[The barrels] don’t come back to us.”
    The trigger adjusts to three different positions to accommodate such things as gloves or bulkier shooting jackets. Oil-finished stocks are high-grade Turkish walnut (though not as stunning as the wood used on Zoli’s more expensive guns) and have Prince of Wales grips. The base cost includes five choke tubes and a molded, hard-plastic case.
    For more information on Zoli guns, contact Steve Lamboy (585-394-1271) or Chuck Webb (832-444-2118) at Antonio Zoli North America; www.zoli.it.  —Ed Carroll