The gun company forges ahead into its second century
Italy’s Fabarm celebrates its 100th birthday this year, secure in its place as the second-largest Val Trompian gunmaker. Fabarm produces some 20,000 guns a year, far behind giant Beretta but ahead of every other one of the 130 or so gunmakers in the valley. Fabarm’s rampant-red-lion logo is well known in France, Spain and 50 other countries. As the company enters its second century, its profile is set to rise higher in the US, as the firm brings new models to the American market.
It’s not as if Fabarm is unknown here. The quality, clean styling and value of its guns already have helped Fabarm build a following. However, owned and guided by the same team that has made Caesar Guerini a household name among American shotgunners, Fabarm is ready to step up with a style, look and brand identity all its own.
Fabarm History
Before considering what lies ahead for Fabarm, it’s worth reviewing the firm’s first century of operation. The date 2024 represents an educated guess as to Fabarm’s 100th anniversary. The Italian National Proof House required no paperwork prior to 1926, so we don’t know when the first Fabarm guns were proof-tested.We do know that Luciano Galesi, a son of the Galesi gunmaking family, was active in Brescia in the early 20th Century. The gun company bearing his name would become Fabarm decades later. In the meantime, Galesi began by producing pistols and side-by-side shotguns. In the post-WWII era it added over/unders as well as air guns and 9mm Flobert shotguns to its lineup.At some point it began to use the name “Fabarm” (Fabbrica Bresciana di Armi, or “Arms Manufacturer of Brescia”) along with the Galesi name.
In the late 1960s the company introduced its first semi-automatic, the Goldenmatic, a long-recoil gun operating on the same action as John Browning’s Auto 5. During the 1970s the company became known for O/U target guns, particularly the STL, which won a number of European championships. Fabarm side-by-sides were often seen in live-pigeon rings, too, competing head-to-head with the high-end guns. The side-by-sides had an unusual and very strong four-lug lockup, enabling them to withstand repeated shooting with heavy pigeon loads. Fabarm also moved into gas semi-autos, launching the very successful Ellegi line of alloy-framed guns.
In 1976 the company stopped using the name “Luciano Galesi,” becoming simply “Fabarm.” Galesi himself retired around that time, and the new ownership moved the plant out of Brescia to nearby Travagliato. The location on the flat plains below the often-cramped quarters of Val Trompia offered plenty of room for Fabarm to grow, and it did. Expanding operations into Scandinavia and Europe, Fabarm sold as many as 3,000 guns a month.
The author flanked by Fabarm USA President Wes Lang (left) and Fabarm S.p.A. President Giorgio Guerini during a visit to Italy.
In the 1980s Fabarm guns first appeared in the US. Unfortunately, in its search for traction in the US market, the company bounced from one importer to the next. Beeman Precision Arms; St. Lawrence Sales; Ithaca Acquisition Corporation; Heckler & Koch; SigArms; Ruko of Buffalo, NY; and Bill Hanus Birdguns brought in some or all of the Fabarm line from the ’80s through the ’00s. The guns also were branded as Baserri for a short time in the 2000s.
I had my first chance to shoot Fabarms during the H&K days on a trip to Greystone Castle, in Texas. While I shot all the guns, including a rifled, 24-inch-barreled O/U designed to shoot open patterns for woodcock, what I most remember is how impressed I was with my first look “under the hood” of the gas guns. The parts then, as now, are polished to a level you just don’t see on other semi-autos. They were reliable, soft-shooting guns, which I appreciated, because I did almost nothing but shoot for the three days of the trip.
Fabarm Advantages
Throughout the last part of the 20th Century and into this one, Fabarm has continued to innovate. In 2003 it introduced the Pulse Piston, a brilliantly simple solution to the problem of controlling bolt speed in a semi-auto. The Pulse Piston features an elasto-polymer ring that bears on the magazine tube. The harder the expanding gases push the piston, the more friction the ring creates, regulating the bolt speed and allowing the gun to shoot with a variety of loads and without damaging the gun.
Always known for its excellent barrels, Fabarm responded to European nontoxic-shot regulations in the 2000s by voluntarily having all its guns proofed to 1630 BAR, a higher level than the 1320 BAR required for “high performance” steel. Today each gun is packed with a certificate stating that it passed both the standard 1320 BAR test and the higher 1630 test. Is this absolutely necessary? No, but it’s a testament to how much Fabarm cares about making strong barrels.
I saw that care in evidence when I visited the factory a few years ago. Fabarm uses deep-drilling in place of hammer-forging to avoid stressing the steel of its barrel blanks. The barrels are then bored in what Fabarm calls its Tribore system, which includes an overbored section of barrel, to reduce friction as the payload travels down the bore and help keep pellets round.
The Fabarm factory is located in Travagliato, Italy, below the often-cramped quarters of Val Trompia.
What sets a Tribore barrel apart from other overbored barrels is that about eight inches from the choke section it begins tapering downtobore diameter. Fabarm claims a velocity increase because of the Venturi effect, which in the simplest analogy is like blocking part of a garden hose with your thumb to make the water squirt faster. Tribore barrels do show an increase in velocity—it’s tens of feet per second, not hundreds—over many standard barrels, but it is an increase.
The choke tube forms the third part of the system. Fabarm tubes are longer, and the new HP (Hyperbolic Profile) tubes are gently curved, not angled, as they taper. According to Fabarm, this profile gives pellets a gentler ride through the choke and is a better choice for large steel shot, which can flow more easily through the curved choke. The tubes are made in the factory, as I saw on my tour. Many gunmakers outsource their chokes, but Fabarm sees the choke as part of the barrel and therefore a component worthy of first-hand attention.
As I toured the plant with Fabarm USA President Wes Lang, Fabarm S.p.A. President Giorgio Guerini and Fabarm Commercial and Marketing Manager Laurent Gaude, I saw a mixture of high-tech machinery and old-world gunmaking. (Although I met Fabarm S.p.A. General Manager Antonio Guerini on the trip, he did not join the tour. Antonio is Giorgio’s brother, and, of course, his work was evident all around us in the humming factory and in the guns we saw in the conference room.)
Machines make and measure barrels and choke tubes beyond the ability of the human hand and eye. Skilled workers inspect and straighten the tubes—looking down them, and then bending them in a jig until they like what they see. All the joining, regulating barrels and laying of ribs is done by hand as well.
Regulating and joining is a dying art in the valley, as fewer young people enter the gunmaking trade. It is no secret that Caesar Guerini relies on Fabarm to make and regulate its barrels and build its choke tubes. Unlike other Italian gunmakers that will build parts for other companies, Fabarm only makes Guerini and Fabarm barrels. And while Fabarm makes Guerini barrels and parts, if you want 1630-BAR-proof Tribore barrels with HP chokes, you buy a Fabarm, as those features remain Fabarm exclusives.
Caesar Guerini
During the years Fabarm was developing the Tribore, the Pulse Piston and the 1630 BAR proof, the company was also partnering in the new gun firm that would one day own it. In 2000 Antonio and Giorgio Guerini, members of one of the region’s leading gunmaking families, started Caesar Guerini. The brothers envisioned a line of traditionally styled, industrially made, high-quality shotguns. They set up shop in a small factory in Marcheno, at the very top of the Val Trompia. Giorgio handled the sales, while Antonio specialized in the engineering and manufacturing.
From top: Fabarm’s new Elos N2 RS Trap is available as an over/under, an unsingle and as a combination that includes the O/U and unsingle barrels; the L4S All-Sport has a sleek look and Fabarm’s reliable gas system; the Autumn is the company’s side-by-side, and Grade II field guns and sporting versions are in the offing.
Caesar Guerini proved an immediate success, especially in the US, where Fabarm had struggled. Wes Lang joined Guerini shortly after its founding. With a background in the firearms industry and as a competitive shooter and hunter, Lang knew the American market. Antonio and Giorgio, unlike many Italian gunmakers, were ready to build guns Americans wanted. In 2011 Caesar Guerini acquired controlling interest in Fabarm S.p.A. (“societa per azioni,” or “company with shares”), and in 2015 it acquired the remaining shares, to become the sole shareholder of Fabarm S.p.A.
Fabarm Guns
With 100 years of gunmaking expertise under its belt, Fabarm’s direction for its second century is set: Conquer America. Fabarm brings a cleaner, contemporary style and a price point below the more Anglo-inspired Caesar Guerini guns. Lang admits that Fabarm’s shotgun lines had to change somewhat to make them a better fit for the American market. Until 2018 the Axis, an aggressively styled gun with an asymmetrical raised shield that carried over into the steel of the frame, was Fabarm’s main O/U platform. While an excellent gun, its styling didn’t mesh with American tastes. The Elos replaced the Axis, doing away with the shield in favor of more traditional lines. Fabarm is also differentiated from Caesar Guerini in that its line comprises semi-autos and a side-by-side, where Guerini guns are all O/Us.
Fabarm is kicking off its birthday celebration with two new models and news of a third. A look at these guns gives you an idea of what the brand represents.
Elos N2 RS Trap
Last year Fabarm offered a new version of its sporting gun: the Elos N2 RS. Engineered to weigh more than the standard Elos sporting gun, the N2 RS has an additional three-quarters of a pound of heft, with an extended mid-rib and heavier stock and forend. It’s a gun for shooters who like steadiness in a gun that is still well-balanced. As someone who hews to the bigger-hammer theory when it comes to gun weight and balance, I love the extra heft of the N2 RS. The new trap model is available as an O/U, an unsingle and a combo that includes O/U and unsingle barrels with hand-adjustable ribs. Like the sporting gun, it will be available in 12 gauge only.
Fabarm guns are produced using a combination of modern technology and traditional craftsmanship.
The N2 RS Trap is a good example of the Fabarm aesthetic, as it features minimal engraving and has white and light-blue enameled accents. The adjustable comb is painted black, for contrast, and the metal plate below it that looks like a functional piece is purely decorative. The wood is satin-finished, and the overall effect is as classy as a gun with light-blue enamel accents can be, which is plenty classy. It’s also priced right at $4,335 (or $6,195 for the combo)—about $3,000 below Guerini’s Summit Trap model.
L4S All-Sport
For shooters who want one target gun for every discipline—and one that won’t kick them, either—there’s the L4S All-Sport. I’ve already gushed over the internal polish and reliable action of Fabarm gas guns and the Pulse Piston. In my experience it’s not just a good-looking gas system; it’s one that gobbled up and spit out the crummiest, lightest reloads I could feed it and also took the sting out of Handicap loads. This All-Sport promises to be no different in that regard.
Like the Elos, this gun has a modern, sleek look that isn’t so extreme as to be off-putting. It has the same black adjustable comb as the Elos and light-blue accents, including on the bolt handle, forend cap and enamel on the receiver.
The gun features an adjustable comb and a pair of interchangeable ribs to give it versatility. One rib delivers a 50/50 point of impact, while the other produces a higher 65/35 POI. Having used the same system on other Fabarm guns, I can tell you that the ribs really do interchange quickly, painlessly and with no tools. Swap ribs, change out a choke, maybe add or remove drop, and this gun can go from skeet or sporting to trap in no time. All this comes at a price of $2,750. The L4S also comes in three 12-gauge upland models, and it’s an easy-carrying, soft-shooting gun for the field. The upland models have low, field ribs; field stocks and more traditional decoration than the All-Sport.
Autumn
The Autumn, while it has traditional lines, remains a Fabarm side-by-side through and through, with the same stout four-lug action of the pigeon guns and non-traditional Art Nouveau decoration executed in deep relief. Until now you could get the Autumn exactly four ways: straight grip/splinter forend or pistol grip/beavertail, 28- or 30-inch barrels, and any gauge you wanted, as long as it was a 3" 20. That’s about to change. Grade II field guns are coming, although at press time details about the level and type of decoration and even the name of the new model are currently a secret. Even more exciting, to me, anyway, is that there’s a 12-gauge sporting gun in the works. Its proven action will withstand as many rounds as you want to send downrange, and my guess is that it will have enough sporting features to make it a serious contender in any side-by-side sporting event it enters. The current price of the Autumn is $4,850, and the Grade II and sporting guns will undoubtedly be somewhat higher.
As Fabarm expands its presence in the US, don’t expect to see the guns sold in volume for less. Wes Lang promises that, like Caesar Guerinis, Fabarms will never be made cheaper to hit lower price points. “We do the opposite,” he said. “We’re always trying to make the guns better with small improvements. We might reshape the trigger or redesign rib posts. No one is asking us for that. We want to do it.” Lang and Giorgio Guerini cook up the ideas, while engineering wizard Antonio brings them to fruition. “The gun we make tomorrow will be better than the one we made today,” Lang said, “and it won’t be as good as the gun we make next week.”
Between tweaking existing guns and bringing new ones to market, the Fabarm team remains committed to the company slogan of “Moving Forward Faster.”
“We are moving forward faster,” Lang said, “but some days it feels too slow. There is so much we want to do with this brand.” After 100 years, America is about to see Fabarm in a whole new way, as so many countries around the world already have.
