Finding Rizzini

Journeying to Italy for an affirming factory visit

From our May/June 2025 issue

I’ve been mystified and, in truth, a bit annoyed since buying my first Rizzini nearly 30 years ago. It wasn’t the gun that bothered me. Quite the contrary—I still love my Premium Sporting. And it wasn’t the company. The Rizzini firm always seemed innovative, quality oriented and profoundly customer centered. My pique has been that Americans haven’t embraced this Italian gun company as they have other Italian gun companies. Which is why last spring I visited the firm’s factory to see things for myself—and perhaps help change the way the guns are viewed.

Ascending Brescia’s Val Trompia, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, brings you in contact with a panoply of modern gunmakers. From impressive mass-production companies like Beretta to some of the world’s finest bespoke makers such as Bosis and Fabbri, the valley is an all-you-can-eat buffet for gun connoisseurs and gourmands. In fact, there is no greater concentration of gunmaking history and expertise than in this vital and visually unassuming area. Eventually my trip landed me on the doorstep of Fabbrica D’Armi Rizzini B—or, as we simply know it, Rizzini.

The Rizzini factory’s upper floor features several benches staffed by highly trained gunsmiths.

Few things are as enjoyable as a conversation with a smart person. Add “honest” before smart, and you’ve really got something. Then add “pragmatic,” “savvy,” “informed” and “direct” and you have Moira Rizzini, the eponymous maker’s export manager. She is the daughter of Battista Rizzini, the semi-retired founder of Rizzini. In a valley filled with secrets, suspicion and competition, Moiria and her siblings, Giuseppe (the production manager) and Pamela (the marketing manager), run Rizzini with the same values that their father embraced when he founded the company in 1966. 

“Not many companies in Italy share their size or production numbers, but I will,” Moira joked. “All you have to do is go down to the national proof house and count the trolleys, and you’ll know exactly how many guns are being made every day. Between our office and factory, we have about 50 employees and make about 6,000 guns a year. And while other companies are being bought and sold, we don’t find it hard to survive as independent. We still believe in the personal contact between the customer, the dealer and ourselves.

“Today we have the capability to do three times what we are doing, but if you want to reach those numbers, you need to keep your products as standardized as possible. That means no custom stocks, no custom specifications, no custom engraving. We always want these options to be part of Rizzini.”

The factory’s lower floor is chockful of CNC machines, stock blanks and gun parts ready for refinement. Photo courtesy of Rizzini.

And this is where Rizzini’s rare transparency impressed me. Building a Rizzini from the base BR110 over/under all the way to the sidelever sidelock side-by-side currently in development takes a village—or in this case a valley. Rizzini exists in the Val Trompia’s gunmaking universe as a planet surrounded by other planets of makers and specialists, each with their own relationships, reputations and expertise. Rizzini’s ability to remain independent has hinged on its ability to maintain partnerships and alliances with a wide range of these other companies. Much, but not all, of the manufacturing, machining and handwork is done in Rizzini’s unassuming and recently expanded factory in Marcheno. For example, the fixed, ramped rib on a competition BR460 EL over/under is made from an outside supplier based on the exacting specifications from Giuseppe, who has authority over design and engineering. The hybrid rolled engraving with hand finishing for the newly released BR220 O/U is performed by Bottega Incisioni Cesare Giovanelli, just five minutes away. The corrosion-resistant, ceramic-based cerakote finish that is applied to every action is performed by neighboring Brugar. And for most of the guns, stock finishing is done by RPS before Rizzini completes assembly, finishing, testing and shipping.

The BR550 Round Body is one of two side-by-side models that Rizzini offers. Photo courtesy of Rizzini.

Rizzini’s smart and practical reliance on expert suppliers and partners does not diminish the expertise that lies within the low-slung Rizzini factory. The lower floor is chockful of CNC machines, pallets of stock blanks (each individually graded by Giuseppe) and crates of raw gun parts ready for refinement. The upper floor has several benches, each staffed by a highly trained gunsmith. It’s here where mechanical production meets human craftsmanship, ensuring that each gun’s fit, finish and reliability are just as good as that of guns being produced by other well-regarded Italian companies.

The BR240 EL is a sporting gun available in a variety of gauges. Photo courtesy of Rizzini.

Away from the grit and grease is Rizzini’s design and quality-control area. It’s here where guns are designed from start to finish, with concept drawings rivaling those of the most impressive Italian sports cars. And in a company defined by intelligence, this might be the smartest part of Rizzini’s business model: Everything is kept simple. There are essentially a handful of boxlock actions for the over/unders and one for the side-by-side shotguns (although, as mentioned, a new sidelock side-by-side is in the works). From an engineering perspective, this level of simplicity should be applauded. With the fundamental designs of the actions now being more than 40 years old, Rizzini applies a deliberate approach to continuous evolution, regularly introducing new and improved processes and tools. This means that older Rizzini models can still be serviced and repaired by an ever-improving supply of interchangeable parts. The guns just keep getting better.

The BR110 Limited is the upgraded version of the BR110 field gun. Photo courtesy of Rizzini.

Back to the factory’s lower floor, virtually every automated task has a dedicated CNC machine. The creation of the receiver, for example, involves one machine for rough-shaping, another where clean lines start to emerge, and yet another that brings things to final form. The trigger, triggerplate, tang and so on each take shape with specific, high-tech processes designed to keep tolerances incredibly low and reliability incredibly high. The factory is filled with bins of steel and aluminum shavings—the result of rough blocks of forged metal giving way to the guns that are shipped across the world.

The Rizzini Family (from left): Battista, Moira, Pamela and Giuseppe. Photo courtesy of Rizzini.

In 2012 Rizzini partnered with Fierce Firearms, in Redmond, Utah, to create Rizzini USA. “Our relationship with Fierce is very open,” Moira said. “We met [Fierce President] John Mogle, and a conversation began. Over the years we had tried different methods to supply the American market. And then we saw in Fierce an ideal partnership. First, we are very impressed with the rifles they produce; so we both know how to make guns—good guns. Second, we know they stand with us. They are extremely open-minded, and there are no obstacles. For example, we supply them with parts, and they can make repairs in the US; or they can call us if they have questions. They also have absolutely no problem if we speak directly with customers or if we take orders instead of them. We get many customers who fly into Bergamo airport, only 40 miles from here, and we help them customize their guns with us.”

And this is the thing—affordable customization—that most surprised me about Rizzini. I had no idea that the Rizzini Premier Sporting I bought from Stephen Cobb Quality Guns in 1996 is part of a family of guns that today can be configured, fit and finished with a nearly unlimited range of options. And these aren’t just basic adjustments. Submit your measurements to Fierce Firearms, and a stock can be made to your specifications. You can also choose between things like single or even double triggers or fixed or adjustable chokes. Virtually anything is possible for additional cost—and a willingness to wait approximately six to nine months for delivery. 

Or the more ambitious can make the trip to Marcheno. And when you enter the Rizzini factory, in many ways you are entering the whole world of Brescia’s gunmaking experts. Services include those from not only previously mentioned suppliers, but also from world-renowned experts like stockmakers Essevierre Valeriano and Rinaldo and the engravers at Creative Art, both in neighboring Gardone. The results are stunning, as the guns seem to come alive in your hands.

Photo courtesy of Rizzini.

I came away from my visit with Rizzini impressed. Yes, the company produces 6,000 guns a year, but it felt like the employees know each one personally. Making a gun here is like taking a breath—a regular expansion and contraction as a way of giving something life. The gun design takes shape on paper and suddenly returns as raw blocks of metal. And then those blocks shrink, a fraction of a millimeter at a time, until they are reduced to finished parts. Those parts are then expanded and grow again, this time in the hands of experts adding the flourishes that give them meaning and emotion. The guns may at first look inanimate, but I left feeling like they had personality and purpose—and that they deserve to come alive in the hands of more Americans. 

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