Salvinelli Monaco shotgun review

January 25, 2008

Salvinelli is a well-known gunmaking name in Italy, and it’s one that rings a few bells here too – Salvinellis in various guises have been arriving on these shores for a number of years now.

The latest incarnation is called the Monaco – being imported by David Connor, a firearms dealer based near Manchester.

David has plenty of experience in this field because his father-in-law is Mike Megginson, who runs Kelbrook Lodge Shooting School and is well known as the importer / distributor of Kemen shotguns.

For those of you thinking there is something familiar about the Monaco, the last model range brought into the UK was the Salvinelli Monza.

Although the Monza made a strong showing in the UK market and won many fans it did become a little over shadowed by a few reliability problems, mainly with the barrel selector and double discharging.

These problems were addressed, but further work has now been done by Salvinelli in modifying the selector and sears to overcome these problems.

And the makers are backing their confidence in having got things right by offering a ten year parts and labour warranty with each Monaco.

In fact David tells me that Salvinelli will also make the new modified parts available to owners of Monzas if they are needed.

Potential Monaco buyers will be spoilt for choice when they walk through the doors of an appointed dealer.

In short, they can take their pick of stocks from a choice of 12 on display.

David and Mike call this the Pro-fit system with each gun stock coming in a dozen different dimensions to suit Sporting, Skeet and Trap requirements.

The idea is to give the customer the widest possible choice of length, cast, drop and pitch to meet his needs.

So, depending on your requirements there should be a Monaco stock to suit you.

Some of the standard stocks are based on proven stock dimensions from other guns such as the Browning 325, the Miroku MK38, Perazzi Pro-Sport and the Krieghoff K80.

Furthermore stocks can be made to special dimensions if needed though there will of course be an added cost to this.

Mechanically the gun follows some proven principles with the barrels hingeing on stub pins in the action walls to achieve a low profile and lock up is made via a double bolt with bites on either side of the under barrel.

For added strength the lumps also pull down into the floor of the action frame.

The trigger plate is integral with the action frame rather than the drop out type, which means the gun can be kept as slim as possible without sacrificing anything in the way of strength, either through the action or through the hand of the stock.

Closer inspection shows that the finish to metal work in terms of polishing and blacking is very good – in fact the barrel blacking has been done to a lovely deep gloss which can’t help but draw the eye of a bystander.

The Monaco has been chambered and proofed for magnum 2.3/4in cartridges and it can be supplied with fixed or multi-chok, barrels are 70mm with magnum proof.

The gun can have either fixed or multi-choke barrels in 30, 31, or 32in lengths, and the customer can also take his choice of fixed or selective trigger options.

The side ribs are ventilated as is the top rib, which has been matted and tapered from 11mm at the breech down to 8mm at the muzzle.

However, if preferred, the gun can have an 11mm parallel top rib.

The fore-end shape is Schnabel and wood quality on the test gun was very good with nicely cut chequering.

There is also the option to have a semi beavertail fore-end if preferred. Butt end on this gun is finished with a thin black recoil pad.

The overall look of the gun is very good but it’s worth noting that overall weight will vary a little depending on the choice of stock you opt for.

In general however this will work out between 7.3/4lb to 8lb. Each multi-choke gun comes with five flush-fitting tubes and all guns are supplied in a useful ABS travel case.

Recommended retail price is a tad over £2,000.

JASON’S VERDICT:

Salvinelli’s are one of the best handling guns you can find.

All I can say is that if the trigger’s reliability has been sorted out – as they say it has – then this Sporter really will sell well.