Marocchi Evo Black reviewed by Sporting Gun

With the extra hour of daylight and the sun starting to show itself more regularly, my thoughts slowly turn to clayshooting.

Since leaving the Navy I don’t do as much competing as I used to. But now the family is of the age where we can all get involved it is becoming a more regular occurrence.

Because this is the clayshooting issue, I feel it’s only fair I put the wildfowling guns away and break out some clay guns to take a look at. I had asked around a few importers if anything new was available for review but had came up a little disappointed – that was until Viking Arms picked up the phone. “Can I have a gun to review please?” “No,” said Holly, “you can have four! They’ll be boxed up and with you tomorrow.“

Continued below …

Marocchi history

Viking Arms has been importing products since 1965, from a small family business to a leading European distributor for many manufacturers including Leupold, Breda, Meopta, Merkel and, of course, Marocchi. So if it’s in stock, it’s with you promptly and professionally. And having worked alongside the company for a number of years, it is one of the best in the trade to deal with.

Like Viking, Marocchi is also a family-run business. Founded by Stefano Marocchi, the company has been making guns since 1922 in the Brescia gunmaking region of northern Italy and is still run by the Marocchi family today.

Of the four guns I had been sent to review, one was a clay gun and I wasn’t disappointed. The Marocchi Evo comes in two formats – trap and sporting. The differences being the fore-end, barrel length, weight and butt pad. The trap has a beavertail fore-end and 30in barrels whereas the sporter comes with a schnabel fore-end and barrel lengths in 28in, 30in or 32in. The action comes in either nickel or black with hand laid blue ink inlay.

Quality

There is a lot to be said by not saying a lot, and Marocchi has done this well with the Marocchi Evo Black. Nice simple lines, well balanced Italian-style, backed up with quality materials and engineering.

The barrels were nicely struck with a 10mm rib you could land a light aircraft on. I’m a big fan of a wide rib, it helps me line up straight, and the fibre optic red dot sat nicely where it should in my sight picture. A set of 3in chambers and the Marocchi fast system ejectors, alongside five Marocchi Maxi chokes set everything off well. No sharp edges or cut corners, as you’d expect from hand-finished and polished ventilated barrels. Just really well-made and stylish engineering throughout.

The fore-end sat nicely in the hand 
with a well-executed wood to metal finish. No sharp edges, burrs or overhanging timber that you sometimes find in some cheaper guns.

Marocchi Evo Black stock and action

The stock and action was what really impressed me the most. The action was a solid Boss system in black – no over elaborate engraving, just a nice simple and stylish blue inlay. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I liked it a lot. The butt pad was 15mm deep and made of rubber, on the trap version it’s 20mm in depth.

The adjustable cheek piece was nicely thought out and well-made. Simple adjustment with the supplied hex key gives you the height you want with any extra pitch to the cheek piece. Again, the work around the metal and wood was done well.

The gold trigger has three adjustable positions and works on an inertia system, as do most Marocchi shotguns, including their semi-automatics.

The test

I went to Ivythorn Sporting to give it a test. I have to say it didn’t disappoint and for once neither did I! I was more than happy with the handling and fit of the gun. I put approximately 3mm of lift on the cheek piece and a little pitch to compensate for the right-hand cast, but I was gobsmacked at how very easy it was to shoot. Without being all cliché, it just shot boringly well and the only fault with the gun was the handler. In fact, the only gun that I have shot better with out of the box was a left-handed Blaser F3 that I had on client demonstration two years ago.

 

Tech spec

Weight: 7lb 7oz
Overall length: 47¾in
Chamber: 3in Multi extendable choke
Barrel: 30in
Rib: 10mm
Length Of Pull: 14¼in
Drop at comb: 40mm to 55mm
Heel to toe: 125mm

Scores on the doors

Build Quality: 23/25
Functionality: 23/25
Styling: 23/25
Value for money: 23/25

For more information, contact importers Viking Arms

Overall

I think this is a well-made stylish gun that is good value for money. It is definitely worth looking at if you’re after a new clay gun for the coming months. In the price bracket of some of the bigger names, Marocchi has got a real contender and I hope it does well with this gun.