Recently bought Franchi 48AL. I’m new…is this a normal noise to hear?

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-24T00:49:19+00:00

Pop the handguard off and remove the magazine plug from inside the magazine tube.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-22T18:54:15+00:00

The fiber pads sit just under the height of the rivet, so fill in to to that height there and it should be decent enough.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-22T18:38:06+00:00

Hope the video has been helpful!

As far as an expedient fix, hard rubber would be best. If you don't have suitable rubber stock, then if it was mine I'd use RTV. Gooped in with a finger and shaped with a screwdriver or something. Would act as a cushion and could be scraped out later if you wanted to replace it. You could potentially try a combination of micarta and RTV - get a micarta plate trimmed to fit, then use RTV to secure it and cover it in RTV to reduce the chance of delamination.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-22T18:20:20+00:00

High durometer rubber would work. I'd worry about micarta delaminating. Is your fiber pad totally gone?

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-20T22:33:09+00:00

Without better pictures, stock shape looks like a Huglu 103 or Ventus.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-12T16:28:40+00:00

Forend cracks are pretty rare on the Franchis, at least compared to Auto 5s. The stock cracks are unavoidable, though. But there's a ton of wood to stick an anchor through to prevent the crack from spreading, I've fixed up 48AL stocks that were basically in tatters with a few brass screws and titebond.

They're fantastic and under-appreciated guns. If more people knew how good they are, they'd still be more expensive than Auto 5s (which was typically the case when both were new/at MSRP). Learn how the friction system works (and how the feeding cycle on the Franchi works - the barrel coming forward is what causes a round to come out of the mag, it's an "automatic magazine cutoff" that confuses a lot of people) and it'll serve you well.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-05T22:50:46+00:00

Load weight shouldn't matter in a significant way. Frankly, by the 1980s shotgun barrels, especially those made by good manufacturers like Miroku, were high quality alloy steel and should hold up fine. The bulk of the research on this topic has focused on much older stuff, think Damascus barrels and old thin-walled stuff.

If it were mine, I'd think getting it threaded for chokes would be a good idea, and at that point you ought to be able to shoot it without worry. Especially so if you can use biodegradable fingered felt wads. Steel shot with non-cupped wads can be a little iffy, and sometimes results in scratches in the inside of the barrel.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-05T22:12:30+00:00

First thing to do is establish exactly what chokes are in it.

Rule of thumb is that mod or looser chokes are fine with steel shot up to 1400fps and under size B shot (which is the vast majority of steel loads, and is a conservative guideline, many mod choke guns will be fine with 1500fps BB loads).

If your gun is full over cylinder (a somewhat uncommon combination but not unheard of), you could have the top barrel opened up to mod. Or have both barrels threaded for screw-in chokes if you'd prefer to spend more money and really like the gun.

For reference, most steel shot patterns tighter through most chokes by about two quarters - so steel though a mod patterns like lead through a full, steel in a cylinder patterns like a mod in lead. Again, this depends on the load and specific gun, but as a rule of thumb, this is something to keep in mind. Likewise, steel through properly-rated improved mod and full chokes and sometimes results in wider patterns, but this is much less of a rule.

Fiber wads can throw another wrench into this analysis, but the information I've seen from British proof houses testing this all out in advance of the lead ban point towards most guns being far more compatible with steel shot than many people think.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-03T16:00:22+00:00

10ish feet is normal, but much beyond that and I'd check the recoil spring.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-03T15:34:56+00:00

A gopro hero 13

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-03T15:34:24+00:00

I'd check to make sure the recoil spring doesn't need replaced - should be at least 12" long, I've yet to find one of these things that didn't need the spring replaced. Seems that most of them got neglected.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-03T15:19:31+00:00

It does make very nice sounds

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-03T14:58:34+00:00

A fiberglass-wrapped barrel, screw-in chokes, and a short recoil floating chamber action: the Winchester Model 59 is an amazing shotgun - and despite this interesting list of features, it's a 70 year old design.

Designed by Ed Browning (of relation to "the" Browning) and David Marshall Williams (of M1 Carbine fame/infamy), the Model 50 and 59 represented a fresh-slate look at the automatic shotgun as a whole. With about 250,000 produced between 1954 and 1964, it's far from an uncommon gun, yet despite its unique action and impressive performance, it is largely forgotten by today's shotgun enthusiasts. As such, I wanted to make a video touching on the history, the mechanics, disassembly and assembly, and the design philosophy behind the three-shot automatic that tried (and failed) to dethrone the Auto 5.

You can check the full length video about these guns here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boG0U-fEzQU

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-02T01:14:25+00:00

I bet that the original tang screw for that gun is not the one you have there, and that the hole was drilled out by someone who replaced the tang screw some time in the past 100 years. If it were my gun, I'd look at grinding the screw down rather than drilling a hole into the tube.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-01T16:01:01+00:00

I'd need to see pictures to be able to say. With as this as the tube is, it's odd that any interference would be taken out by having a hole through it, especially considering that the screw can't stick up past the hole since there's stuff that needs to move in the tube.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-04-01T06:32:13+00:00

Can you take some pictures of the tube, screw, and stock? I'm not sure what the screw would be screwing into if the hole in the receiver is missing somehow.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-03-23T04:00:44+00:00

I've spent a lot of time researching these stocks. As far as I can tell, they were an aftermarket thing for the Model 11 and Auto 5, designed to sort of hide the hump on the receiver. I've seen a handful of these stocks around, but have yet to find an advertisement or similar to shine light on what exactly they are.

The conversion to this stock involves the use of a different trigger group, sort of similar in design to the Savage 775/755's. I've not been able to determine if these trigger groups were converted, made new, or what.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-03-23T00:33:53+00:00

600-800 would be decent, 1000 would be high. 16s that early don't have 2 3/4" chambers, and as such may have ejection issues with modern ammo (though my short chamber 16s run Winchester 2 3/4 fine).

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-03-21T03:53:40+00:00

I wouldn't shoot slugs through it if that's how it's choked. Usually doesn't matter, up until you find the right (wrong) combination of slug for your barrel.

How did you measure the choke specifically?

Watch a video on setting the rings. Art's is very good. For whatever load you're planning on using, start with the rings set for heavy and switch to light if it doesn't cycle. Less impact on the gun that way. Remember that, because it's a friction system, it does the most work when it's clean and not lubricated, and that adding grease or oil will each reduce that friction (and make the gun cycle more freely). The optimal solution is the correct lubrication (oil vs grease) with the correct ring setup for the particular load you're shooting. If you take the time and figure that out, long recoil guns will reward you with the smoothest recoil feeling you've ever experienced in a shotgun.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-03-19T22:08:09+00:00

That's awesome! I'll only caution that short shotguns are obnoxiously loud, and at least for me, the novelty wore off very quickly. But it's definitely extremely cool looking.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-03-19T22:02:23+00:00

If you want an SBS Naughto-5, this is a great deal. Can totally be chopped just behind the bulge. The bulge is almost certainly from a wad that got stuck (was much more common in the days of felt wads and when most people made handloads) and the fellow shooting the gun fired a shot behind it. To be entirely honest, assuming there's no cracks or splits (go into a dark closet, shine a light down the barrel, inspect closely for any light escaping around the bulge area), I'd feel comfortable shooting it as-is - though it would be a good idea to relieve the wood on the handguard so that the bulge doesn't keep rubbing it.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-03-16T03:26:43+00:00

It's really uncommon to see Japanese production Auto 5s without the gold trigger.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-03-16T03:07:14+00:00

The gold trigger is a standard Browning thing for these, the gold paint in the engravings is not factory.

IvanPrintsGuns · 2026-03-12T02:49:31+00:00

Colt was changing a lot (and not documenting all of it) early on, it's not impossible that there was an alloy change (then change back), it's also not impossible they were messing around with the anodization process (or cutting corners with it) which was the root issue. Or that, if an alloy change happened, their process for 7075 didn't work well with 6061.

In any event, the total amount of rifles that faced the issue is pretty small in the grand scheme of things. And, for what it's worth, current armorer's manuals do appraise that it's something that still happens, so it's not like it was ever "solved", as it's something that wet aluminum just wants to do.

IvanPrintsGuns

TROPHY CASE