mounting easier.) Flutes allowed
the action to work slickly, even af-
ter a few days in the Texas dust.
The bolt can also be easily
disassembled with a small steel
punch. With the action open, a
hole appears through the under-
side of the cocking piece. Insert-
ing the correct punch allows the
cocking piece/firing pin assembly
to be unscrewed.
The two-position safety lever
sits on the right side of the action
tang, and like most modern safe-
ties allows unloading the chamber
with the safety on. It also works
very quietly if eased forward.
The injection-molded stock has
a couple of unusual features, both
helpful in bench-testing. The sling-
swivel “studs” are molded into re-
cesses under the buttstock and
forend, so unlike metal studs theycannot bump sandbags during re-
coil, causing fliers.
There is also a checkered finger
notch in the bottom of the butt-
stock, just in front of the recoil
pad, for steadying the rear of the
rifle when bench testing or shoot-
ing from prone. The recoil pad is
soft but not “grabby,” so it did not
hang up even on camo fleece when
taking quick shots in the field. For
some reason Franchi calls it the
TSA pad, which apparently stands
for something different in Italian.
A couple months later Fran-
chi sent each writer a new Mo-
mentum .308 for further testing.
The company offers a combina-
tion package like the one used in
Texas, with a 3-9x 40mm Fullfield
II in Burris Zee rings. (Burris and
a couple dozen other companies,
including Franchi, are owned
at least partially by the BerettaJuly-August 2019 http://www.riflemagazine.com 41
under the name Horizon Anniver-
sario because 2018 was the 150th
anniversary of Franchi’s founding.
Gun writer testing of new rifles
normally means trying one sam-
ple, but over a year and a half I got
to shoot considerably with a Hori-
zon and a pair of Momentums. The
Horizon experience took place in
South Texas, where so much gun
writer testing occurs the state
might consider setting aside a
county for the purpose, if only to
separate us from normal people.
In late 2017, a bunch of writ-
ers and industry representatives
hunted pigs and deer near Uvalde
with Horizon .308 Winchesters
fitted with 3-9x 40mm Burris
Fullfield II scopes. The ammuni-
tion provided was Fiocchi loaded
with Hornady 150-grain SSTs,
and during the sight-in session
some rifles shot noticeably smaller
groups than others. One writer
eventually traced this to a few of
the “free-floated” barrels not ac-
tually floating, since the forends
could be easily pressed against
their barrels. The Horizons with
truly free-floated barrels shot into
an inch or less at 100 yards. The
guy representing Franchi, Tim
Joseph, made a note of this.
Otherwise, the rifles, scopes
and ammunition worked very
well, accounting for about 30 pigs
and deer, some weighing nearly
200 pounds. The SSTs penetrated
great, all exiting even on angling
and shoulder-bone shots.
The Horizons featured a mix
of traditional and new features.
Unlike most affordable Ameri-
can-made rifles, they had hinged
steel floorplates rather than de-
tachable magazines, and the mag-
azine box could be easily loaded
from the top – often handy in hunt-
ing rifles.
The bolt face was a typical push-
feed type with a tab extractor and
plunger ejector. Three locking lugs
were machined from the front
end of the massive, spiral-fluted
body. (Three lugs even-out action
stresses during firing, often result-
ing in finer accuracy than two-lug
bolts, and they reduce bolt-handle
lift to 60 degrees, making scope
Franchi Momentum Accuracy Results
overall 3-shot
loaded 100-yard
bullet powder charge length velocity group
(grains) (grains) (inches) (fps) (inches)
.308 Winchester, 22-inch barrel, 1:10 twist
150 Nosler AccuBond* Varget 46.5 2.847 2,786 .74
165 Trophy Bonded Tip ** Varget 46.0 2.837 2,712 .85
Factory loads
150 Hornady American Whitetail Spire Point 2,768 .78
165 Hunting Shack Sierra GameKing 2,627 .97
180 RWS Uni Classic 2,485 .49
6.5 Creedmoor, 24-inch barrel, 1:8 twist
143 Hornady Precision Hunter ELD-X 2,688 .42
* Winchester brass ** Black Hills brass
Notes: CCI 200 primers were used for the .308 Winchester handloads.
For more data on this cartridge please visit LoadData.com.
Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. Listed loads are only valid in the test firearms used.
Reduce initial powder charge by 10 percent and work up while watching for pressure signs.