I am very happy to announce that we have a new sponsor of Forgotten Weapons: Fiocchi. Founded in Italy in 1876, the company has been making cartridge ammunition for basically as long as cartridges have existed, with only a brief interruption when Allied bombers leveled the factory late in WWII (it was rebuilt immediately after the war).
Today, Fiocchi manufactures several lines of ammunition that cover virtually every application, including hunting and competition with rifles, pistols, and shotguns. They have a specific line of unjacketed ammo for Cowboy Action shooting, and also lead-free and frangible lines for indoor ranges and other situations requiring clean ammunition. And best of all for my purposes, they have a specific line of Classic Pistol ammo focusing on obsolete cartridges that are particularly difficult to find. These include:
- 7.62 Nagant (for the M1895 Nagant revolver)
- 7.63 Mauser (for the C96 Broomhandle Mauser, and others)
- .30 Luger (for the Luger, and others)
- 8mm Gasser (for the M1898 Rast & Gasser revolver)
- 8mm Lebel, aka French Ordnance (for the Mle 1892 French revolver)
- 8mm Steyr (for the M1907 Roth-Steyr automatic)
- 9mm Steyr (for the M1912 Steyr-Hahn automatic)
- 9×18 Makarov (for the Makarov, and others)
- 9×18 Ultra (for the Walther PP Ultra)
- .38 S&W (for the No.2 Enfield revolver, and others)
- .44 S&W Russian (for the S&W No.3 revolver, and others)
- .455 Webley (for the Mk VI Webley revolver, and others)
This line offers a great opportunity for folks into these older guns to shoot clean and new factory-quality ammunition instead of having to deal with marginal surplus military ammo, commercial reloaders of unknown quality, or hand-making brass and reloading at home. I have used Fiocchi .45 ACP in competition for many years, and look forward to the opportunity to showcase some of their other products in some otherwise-unshootable classic pistols. If your local shop doesn’t carry the calibers you need, tell them to get in touch with a Fiocchi dealer!
Kudos and congratulations, Ian! Excellent ammo! I’ve used lots of Fiocchi 9mm luger ammo for years…although sometimes it can be decidedly “hot” like the NATO spec ammo can be. The firm’s 12-gauge ammo is excellent too. I was curious that they no longer seem to manufacture the Italian 10.35mm revolver cartridge for the excellent, Abadie-influenced Bodeo Model 1889 ordnance revolvers? The un-availability of the cartridge has made me shy away from it as an acquisition.
I’ve fired a Model 1912 Steyr Hahn using the 9mm Steyr cartridge, which was a lot of fun.
I have seen some older boxes of the 10.4mm at gun shows…I would suspect it simply didn’t sell well enough to keep in production. Or maybe they still make it but don’t bring it into the US? Not sure. I’ll ask, though.
Certainly the fate of the old 5.7mm Velodog revolver cartridge!
They do still make them or at least they appear on the European site of Fiocchi:
http://www.fiocchigfl.it/site/index.php?pag=809&linea=4&titolo_prod=Fiocchi%20Old%20Time&act=prodAll
Oh, be still my beating heart!!
Thanks!!! that’s awsome info! thx!
Congrats, Ian! I’ve fired several different flavors of Fiocchi ammunition before and always found it to be about as accurate as anyone could reasonably expect for factory loads, and their more esoteric was appreciated when I wanted to get some 7.63 Mauser for a friend’s birthday.
This is clearly a good pairing for you.
Am still looking for new or reloaded 7.65 mannlicher for my pistol. The one with the argentine crest on the right side .currently have a sleeve in it so it shoots .32’s, but would like the real thing. Also , how about some 9×23 largo? (Bergmann, Astra)
Thank you for your website!!
You can occasionally find surplus Argentine 7.65 Mannlicher ammo, in blue-edged 50-round boxes marked “FM”. It does have a lot of duds, though.I have also tried some Old Western Scrounger 7.65 made from other cases (.32 S&W maybe?), but found that to not feed reliably. For Largo, I would suggest Spanish surplus, in orange/red boxes of 25 rounds.
Woohoo! Congrates! I think that will be a mutually beneficial relationship! Good Job!
I used to be an R&D tech at a major gun company, and I took it upon myself to test the 40-odd brands of 9x19mm ammo we had on the shelf for chrono and accuracy from our handguns. I found the results enlightening. Fiocchi was consistently tied for first place as the most consistent ammo. The SD in velocity was better than certain match-target brands. It was also one of the hottest, being loaded to CIP spec and effectively being +P. We had 9×19 NATO spec ammo from numerous countries on hand and it bested these for velocity with the same guns and bullet weights. We even had “Proof Loads” from one of the major US companies that they only sell to manufacturers, and off-the-shelf Fiocchi would beat this ammo for accuracy, consistency, and velocity with the same bullet weight, telling me that those proof loads from that other company were worthless. I had not been a fan of Fiocchi before these tests, but I have been since.
Nice! Thanks for the info…
I heard 9x19mm ammo is usually tampered in the US…
You seem to confirm that rumour.
Was it done to protect ACP ammunition market? (.38, .45 etc…)
If that is the practice, it is more likely done as a precaution against old firearms. Same as with off the shelf .45-70.
Excellent – free supply of exotic ammo for exotic arms tests. Way to go!
I wish they would produce .450 Adams aka .450 Short Colt aka 450 Corto again. Please do it for all of us who want to shoot our old Tranters,Older Bulldogs and Adams revolvers as well as those wishing to use it as a lighter pressure load in .45 Colt Peacemakers.I know I’m good prospect for buying 1000 rounds.
Fiocchi also thinks users safety. 7.62mm Nagant rounds are
intentionally made as underpowered to use in revolvers that youngest one of which being of nearly seventy years old.
And I especially like their policy of free ammo for faithful FW readers!
*crickets*
It was worth a try…(kicks dog)
Fiocchi has a very good name with international Trap Shooters. This is the fun game where you have 15 traps in a Bunker which are computer selected so everyone gets the same number of targets from each position. I bought a bunch of international trap load before they changed to a lighter shot load!
Fiocchi Large Rifle Primers are also outstanding.
….Finally, somebody ( YOU, Ian ) who can answer that most nagging, niggling, but essential to know questions. To wit:Is it pronounced FEE OKEE or FEE OCHEE ?
No need for Ian to answer this (although be probably could as well). Your option number one (FEE OKEE) is the correct pronunciation (more or less). Here’s a native speaker example (the word Fiocchi is easy to pick up at the end of the sentence even if you don’t understand the rest): http://youtu.be/XoZsrtfuhEw?t=22s
They need to make 7.65 Frommer for my 1910. 🙂
Fiocchi is good ammo. I first discovered them many years ago when I bought some 9mm rimfire shotshells for my Winchester 36. Which reminds me, I need some .30 Luger for the Wild Bunch shoot at the range this weekend.