Weatherby's New D'Italia Over/Under

The Weatherby name long ago became synonymous with handsome and accurate rifles chambered for cartridges of various calibers that outpace the competition in bullet speed. Lesser known is the fact that Weatherby has for many years offered shotguns of various types, with the Regency over/under introduced in 1970 being the first. It was made by the Italian firm of Zoli, and while Weatherby has through the years sold stack-barrel guns made in other countries, the company recently came full circle by once again offering the same type of gun made in Italy, this time by Fausti.

The Weatherby D'Italia over/under has a boxlock action with ejectors and is available in two styles, Athena with receiver sideplates and Orion without sideplates. Gauge options are 12 and 20 (both with three-inch chambers) in all variations and 28 only in the Athena D'Italia IV like I used to hunt Georgia bobwhites.

The Grade II Orion is also available in 28 gauge. This is not a round-action gun, but since sharp edges are removed from the bottom of its receiver at the factory, it feels like one. This, along with its shallow action depth makes the 20-gauge gun extremely comfortable to carry. Measuring 2.320 inches tall and 1.405 inches thick, it is trim enough through its midsection to allow the ends of my thumb and finger to touch when I wrap my hand around the gun. The 12 gauge is 2.570 inches tall and 1.560 inches wide.

The barrels hinge on replaceable trunnions. Primary barrel lockup consists of a wide Browning-style bolt that extends from the lower edge of the standing breech to engage recesses at the bottom of the monobloc. This type of lockup often results in a rather deep receiver (with the old Browning Superposed being a good example), but it is avoided here by reducing the length of the locking recess feet extending from the bottom of the monobloc.

Axial force (which tries to push the barrels forward and away from the receiver during firing) is further contained in two ways, by a pair of side lugs inside the receiver that engage recesses in the sides of the monobloc and by allowing the locking recess feet of the monobloc to extend into recesses in the floor of the receiver. This is the kind of gun that with proper care should still be tight as a tick when your grandson hands it down to his grandson.

The barrel selector consists of a small metal tab located in the slide of the automatic safety. This type of selector is commonly seen on over/unders these days. Until shooting the Weatherby I absolute despised it. On other guns I've shot, when the tab is all the way to the left the bottom barrel (more open choke) fires first and anytime I wear gloves while hunting I invariably brush the tab to the right as I operate the top lever of the gun with my thumb and end up shooting the tighter choke first on my next shot.