Here's a pretty good synopsis courtesy of Jim Cassidy:2/20/06 Update shown in red.
There are four different firearms manufacturers by the name of Rizzini. The people who founded those companies (and, in most cases, still operate them) are all related, but their companies are independent. This article is an attempt to help shooters figure out which gun is made by which company.
To Make a Long Story Short
For those who don’t want to wade through all the details, I will list the four Rizzinis, in order by quality from highest to lowest. Any of these companies are probably capable of making guns to a wide range of quality levels and prices, but this ranking reflects my opinion (though others may differ) of the average quality of the guns commonly seen in the USA.
F.lli Rizzini make only high quality, custom made shotguns and rifles.
B. Rizzini produces the guns imported to the US by Rizzini USA, and previously by Sigarms (Sig Rizzini and Sigarms SA5)
I. Rizzini is better known as F.A.I.R., and makes guns sold under that name and also made the O/U guns sold under the Verona name.
E. Rizzini was formerly an independent company, but the E. Rizzini line of guns is now produced by the firm of Fausti Stefano.
And Now the Details
All of the gunmaking Rizzinis are closely related. Battista, Isadoro, and Emilio are brothers, and they are nephews of Guido and his brothers who founded F.lli Rizzini. The Rizzinis are also related to the Guerini and Fausti families of gunmakers. They are all located in the Val Trompia region of Italy.
F.lli Rizzini The name means “Rizzini Brothers”, and the company’s web site says it was founded in 1971 by Guido Rizzini and his brothers, but the other brothers are not identified. From this fact I assume that Guido is the only brother still involved in the company. They make up to 25 guns per year (or up to 15, depending on who you believe). The cheapest gun by this maker is about $55,000 plus the cost of engraving. It would be easy to pay $100,000 for an engraved gun by F.lli Rizzini.
Before the Rizzini brothers established themselves as makers of only the highest quality guns, they collaborated with Rinaldo Zoli to produce guns of much lower cost, known as Zoli Rizzini. (I don't know anything about Rinaldo, but he is probably related to Antonio Zoli, whose company is still in business, and Angelo Zoli, now out of business.) That operation came to an end in 1971, the same year F.lli Rizzini was founded. Used Zoli Rizzinis sell in the range of $500 to $4500, depending on model and gauge (and of course, condition).
The Rizzini brothers are uncles of Battista, Isadoro, and Emilio Rizzini.
Company web site:
http://www.fllirizzini.it/ Importer:
http://www.williamlarkinmoore.com/index1.html B. Rizzini The company's advertising material claims that B. Rizzini is "The Original Rizzini". I suppose that claim must be justified by the fact that it was founded in 1965, before any of the other Rizzini companies that are still in operation. However, Battista Rizzini's uncles were in the arms-making business before they founded their company, F.lli Rizzini.
The company makes O/U shotguns and double rifles in a variety of models and grades, in medium-to-high quality and price ranges. In the past their guns have been imported to the USA by William Larkin Moore, New England Arms Corp, and Sigarms, and they are now imported by Rizzini USA.
The background on Rizzini USA is an interesting story in itself. Much of what follows is scuttlebutt and therefore may not be completely accurate, but it comes from what I consider to be reliable sources so I'm sure most of it is correct. Rizzini made a model distributed by Sig and known as the Sig SA5 (but not the Sig SA3) and later (beginning about 2000) produced several models generally referred to as Sig Rizzini. Based on Sig's projection of how many guns they could sell, Battista Rizzini invested in computer-controlled machine tools capable of a high production rate. Unfortunately, Sig's orders from Rizzini were a small fraction of what Battista expected, and their contract did not specify a minimum that Sig had to take. As a result, by 2003 Battista had to find another way to sell guns in order to generate the volume it took to pay for the tooling.
Enter Rich Cole, of Cole Gunsmithing. I don't know the details, but Rich and Battista formed some sort of partnership and founded Rizzini USA to import and distribute a line of guns that were based on the same action as used in the Sig line, but included more models and options. Rizzini USA initially operated out of Cole's building and Cole Gunsmithing was the official factory service center and custom shop, as well as one of the retail dealers for Rizzini USA. As a result of a disagreement between Rich Cole and Battista Rizzini over business practices, Cole has now completely separated himself from Rizzini USA, they have moved to a new location, and Rich sold off the remaining Rizzini inventory held by Cole Gunsmithing. Since Cole is no longer the factory-authorized service center, they cannot honor Rizzini USA warranties, and Rizzini USA has made other service arrangements. However, I think Rich might provide warranty service on Rizzinis that Cole Gunsmithing sold at retail (I have not confirmed this with Rich), and as a general gunsmith he will do non-warranty work on guns they did not retail.
In the meantime, Sig got really ticked at Battista Rizzini for bypassing them and going with Cole, and they didn't like having to compete against Rizzini USA. Therefore they dropped the Rizzini line and sold off their remaining inventory, largely through CDNN. However, Sig will continue to honor warranties still in effect on Sig Rizzinis (although as far as I know neither Cole nor Rizzini USA will honor Sig's warranties). The Sig Rizzinis are so similar to the guns distributed by Rizzini USA that parts for them should not be a problem.
Battista Rizzini's company has been very successful in recent years. So successful, he recently bought Ferlib, a very small manufacturer of high-quality, hand-crafted, expensive shotguns. Ivano Tanfoglio, former owner of Ferlib, has collaborated with Battista in such projects as Rizzini's round-body game gun.
The Guerini brothers (I don't know their first names) worked for their Uncle Battista Rizzini for some years and were credited (by some people in the industry) with a large share of the success of the company. The scuttlebutt has it that they decided to ask Battista to allow them to invest in the company and eventually own a share of it. Within minutes after broaching the subject, they found themselves out the door and out of a job. Battista himself is nearing retirement age, but he has a couple of children who might take over the company. The scuttlebutt is that he is grooming his daughter Moira to take over.
It was widely reported that the Guerini brothers were both shocked and hurt by Battista's action, because they felt a genuine affection for their uncle. (I know, that sounds like the Guerini side of it - every story has two sides.) But life goes on, and they needed to make a living, so they secured financial backing to go into business for themselves, naming their company Caesar Guerini, after one of their ancestors. They have been quite successful in competing with their uncle.
Rizzini (Italy)
http://www.rizzini.it Rizzini USA
http://www.rizziniusa.com/index.htm Cole Gunsmithing
http://www.colegun.com/ Ferlib
http://www.ferlib.com/ Caesar Guerini (Italy)
http://www.caesarguerini.com/ Caesar Guerini USA
http://www.gueriniusa.com/index.html I. Rizzini (F.A.I.R.) The company was founded in 1971 by Isadoro Rizzini, a brother of Battista and Emilio Rizzini. Originally named Fabbrica Armi Isidoro Rizzini, it was later called F.A.I.R. Tecni-Mec I. Rizzini and is now named F.A.I.R. S.r.l. At one time they were imported to the US by New England Arms Corp, but I’m not sure what the importation arrangement is now, for the guns bearing the F.A.I.R. brand. For several years BC Outdoors imported and distributed them under the brand name of Verona. (Verona semi-automatics were not made by F.A.I.R.) BC Outdoors recently stopped distributing them, and the last report I had is that F.A.I.R. is looking for a new importer, but it is not clear (to me, anyway) whether the new importer will use the Verona name or the F.A.I.R. name. As I write this (Feb 16, 2005) there is a rumor going around that the new "Milano" O/U shotguns by Savage are made by F.A.I.R., although they may be higher grades than the guns formerly sold by BC Outdoors as Veronas.
Update 2/20/06: It seems certain now that The Savage Milano is made by F.A.I.R. and they are higher grades than the Veronas. Cabela's Gun Library is selling a large batch of F.A.I.R. guns from New England Arms, apparently liquidating their remaining inventory. It would seem that Savage thus becomes the sole source of F.A.I.R.'s in the US.
Like most manufacturers, F.A.I.R. is capable of making guns to a variety of quality and price levels. The Verona guns are relatively inexpensive, but have a reputation for being a good value for the money. Some of the F.A.I.R. branded guns are of higher cost and quality than the Veronas, but on average they are considered to be of lower quality than those made by B. Rizzini.
F.A.I.R. (Italy)
http://www.fair.it/ E. Rizzini The company was founded in 1974 by Emilio Rizzini, brother of Battista and Isadoro Rizzini. I believe Emilio must be either deceased or retired now, and his company no longer exists as a separate entity. Emilio’s son, Fabio, is married to Barbara Fausti, one of the 3 sisters who manage the company founded by their father Stefano Fausti, and since 1999 the E. Rizzini line of guns has been produced and distributed by Fausti.
The E. Rizzini guns are imported by Tristar Sporting Arms, LTD. which seems to use the Tristar name primarily, while barely acknowledging that the Tristar O/U’s are made by Rizzini. Traditions Performance Firearms imports the Fausti line, and previously imported the E. Rizzini line. As far as I can tell, Traditions no longer handles the E. Rizzini guns.
The quality and price of E. Rizzini guns seems to overlap with the lower and mid range of F.A.I.R. guns. It appears to me that the E. Rizzini line does not include anything that is directly comparable to the higher grade F.A.I.R. guns, and therefore I judge the average quality to be lower, although some individual models may be just as good as the comparably-priced FAIR’s.
Fausti
http://www.faustistefanoarms.com/ Tristar
http://www.tristarsportingarms.com/ Traditions
http://www.traditionsfirearms.com/index.asp
