Franchi Momentum

When a convergence of technology in the firearms world reached my doorstep, it was a surprise. The combination of a brand-new rifle by Franchi mounted with a 3rd generation Eliminator optic by Burris arrived as I was on my way out the door to participate in a mule deer cull hunt in the mountains of New Mexico. The combination of a new rifle, a new optic and New Mexico mule deer was irresistible.

From France With Love

Franchi is a famous and familiar brand. Founded in 1868, the Luigi Franchi Company developed an early reputation for the quality of their Holland & Holland type double-barrel shotguns seen in the hands of many of Europe’s outstanding competitive shooters.

Being a Franchi shotgunner myself, the company caught me by surprise when they burst on the scene recently with a refined centerfire rifle, the Momentum. It comes in three different configurations and 6 common chamberings: .243 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Win., .308 Win., .30-06 and .300 Win. Mag. The 6.5 Creedmoor and the .300 Win. Mag. are supplied with 24″ hammer-forged, chrome-moly barrels, the other calibers with 22″ barrels. MSRP starts at $609.

European Style

The Italians have a flair for styling and the black synthetic stock of the Momentum is elegant indeed. Franchi calls it “ergonomically-designed to be an extension of the body, regardless of shooting position” and there are some neat features. The forearm is virtually flat with fully wrap-around checkering. It’s great for a solid rest and off the bench, your hand naturally curls around and cradles the forearm with your fingers gripping the deep grooves running parallel to the barrel. Ergonomic? I’d say so.

The Italian Trigger Job

Ah, the Italians do like crisp triggers though, and the Momentum’s trigger is precisely adjustable with a single screw from 2-4 lbs. Franchi’s trigger is almost worth the price of the gun. Other gun makers should take note. Mated to the trigger is a two-position safety which permits unloading the rifle with the safety on.

Precision Features

Two design features of the Momentum enhance its precision performance. The massive, spiral-fluted bolt features three locking lugs which distribute stress better to the action than a two-lug system and provides a quick, 60-degree bolt lift. The other accuracy-enhancing feature is the modern, stressless action bedding. Instead of a single recoil lug, there are two metal bedding lugs in the stock mating with two slots machined into the front receiver ring. These features add up to a sub-MOA rifle right out of the box.

On The Mountain

For the mule deer hunt, the Momentum came chambered for the 6.5 Creedmoor — brainchild of ballisticians Dave Emary and Dennis DeMille of Hornady. It was originally designed as match/target cartridge with very tight chambering tolerances. What Emary and DeMille solved was the problem of Principle Axis Tilt, caused by excessive throat dimensions permitting bullets to yaw while engaging the rifling.

Commonly, traditional throats measure from 0.003″ to 0.010″ larger than the projectile diameter. The design team tightened the tolerance in the 6.5 Creedmoor chamber to only 0.0005″ over projectile diameter, ensuring the bullet entered the lead squarely and engaged the rifling in a straight in-line fashion. The rest is history.

Going Up The Mountain

Our New Mexico hunt was arranged through Colorado Buck outfitters, on a 19,000-acre ranch managed for elk and mule deer hunting outside Cimarron. Buck had noticed a declining quality in the mule deer trophies taken and had organized our hunt to cull any buck at least 3 years old with three or fewer points on at least one side. With this limitation, I expected it might be a tough hunt. It proved otherwise.

At camp, I met an old hunting partner John Barsness and we sighted in our Momentum/Eliminator combo with Hornady’s 143-gr. ELD-X load, a sleek, plastic-tipped game bullet with a G1 BC .623 rating and muzzle velocity of 2,700 fps. The hunt was on.

The next morning found John and I in the care of our guide, Dwayne, working through a high mountain burn. John and I had amicably decided I would take the first shot since I had an Arizona Coues deer tag burning a hole in my pocket.

As luck would have it, the first buck we spotted was sporting a very deformed rack, with 2 points on one side and a weird, 3-point sprout of an antler on the other. He was an old gray-faced mulie, walking several hundred yards to our front.

I got down on the bipod as quick as a cat, punched the Eliminator on switch, viewed the laser report of 311 yards, waited for the little red dot to indicate the aiming point, led the walking buck a hair and pulled the trigger. The bullet drove through his left ribs and came to rest under the hide of the right shoulder. The hunt was over. With the core intact, the retained weight of Hornady’s ELD-X bullet measured 105-grains — I could not have asked for better performance.

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