Franchi Affinity 3

Introduction

Hunting shotguns have a great variety of choices in our American market today. With so many selections available, modern sportsmen are spoiled with options. Today we are going to take a look at one of those options, the Franchi Affinity 3.

The model we are testing today is chambered in 20 gauge, and has one of the many different camouflage coatings. The Affinity 3 is a semi-automatic shotgun, it uses Franchi’s inertia driven operating system.

As a lifelong bird-hunter, I am no stranger to the Franchi brand. And with waterfowl season in full swing, this little Italian repeater couldn’t have shown up at a better time.

The Franchi Affinity 3

Both the Affinity 3 and its big brother the Affinity 3.5 use Franchi’s inertia driven system. The 3.5 as you might imagine has a 3.5 inch chamber for shooting the heavier loads. One of the advantaged of the inertia driven action is reduced fouling. Since there is no gas venting from inside the shotgun, there is no carbon buildup other than in the barrel itself. And since there is no gas piston underneath the foregrip, the overall weight of the gun is reduced. Additionally this allows Franchi to make the foregrip more slender.

Various models are available of the Affinity, either twelve or twenty gauge. There are twenty-six inch barrels and twenty-eight inch options as well. The various camo coatings give hunters the option to mix into their environment. There is even an option for our left-handed friends. The TSA buttstock of the Affinity reportedly reduces felt recoil by 50%.

Other features of the shotgun are designed to enhance your shooting experience. Oversized controls on both the charging handle and bolt release make the Affinity easy to operate under pressure and while wearing cold-weather gear.

On top of the receiver you will find the Affinity is drilled and tapped for optics mounting. And up front there is a high visibility fiber-optic bead that gathers light even when there is little.

Hitting the Field with the Franchi Affinity 3

I had every intention of getting some serious trigger time behind the Affinity 3. For that I figured it would be good to break myself in on a few rounds of clay targets, before chasing after something feathered.

To that end, my brother and I took a short trip into the field to throw a few clays and see how the Franchi swings. We threw stack after stack of hand-thrown clay targets, over and under, from one side to the other. Challenging each other as best we could, because we both knew how the local waterfowl fly. And it was going to take some proper shooting to bring any of them down.

After burning through a case of clay targets, I felt pretty confident in my abilities behind the Affinity 3. I grew up shooting 12 gauge, so switching to 20 gauge is pretty easy. But having smaller patterns is far more concerning to me than recoil. If anything perhaps it made me a little less sloppy with my lead.

The lightweight Affinity bumped pretty good, its inertia system taking the edge off of the recoil impulse. I really liked the lightweight as I swung with the targets, and it would take a much longer than normal day of shooting to get fatigued by such a slender gun. I wish the gun had come with a selection of chokes, the one it came with was quite tight.

Post Shooting Impressions

Having shot the Affinity 3 extensively, I can say I felt quite proficient with it. I really liked the way the controls of the shotgun functioned, it made loading and shooting extremely smooth. As you might expect, the little Franchi plowed through box after box of ammunition without a single hiccup. The majority of our shooting was done with Federal Top Gun and Winchester Super Target ammunition. Both loaded with light loads of #8 shot.

It did take me a moment get used to the small 7/8 ounce loads, it required some additional diligence when targeting clays.

franchi affinity 3 20 gauge — we used **Federal Top Gun** and **Winchester Super Target** loads

The lightweight of the Franchi was very nice, it almost felt like a child’s toy. Maneuvering around with the gun was easy and could be done all day. And despite its light weight, the gun didn’t recoil as hard as I had anticipated. This likely due to the recoil operated action soaking up some inertia.

The only issues at all that I could find with the Affinity were the choke coming loose a couple times during our shooting. I’m not sure if I need to tighten it harder or if there was another issue, but it was something I checked and cranked it back down between shots. If you aren’t as familiar with shotguns like me, it might take a little tinkering to figure out the perfect barrel and bolt position for assembly.

Beyond the performance, the Franchi Affinity 3 is just handsome. A very nice finish and camo pattern make the shotgun very good looking. The fit and finish were of high quality, and I couldn’t find anything to complain about cosmetically.

With a drilled and tapped receiver, there are many things a shooter could do with this gun. Maybe you want to mount a red dot for another optical accessory. And the Franchi Affinity 3 is sling ready as well, with sling attachments at the rear buttstock and magazine cap as well. Our shooting was further aided by the bright fiber optic bead at the muzzle end of the barrel. These are small add-ons, but they are things that matter.