Layout 2 - Caesar Guerini

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The Genesis And Genius
of
Caesar Guerini Firearms
by J. E. Fender
G
iorgio Guerini was sufficiently impressive when I first met was great technical expertise in the manufacture of high-quality
him in the spring of 1998 that I immediately marked him as firearms, design skills, an intimate knowledge of the international
an entrepreneur who would go far in the firearms manufacturing markets for high-quality firearms, and profound understanding of
industry. Giorgio was then
what the world-wide fellowship
working for his uncle, Battista
of high-quality firearms shootRizzini, in assembly and sales
ers wanted in their double
of the B. Rizzini line of double
guns—and that overwhelming
guns, and he graciously showed
enthusiasm for and belief in
me around the B. Rizzini factotheir product that is the hallry even though I pitched up on
mark of the true entrepreneur.
a Saturday morning with no
As I followed the progress of
production work in process.
Caesar Guerini after that second
The next time I met Giorgio
meeting it became evident that
was the summer of 2000, two
both brothers were visionaries
months after he and his brother,
in the firearms design and marAntonio, had launched Caesar
keting fields, but Antonio natuGuerini firearms. As I recall
rally gravitated to the quintesthat visit, Giorgio had leased a
sential but unassuming behindsmall building that was comthe-scenes creative engineer
pletely devoid of manufacturable to design both firearms and
The author begins a productive interview of Giorgio
ing equipment—and while the
related manufacturing equipGuerini and his indefatigable Personal Assistant, Alice
brothers Guerini showed me
ment for simplicity and effiBertussi, in the ultra-modern and scrupulously clean
the prototypes of a double
ciency. Giorgio’s complemenCaesar Guerini headquarters in Marcheno, Italy.
over/under shotgun and a
tary skills focused on leadersemiautomatic shotgun, they had absolutely no orders—from ship and organization, the sources of finances for current operaanyone. In fact, at this very early start-up date the Caesar tions and expansion, and a dynamic flair for marketing the douGuerini company probably did not have an order book.
ble guns in the constantly evolving Caesar Guerini line. Fratelli
But what the Guerini brothers possessed in superabundance Guerini is probably the most formidable team of brothers in
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European firearms manufacture since the early 1930s when
Frantisek and Josef Koucky worked to make Zbrojovka Brno (the
Brno Weapons Factory) in the Czecho-Slovak Republic the great
arsenal that it became.
In January 2011 Caesar Guerini Srl (Società a Responsabilità Limita
or Limited Liability Company) acquired an equity stake in FABARM
S.p.A (Società per Azioni or Limited Share Company), which created
the second largest shotgun manufacturing organization in Italy. This
consortium melds some 20 people for the Caesar Guerini team with
85 people from FABARM for a total employee base of slightly more
than 100 people. Of course, the firm of Pietro Beretta is larger by at
least a magnitude of ten than the resulting integrated group—but this
impressive expansion occurred in a short 11 years, with the majority of
those years being periods of global economic recession, and in Italy,
which has had a current account deficit every year since 2000.
Incidentally, though the acronym FABARM is frequently seen written in the plural, FABARMS, the acronym is singular and is generally
accompanied by its registered trademark, the right profile of a red lion
rampant. On occasion FABARM is confused by people who should
know better with FAMARS, another Italian gunmaker.
Rather than proceeding through a step-by-step review of Caesar
Guerini’s origins and expansion, I believe you will gain a greater
insight into the firm’s mission, vision and objectives via a slightly
edited version of spontaneous answers to a number of questions I
Caesar Guerini models shown from top are the Essex,
Tempio, Magnus Grouse Limited, and Maxum.
posed to Giorgio as part of my May 2011 visit to the sparkling new
2,000-meter square multi-storey company-owned building in
Marcheno, an integral suburb of the ancient gun-making city of
Brescia, which houses the Caesar Guerini offices.
DGJ: Describe your job in ten words.
GG: Analyze, engage, organize, produce and sell what our customers want.
DGJ: How would your Personal Assistant describe you?
GG: Demanding, but fair.
DGJ: What are your three best features?
GG: Fair, passionate about job, loyal, determined.
DGJ: What are your three worst features?
GG: Impulsive, working too much.
DGJ: When did you last lose your temper at work?
GG: I try never to lose my temper, (but the last time was during an
interview with an American writer!) especially because at work this is
the wrong thing to do—and losing one’s temper is synonymous with
inadequacy. (N. B.—DGJ is happy to report that your humble scribe
was not the object of Giorgio’s ire.)
DGJ: Do you have a Blackberry or other Personal Digital Assistant?
GG: Of course, at Caesar Guerini we have an intense focus on
technology!
DGJ: When do you turn off your Blackberry?
GG: Never! (N. B.—the accuracy of this answer was confirmed by
Giorgio’s indefatigable Personal Assistant, Signorina Alice Bertussi.)
DGJ: When do you begin and finish your work day?
GG: 7:00 in the morning to 7:00 at night, or whatever time the
business dictates.
DGJ: What has been your best business idea?
GG: Starting Caesar Guerini.
DGJ: What has been your worst business idea?
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GG: I do not regret anything I’ve done, I would do everything DGJ: To what other firearms retailers has Caesar Guerini furexactly in the same way.
nished shotguns?
DGJ: What is your personal “Golden Rule”?
GG: A partial list—Sauer, Orvis, Scheel’s, Cabela’s and L.L. Bean.
GG: Always be passionate about making the best product possible. DGJ: What is your opinion of the business climate in Italy today
DGJ: Has your job made your personal life suffer?
for a gunmaking firm?
GG: I think every private business owner
has to sacrifice their time, but I always try
to have a balance between work and family time. My family is very important to me.
DGJ: What or who was your biggest
influence?
GG: My brother for sure first of all and
Wes Lang.
Here I must interrupt our interchange
to introduce Wesley (Wes) B. Lang to
readers who may not know him. Wes, a
well-known and highly skilled sporting
clays competitor, was hired by the Sigarms
Company’s Exeter, New Hampshire,
North American operation in early 1998 as
Vice-President of Marketing. Wes, who
had previously held key positions at
Beretta USA and Seminole Chokes and
Gunworks, was given the task of developing a shotgun line to complement Sigarms’
lines of high-quality rifles and handguns—
or eliminate the shotgun line. Earlier, in Close-up of a Forum shotgun fitted with false side-plates and the precisely inletted
1997, Sigarms had imported over-and- buttstock. The frame is machined from lightweight “Invisalloy”.
under shotguns sourced from Antonio Zoli
and B. Rizzini, but his experience as a Below: Giorgio demonstrates how a Guerini boxlock frame fitted with false side-plates
sporting clays competitor led Wes to work is removed from the buttstock. The machine-inletting of the buttstock head is precisely
exclusively with B. Rizzini, and collabo- executed and the side-plates fit seamlessly into the head.
rate with Giorgio Guerini to develop and
introduce the Aurora line of shotguns
specifically designed for American shotgunners to be distributed by Sigarms. Wes
Lang subsequently left Sigarms to work
even more closely with the Guerini brothers in the Caesar Guerini enterprise, and
he now is the president of Caesar
Guerini’s North American operations
located in Cambridge, Maryland.
Now back to our interchange:
DGJ: What is your most treasured
possession?
GG: I would not say it is a physical possession. It is my family and the relationship
with the people I work with and our customers.
DGJ: What books are you currently
reading?
GG: Leopardi by Pietro Citati. It is a great
book, even if it is heavy! (N. B.—
“Leopardi,” a novel following the life of the poet and writer GG: Conditions are challenging, just as it is in many manufacturGiacomo Leopardi.)
ing industries.
DGJ: How many firearms has Caesar Guerini furnished to DGJ: When did you first realize you wanted to be a gunmaker?
William Evans? (N. B. — William Evans is a major high-qual- GG: I always wanted to be a gunmaker because I was born into a
ity double gun retailer in Great Britain.)
gunmaking family.
GG: I would not give a precise answer. I would just say it has DGJ: Who inspired you to become a gunmaker?
been a successful relationship.
GG: My family, beginning obviously with my uncle, Battista
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Rizzini, and for sure my brother, Antonio.
DGJ: Do you want your children to follow you into the gunmaking
business?
GG: I would be proud to have my children follow me into the business, but only if they have the desire to do so.
DGJ: Do you view the Caesar Guerini line of double guns as evolutionary—or revolutionary?
GG: Almost all double guns are evolutionary, just like every car is evolutionary. They all have four wheels, a motor, and get you to your destination. Every new one just does it a little better.
DGJ: If evolutionary, what are the technical advances that distinguish the Caesar Guerini line?
GG: Let me refer you to our current catalog where you will see
advances and evolutions such as our proprietary “Invisalloy” metal
coating technology that truly enhances the engraving while making
the base metal much more rust and corrosion resistant. Please look
carefully at our D. T. S. (Dynamic Tuning System) that allows the
shooter to adjust the buttstock, overall firearm balance, barrel weight,
and other physical dimensions to achieve a firearm that fits the shooter, so the shooter does not have to fit himself or herself to the firearm.
DGJ: Where are your biggest sales?
GG: The United States.
Caesar Guerini models shown from top are the Challenger
Sporting, Apex, Forum, and Express Trofeo in 8x57 JRS.
DGJ: Is Caesar Guerini selling to Russia and countries in the
Persian Gulf?
GG: For sure we are selling in those regions.
DGJ: Given their lower costs of production, do you see competition
arising from gunmakers in Brazil, Russia, and China?
GG: Making a great gun is not just a factory with machines. It is the
people behind the company and their understanding of fine shotguns
and their passion for making them. Therefore, it does not make a lot
of difference in your production costs.
DGJ: Please explain your philosophy on manufacturing, i.e., greater
use of machinery and vertical integration.
GG: Craftsmanship through technology and industrial innovation.
DGJ: How do you motivate your colleagues and workforce?
GG: I try to instill my passion for wanting to make the best product
possible. If you have personal pride in the product you make, it
makes a big difference.
DGJ: As Caesar Guerini expands, are you experiencing difficulties
in hiring sufficient, properly trained employees?
GG: Finding good employees is always a challenge, but we retain
employees very well. I truly believe the people we hire enjoy working
on our team. Today we have no problems finding people who want to
join our group, and the reason is two-fold: (1) Caesar Guerini has
earned a positive reputation in the manufacture of double guns, and (2)
the current economic depression has gripped all sectors equally.
DGJ: Does Caesar Guerini have an in-house training program?
GG: Most people who become part of our family are already experienced in our business, for those without the necessary skills but with
a desire to learn there is an apprenticeship with a program to follow
alongside the people with more experience.
DGJ: Does the Italian government provide any financial incentives
for a manufacturing company to establish an apprentice program?
GG: In Italy there are some laws that help and facilitate the recruitment of persons who are not professionally trained.
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DGJ: Where does Caesar Guerini source its wood, and are you experiencing problems in obtaining adequate quality and quantity of wood?
GG: From the Anatolia area (of Turkey) and wood of adequate quality is actually
more plentiful in this difficult market.
DGJ: What innovations does Caesar Guerini intend to introduce in the near term?
GG: As always, make what our customers expect. The news is always a secret until
we introduce it.
DGJ: What innovations is Caesar Guerini working on for the longer term?
GG: Same answer as your previous question.
DGJ: Is Caesar Guerini committed to the over-under platform, or will Caesar
Guerini be introducing a side-by-side shotgun?
Giorgio proudly displays a Caesar Guerini double rifle. This one is an
Express Ellipse Evo Light in 8x57 JRS caliber, as shown at right.
GG: We are a firearms company, and we have a vision for numerous products.
However, we like to be very competent at one thing before moving on to new projects. Everything needs to go step-by-step.
DGJ: To what do you attribute Caesar Guerini’s phenomenal success in the brief
eleven years since you struck out on your own?
GG: It is simple: a collective passion to make the very best possible product
throughout the whole Caesar Guerini team.
DGJ: Most of your engraving work is sourced from Casare Giovanelli’s engraving Bottega: are there plans to bring some engraving work in-house?
GG: Not at this time.
DGJ: Have any purchasers of Caesar Guerini firearms commissioned engraving
work from such artists as Pedretti or Fracassi?
GG: All of our work is in partnership with Giovanelli.
DGJ: Several years ago there were reports of problems with your shotgun barrels.
What was the source of those problems, and how did Caesar Guerini solve those
problems?
GG: It was proven to be the fault of defective reloaded ammunition. We have never
had a catastrophic failure of a Caesar Guerini shotgun attributed to our product.
DGJ: Is the current number of shotgun manufacturers in Northern Italy too many
for the current market?
GG: It depends on the long-term trends in the global economy. The market
has slowly been contracting over many years, so I am sure there will eventually
be consolidation.
DGJ: Do you expect any reduction in the number of shotgun manufacturers in
Northern Italy?
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GG: Eventually.
DGJ: Describe your plans for
your Custom Shop.
GG: We have a thriving Custom
Shop located in Cambridge,
Maryland. Your readers may
contact Wes Lang directly at
wes@gueriniusa.com for full
particulars on what our Custom
Shop offers.
DGJ: Are you satisfied with
Caesar Guerini’s current market niche in the shotgun manufacturing world?
GG: It has been successful for
us so far.
DGJ: Where do you want
Caesar Guerini to be five years
from now? Ten years from now?
GG: Continuing to do what I
love: making shotguns that
make our customers happy.
DGJ: How do you want to be
remembered?
GG: As often as possible.
The bottom line is that
Caesar Guerini has progressed
so far in the company’s brief
existence through hard work,
and understanding and delivering what shotgunners want
in their firearms. The closely
knit team of Caesar Guerini
and FABARM does the great
majority of its manufacturing
in-house, bringing in raw steel
billets and tubes and machining the raw steel into frames
and boring the barrels. Some
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ELLIPSE EVO
small components such as
screws and springs are outsourced. Common production
lines manufacture components
that are later bifurcated into the
product lines that will ultimately
wear either the Caesar Guerini
or the FABARM marque.
The appearance of the
Guerini shotgun line is not
ground-breaking; the Guerini’s
external style and mode of
operation is typical of the
Italian over/under boxlock
derivative. This is not a derisive
comment since the design is an
industry standard, extremely
well proven and as mechanically reliable as a machine can
be—so why meddle with what
is basically a modified triggerplate action that owes so
much to the original John M.
Browning Superposed design?
The barrels are the heart of any
double gun, and the Guerini
barrels are made on the monoblock principle, which has
become an industry-standard.
As virtually all readers of the
Double Gun Journal know, this
principle, actually a type of
sleeving, has the advantage of a
unitary block of steel forming
the breech end into which the
barrels are jointed some 5 to 6
inches from the breech end—
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generally in line with the front of the action body so all
the bolting and extraction-ejection mechanisms are
machined into the steel of the unitary block. As a matter
of industry practice, the resulting joint line is concealed
by a line of decorative engraving, though the Guerini barrels are jointed so neatly that the decorative engraving is
hardly necessary.
The massive full-width transverse under-bolt engages
a substantial “bite” machined into the unitary block,
and since this bolt is tapered, it is self-adjusting for
wear. The barrels pivot on specially hardened trunnions
which can be replaced if need be, but since the barrels
engage in well-shaped and rugged recoil shoulders on the
floor of the action, years of sustained shooting would pass
before the barrels come “off-face” enough to require
Giorgio points out salient features that distinguish the new
Ellipse Evo from other shotguns in the Caesar Guerini line.
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Three views of the Forum shotgun with false side-plates and the Express Ellipse Evo Light double rifle.
Below: Giorgio shows a Guerini boxlock’s precise machine-inletting which allows
a perfect fitting of action parts, frame, and side-plates.
replacement of the trunnions.
Antonio Guerini designed
the fore-end iron with an
interchangeable steel insert
that can also be adjusted to
compensate for wear. In reality, clay target shooters who
campaign their Guerini competition shotguns extensively
are the only people who will
ever need these features.
And do not look for Caesar
Guerini to sponsor competitive shooters as other well
known Italian shotgun manufacturers have done. A number of well-known clay target
shooters are using Guerini shotguns—but these shooters purchased their shotguns, they were neither given the shotguns
nor any sort of sponsorship.
I recall my initial meeting with Giorgio when he showed me
shotgun frames made from aircraft grade aluminum alloy
instead of chromium-nickel-molybdenum alloy steel—I
believe the frames were for B. Rizzini’s “Omnium Light” line.
A lightweight, though substantial titanium rectangular plate
was inserted into the standing breech face as a reinforcing
plate to counter back-thrust pressures and resist the wear and
corrosion generated by escaping gases that would erode
the breech face of the aluminum alloy. The plate, of
course, was pierced for firing
pins. A virtually similar standing breech reinforcing plate is
contemporaneously found on
the Japanese-made Browning
Citori Feather Lightning overand-under shotgun.
Caesar Guerini shotguns
have standing breech faces fitted with what the firm’s advertising describes as “interchangeable steel inserts.” To
me they look like firing pin
bushings that in the highest-grade double guns permit
removal and replacement of firing pins through the breech
face, avoiding complete disassembly of the action. However,
the more common use of firing pin bushings is to accommodate smaller tolerances for firing pin protrusion and prevent
leakage of gases from a pierced primer flowing into the
action. Generally, gases from shotshells generating 9–12,000
psi pressures will do no damage to the internal mechanisms
if the gases escape through the space between firing pin and
the firing pin hole. However, this does not hold true for the
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Forum
35–45,000 psi pressures generated by metallic rifle cartridges—gas leakage for
the pierced primer of a metallic rifle cartridge through an oversize firing pin hole
can cause great personal injury. Fortunately, the most recent example, with
which I am familiar, of gas leakage in a high-quality side-by-side shotgun without bushed firing pins being fitted with a set of rifle barrels, resulted in no injury
to the gunsmith—though the original buttstock was destroyed.
The bushed firing pins in the Guerini breech faces, averaged over the annual
production expenses, probably cost less than 15 dollars to manufacture and fit.
They add a very real touch of class—and of course are mandatory for double
rifles—which Caesar Guerini also makes. One innovation that Giorgio showed
me during my factory visit was an interchangeable steel insert held in place at the
muzzles of the firm’s over-and-under Express rifles by two small screws. This
innovation, for which Caesar Guerini claims patent protection, is reputed to permit easy and precise regulation of both barrels to a common point-of-aim with
minimum expenditure of ammunition.
As a fan and shooter of double rifles for well over 50 years, and familiar with the
generally labor-intensive requirements for getting two separate barrels to place their
bullets on a pre-determined point-of-aim, this innovation, if it functions as advertised, will be a remarkable development indeed. I shall be following this regulating
feature with interest.
Caesar Guerini manufactures a bewildering array of over-and-under shotguns
for field uses and the various clay targets competition. Exclusive of Express rifles,
I count ten models for field use and five models for competition, and the majority of the field models are available in regular steel and lightweight alloy versions.
Currently, the shotgun model generating the most shooter interest is the Ellipse
and its permutations. While dictionaries provide several definitions of “ellipse”
(i.e., falling short, or omission) the Italian definition is forma geometrica di cilindro
allungato, or more precisely, the geometrical term for the locus of all points of the
planer whose distances to two fixed points add to the same constant. Study the photographs of the Ellipse Evo accompanying
this article and you will see the beauty of absolute geometrical symmetry in the rounded and shaped action body. Incidentally,
the Evo is available with either the “Beretta-type” thumb safety which incorporates a barrel selector button, or a beautifully
sculpted non-selective safety set to fire the lower barrel first. Giorgio did show me the prototype of a new selective safety his
firm is developing.
Ellipse is an appropriate name indeed, particularly so when the action body emerges from the engraving studios of the
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incomparable Cesare Giovanelli.
Known only to the most discerning
students of Italian engraving—and
readers of the Double Gun Journal
(please refer to the article “Celebration
of the Firearms Engravers’ Art: Bottega
Incisioni di Cesare Giovanelli” in
the Double Gun Journal, Volume
Thirteen, Issue 2, Summer 2002),
the Giovanelli studios, in addition
to being the world’s preeminent
academy for training firearm
engravers, provide the engraving
embellishments for well over half
of all double guns produced in
Northern Italy using a variety of
media, including the laser technology used to engrave the Ellipse. I
am delighted at the relationship
between gunmaker and engraving
studio, for the name Giovanelli
engraved on the underbody of the
Guerini frames adjacent to the
triggerguard is yet another hallmark of quality.
APEX
The number of shotguns shipped
and sold by Caesar Guerini in calendar year 2010 is, of course, proprietary information. However, I have
talked to a number of USA firearm
retailers as well as one retailer in the
United Kingdom, who sell the
Guerini line, and every retailer to
whom I spoke reported very strong
sales and purchaser enthusiasm. I
would not be surprised if Caesar
Guerini double gun sales exceeded
ten thousand in 2010.
While writing this article, Robert
Frost’s wonderful poem, “The
Road Not Taken,” came to mind.
You know it well, particularly that
portion of the last stanza,
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that made all the difference.
Giorgio and Antonio Guerini
came to two roads that diverged:
they could have continued along
the well-traveled road of working
for others, but they chose the lesstraveled road of striking out on
their own. A perilous undertaking, surely, but the world-wide
population of shooters and hunters
who appreciate fine double guns
are glad they chose as they did.
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