Gun World - Fausti Stefano Arms

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Fausti’s dainty Dea is tested by the Devils
BY BRAD FITZPATRICK
PHOTOS BY BEN GETTINGER
A
good photograph is, I believe, worth a
thousand words.
That’s what I thought as Benjamin and Veronica Gettinger
were showing me their photos of the Fausti Dea leaning
against an iron gate in a secluded rose garden in Lexington,
Kentucky. The garden, with its intricate stonework and
well-maintained rose collection, seemed the perfect backdrop for the sexy little Dea, with its delicate hand-engraved
receiver, premium walnut stock and gold inlays. This
seemed the perfect location to accent the little Fausti’s
European charm.
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There are plenty of birds in Idaho’s Seven
Devils Mountains, but getting to them
can be tough. The 5-pound Dea is the
perfect gun for such a hunt.
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LEFT: The Fausti’s receiver is case-colored and covered with scroll
engraving, and the bottom of the receiver sports the company logo in
gold. The fit and finish are excellent.
BELOW: With its AAA-grade walnut, gold accents and meticulous fit
and finish, the Dea looks like a showpiece. But don’t be fooled! The Dea
proved itself in some of the country’s harshest bird-hunting terrain. The
little Italian goddess looks good and plays hard.
I had to laugh to myelf, though. As
we carefully maneuvered the Dea in
and around the garden, I thought
back to the day before, when the Dea
and I had been 1,500 miles away in
the dry, rocky foothills of the Seven
Devils Mountains in Idaho. The delicate little Dea, a charming little
beauty of an upland gun, had been to
“Hell” and back just a day before.
Hell’s Canyon, that is. I’d been
hunting with Andy and Karen Savage, of Heaven’s Gate Outfitters,
based near Riggins, Idaho. The Savages have exclusive rights to hunt
more than 1,200 square miles of
Idaho wilderness between the Snake
and Salmon rivers—a paradise for big
game such as elk and mule deer and
a fantastic destination for a mixedbag bird hunt, as well.
Although the Snake and Salmon
rivers lie at relatively low elevations
and are surrounded by dry hills (the
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“If the Dea really
did have the DNA
of a tough, upland
hunting gun,
it would certainly
be tested in the
Devils.”
Snake River drainage is aptly known
as Hell’s Canyon, the deepest gorge
in the country), the Seven Devils
Range rises up to an elevation of
almost 10,000 feet between the two
rivers. This means that the Savages’
lease includes both high alpine
forests, as well as dry, grassy hills at
lower elevations.
Those low hills are a paradise for
gamebirds. On the morning of our
hunt, we stood halfway up the dry,
grassy slope, listening to the calls of
hundreds of chukars that were hidden among the rocky slopes above
and below us. The birds literally
seemed to be everywhere. It seemed
as if it would be an easy hunt.
I should have known better. Nothing about hunting wild chukars in
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the steep, rocky slopes where they
live is easy. Despite the fact that we
were ferried to the top of the mountain and hunted down, getting birds
in the foothills of the Devils requires
a lot of walking (some sliding, too)
and good shooting.
I debated whether or not to test
the Dea here. After all, the Dea was
designed to be a showpiece, right? It
was beautiful, well balanced and
swung like a dream. But was it really
the ideal gun for such an extreme
hunt that would comprise a day
spent climbing through rocks and
cactus in search of America’s toughest game bird?
We would see. If the Dea really did
have the DNA of a tough, upland
hunting gun, it would certainly be
tested in the Devils.
LOOKS BEFITTING HER NAME
Any shotgun referred to as a “goddess” had better look pretty good, and
from an aesthetic standpoint, the Dea
does not fail. The straight stock and
fore end are made of AAA-grade walnut that is embellished with 24-lpi
diamond checkering. The Dea has no
recoil pad; instead it wears a check-
SHE WON’T
SLOW YOU DOWN
Available in both 28 gauge and .410
bore, the Dea is thin, lightweight and
easy to carry all day. That was one benefit of having it along on our chukar
hunt; chasing birds all day in this rough
terrain requires lightweight gear.
Despite the fact that the temperature
hovered just above freezing when we
started our hunt, I was soaked with
sweat when I’d made it halfway down
the hill.
At 5 pounds, the Dea didn’t slow me
down, and it wasn’t uncomfortable to
carry. Having hunted similar country
with a 7-pound shotgun, I can personally attest to the fact that if you are a
serious bird hunter and plan to walk
many miles in search of your birds,
even a few ounces can make a big difference. The lightweight Dea was the
perfect gun for such a hunt.
ered walnut butt plate embellished
with the Fausti logo in the center.
The oil finish on the walnut gives
the wood a beautiful, glossy finish
that accentuates the intricate patterns within the stock. The fore end
The Fausti Dea sports a scaled Anson and Deeley
boxlock action—a design known for its simplicity
and reliability. The Dea has selective ejectors
that extract unfired shells and ejects spent ones.
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If you’re looking for a lightweight bird gun that will last and last,
Fausti’s Dea may be just what you’re looking for. It isn’t cheap,
but it’s made to exacting standards that ensure its longevity.
is a flat-bottomed splinter-type with
a release button mounted at the front
under the barrels. The wood-tometal finish is superb.
Fausti adorned the receiver, foreend metal, top lever and the trigger
guard with classic scroll engraving
that looks particularly good against
the color case-hardened receiver. A
gold Fausti logo looks classy against
the underside of the receiver, and
the word, “Dea,” appears in gold lettering across the trigger guard. It’s
little wonder that my friend at TSA
wanted a closer look at the Dea. You
won’t see any better-looking guns
pass by.
The Dea comes with a stylish locking hard case, complete with spare
chokes (Fausti includes five choke
tubes with the Dea: cylinder,
improved cylinder, modified,
improved modified and full), a choke
tube wrench and sleeves for storage.
Italians love beautiful things, and
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the Dea is no exception. The
Fausti sisters would have
been proud to see how many
people on the hunt stopped to
look over the little, side-byside scattergun. The TSA
agent at the airport spent an
inordinate amount of time
handling and looking my gun
over when I went through
security on my way to Idaho.
The dainty little Dea is quite a
beauty.
The Fausti comes with five interchangeable
choke tubes to cover a wide variety of hunting
situations. The Dea and all its accessories come
standard in a hard-sided locking case.
SIMPLE, SMOOTH
AND SOLID
Although the Dea is pretty, it’s also a
performer. Built to exacting standards, the Dea is everything that
side-by-side enthusiasts love. The
action of the Dea is machined from a
single piece of hardened alloy for the
utmost structural strength. Fausti
used the time-tested Anson and
Deeley boxlock action as the starting
point for its diminutive side-by-side.
One of the great assets of William
Anson and John Deeley’s 1875
design is that the Anson and Deeley
boxlock is both reliable and simple. It
contains little more than a pair of
internal hammers, cocking levers
and a sear. The Dea has a scaled
action (at the widest point on the
action, the Dea is still less than 2
inches wide), and there simply isn’t
room for excessive mechanical parts
in such a tight space.
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“Any shotgun
referred to as
a ‘goddess’ had
better look pretty
good, and from
an aesthetic
standpoint, the
Dea does not fail.”
10:53 PM
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chrome lined and cold blued. Both the
.410 and 28-gauge versions are available with barrels of 26, 28 or 30
inches with 11mm-wide filed ribs and
a single bead. The company also
offers its Dea Duetto with interchangeable .410 and 28-gauge barrels.
TRUE TEST OF AN UPLAND GUN
My test gun came with 28-inch barrels, and it swung like a dream, balancing very nicely between the
hands and coming naturally to the
shoulder. One of the best parts of
hunting the Seven Devils is that,
unlike most other upland hunting
destinations, you can never be sure
what type of shot you’ll be taking
next or even what species of bird
you will find. The hills are home to
chukars and Hungarian partridge, as
well as California quail and pheasant. At higher elevations near timber, dusky and ruffed grouse are the
The monobloc barrels are soldered
together, and a pair of stout locking
lumps keep the action shut until the
lugs that hold the action closed are
released by pressing the lever to the
right, allowing the action to open. Fore
end-mounted sears operate the selective ejectors that elevate unfired shells
and eject spent ones. CNC-machining
technology in Fausti’s Brescia, Italy,
factory means that the Dea is built to
exceedingly tight tolerances, making
for a smooth, solid action.
Unlike many English-style shotguns,
the Dea has a single selective
mechanical trigger that fires the right
barrel first. The safety is a sliding,
non-automatic variety mounted on the
tang that is pressed forward to fire.
The chambers on the 28-gauge gun
are 2¾ inches, and the barrels are
FAUSTI DEA
SPECIFICATIONS
Action Side-by-side,
Anson & Deeley
boxlock, 2¾-inch
chambers
Caliber 28 gauge (tested),
.410 bore
Capacity 2 shots
Barrel Lengths 26, 28 (tested),
30 inches
Overall Lengths 44 1/8 inches
(28-inch barrels)
Weight 4 pounds, 14 ounces
(28-inch barrels)
Sights 11mm-wide filed rib,
single brass bead
Stock AAA select walnut
Finish Blued
MSRP $3,890
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“… chukar love to
hug the contours
of steep hills and
drop elevation as
they make their
escape, twisting
left and right as
they fly.”
dominant species, but even these
high-elevation birds can occasionally
be found down in the foothills.
The dramatic change in elevation
also means that flushed birds may be
dropping fast, rising or even coming
down from above. The result is a day
spent looking up and down the
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slope, watching the dogs
work and practicing shots
from a dizzying number of
angles. In short, bird hunting
in the Seven Devils is a great
way to test the versatility of
any upland gun.
I missed a chukar early
over a gorgeous point by Tom
Loy’s Gordon Setter, Pete. It
wasn’t the gun’s fault; chukar
love to hug the contours of
steep hills and drop elevation
as they make their escape,
twisting left and right as they
fly. Their acrobatic maneuvers make them a test of any
shotgunner’s skill.
Although I failed in dramatic
fashion on my first shot at a
chukar, I managed to redeem
The Dea has a flat-bottomed splinter-type forearm, with the release button positioned at the
front of the forearm, under the barrels.
The Seven Devils is a tough place to get your birds, but there are very few places that are
more beautiful. Tom Loy’s Gordon Setter, Pete, looks over the results of the morning’s hunt.
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The Dea performs
well on birds, thanks
to its light weight,
great balance and
solid engineering. No
gun is better suited
for long days afield
when you will cover
many miles in search
of your birds.
myself shortly thereafter, when the
bird that flushed happened to be a
ruffed grouse, rather than a chukar.
The grouse thundered out of the grass
and headed for a grove of cottonwoods on the ridge above me. I raised
the Dea and touched off the right barrel, dropping the grouse at the base of
the trees. Soon after that, we got
another chukar, and the curse seemed
to be broken.
As we made our way down from
the ridge above, I could hear chukars
calling above and below us (it’s
ironic and infuriating how much that
call sounds as if they are laughing at
you!) and knew that at any moment
we could have our next flush.
As we reached the base of the
hill and the sun dipped behind the
crest of the Devils, it seemed our
day had come to an end. Not so.
The dogs worked down the base of
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a cottonwood-choked creek and
flushed a covey of perhaps 40 California quail.
Jack O’Connor, who lived the later
part of his life in Lewiston, Idaho,
just up the river from where we
were hunting, once wrote an article for Outdoor Life titled, “Shooting
Gallery Rams.” I felt very much as
though I were in a shooting gallery
when the quail came out, flying in a
line down the slope in front of me. I
swung through the first one, shot,
then swung through the second and
dropped it, as well. California quail,
unlike their Eastern relatives, do not
always flush at once, and I had time
to drop a single shell into the right
barrel, close the action and swing
past a third bird that flew down the
“shooting gallery” past me, dropping the bird. It was an exciting 30
seconds, for sure.
SOURCES
Fausti USA
(540) 371-3287
www.faustiusa.com
Heaven’s Gate Outfitters
(208) 628-2783
www.hgoid.com
Tallgrass Gordon Setters
(208) 608-8749
www.tallgrassgordonsetters.com
The next day, I flew back to Lexington with photographer Ben Gettinger, who then set up the garden
photo shoot. The Fausti certainly
looked good propped against the
iron gate, and it continues to draw
attention every time I uncase it. But
as far as I’m concerned, this Italian
beauty proved itself where it really
counts—in the field. GW
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