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Franchi Affinity

• moderate
• Shop tier 2
• medium confidence
• Shotgun
• semi auto shotgun
• inertia driven
• no gas system
• hunting

field strip ~4 min · reassembly ~6 min · detail strip ~25 min

Specifications

Model-specific safety

• The Affinity uses the Benelli inertia system. The inertia spring between the bolt head and bolt body is what makes it work — missing, misassembled, or drowned in oil, the shotgun will not cycle.
• An inertia gun needs the shooter’s body to provide resistance. Holding it loosely can cause failures to cycle. That is a characteristic of the system.
• Do not over-lubricate the bolt. Excess oil damps the inertia spring.
• Unloading a tube magazine takes several cycles. Verify both the chamber and the tube.

Under spring tension

• Inertia spring in the bolt
• Recoil spring in the stock tube
• Magazine tube spring

Easily lost parts

Inertia spring · Locking head pin · Firing pin and retaining pin · Bolt handle

Tools

No tools required for the field strip.

Shop difficulty

Shop tier 2 Tier 2 — moderate among shotguns, for the full job: strip to the parts that get coated and put it back together working. Benelli-pattern inertia action: about 79 keyed parts (143 rows across five assembly tables, 12 ga column) that come apart without timing, but with the same traps as the M2: inertia spring that must be present, bolt head orientation, stock nut and spring washer on a tension rod, and the barrel extension that must not strike the locking head on reassembly.

Parts: 79 numbered parts (Franchi spare parts catalogue TAV 1-5 (Affinity/Intensity), rows with a 12-gauge code only; keys restart in each table (79 keyed rows), and several rows are kits or variants), from Franchi Affinity / Intensity manual (2013) — Franchi USA / Benelli Armi S.p.A., p. 9–22 franchiusa.com [2].

Bench time: about 50 min to strip, 70 min to rebuild (estimate). As Benelli M2 (Benelli-made inertia action).

Small parts: 12 pins, 15 springs, 0 detents or plungers (counted from the manufacturer's parts list (one per key number unless a quantity is given))

What comes off for coating

• Barrel / magazine: magazine cap, fore-end, barrel, magazine spring and follower (retainer)
• Receiver: trigger group pin(s) and trigger group, bolt assembly and cocking handle, carrier latch / cartridge drop lever
• Bolt: firing pin retaining pin, firing pin and spring, locking head pin and locking head, inertia spring, extractor pin, extractor and spring
• Trigger group: trigger group parts per TAV 1 (hammer, sear, springs on pins)
• Stock / recoil tube: recoil pad, stock nut, spring washer and plate, stock and drop shims, recoil spring, plunger and link, recoil spring tube (bare-receiver jobs; often thread-locked) — 13-17 mm socket on extension, padded vise, heat gun

Special tools

• Long 13-17 mm socket on extension — Buttstock nut on the tension rod
• Padded vise and heat gun — Freeing a thread-locked recoil spring tube
• Punch set incl. 3/32 in. — Trigger group and bolt pins

Known pain points

• When the barrel goes back on, the barrel extension must not knock against the bolt locking head; the bolt has to be fully forward and the extension fully home. (reassembly)
  Source: Franchi Affinity / Intensity manual (2013) — Franchi USA / Benelli Armi S.p.A. franchiusa.com [2] — “Always ensure that the barrel extension does not knock against the bolt locking head.”
• The stock is held by a nut, lock washer and spring washer on a tension rod, and a stamped drop shim must go back the right way round. (both)
  Source: Franchi Affinity / Intensity manual (2013) — Franchi USA / Benelli Armi S.p.A. franchiusa.com [2] — “Place the selected drop shim (7) on the tension rod, with the stamped letter facing towards the stock.”
• Freeing the buttstock and recoil tube (needed to coat the receiver bare) means breaking a buttstock nut on a tension rod; on Benelli-family inertia guns owners report thread-locker, heat and a real risk of crushing the tube in the vise. (disassembly)
  Owners report: Benelli Super Black Eagle recoil spring replacement — Canadian Gun Nutz canadiangunnutz.com [4] — “I am fearful of getting the vice too tight and collapsing the tube.”

Fit or check on rebuild

• Recoil tube support and torque — The aluminium recoil tube is easily crushed or bent; refit square and tight without clamping the tube.
  Source: Benelli Super Black Eagle recoil spring replacement — Canadian Gun Nutz canadiangunnutz.com [4] — “I am fearful of getting the vice too tight and collapsing the tube.”
• Link seated on the recoil spring plunger — If the link misses the plunger when the bolt goes in, the gun will not cycle.
• Function check: safety, trigger/sear release, disconnector and feeding with dummy rounds — Standard after any detail strip; a mis-assembled sear or disconnector can double or fail to fire.

This is Pew-Takedown's rating, not the manufacturer's. How tiers are rated. Forum reports are owners' experience, not specifications.

Manufacturer videos

Official videos from Franchi's own channels, linked rather than copied. Where a video and the steps on this page differ, follow the manufacturer's manual and video.

• Franchi Affinity - Limiter Plug Removal Franchi USA adjustment, maintenance · 2016-05-25
  Covers: Franchi Affinity

Procedures

Torque specifications

No sourced torque values from the manufacturer are recorded for this firearm. Where a fastener has a specified torque — action screws, scope bases, muzzle devices, barrel nuts — get it from the manufacturer or a gunsmith rather than estimating it.

What the manufacturer does say: The manufacturer's documents give no torque value. They say: "Fit the spring washer on tension rod (4), nut (3) and tighten firmly." (Franchi Affinity / Intensity manual (2013), PDF p. 33 (drop/deviation change, step 7)) "Refit the under butt plate (2) and butt plate (1), so they are perfectly aligned with the stock and then tighten the screws." (Franchi Affinity / Intensity manual (2013), PDF p. 33)

Materials and factory finish

As stated by Franchi. Prep, masking and cure depend on these; a polymer or aluminium part, a nitrided or anodised finish, and a blued steel part are each a different job. Variants with other finishes may exist — check the maker's page for the exact SKU on the bench.

Parts list

Transcribed from the manufacturer's parts list (Franchi Affinity / Intensity manual (2013) — Franchi USA / Benelli Armi S.p.A., p. 9–22 franchiusa.com [2]) — Spare parts catalogue TAV 1-5 (Affinity/Intensity), drawings pp.9-11, tables pp.13-22. Only rows with a 'Code 12' part number are kept; the Code 20 and Code 3" 1/2 columns and 10 rows without a 12-gauge code are left out.. Key numbers refer to the exploded view in that document.

Function check

• Verify the shotgun is unloaded — chamber and magazine tube — before each step.
• Cycle the action fully and confirm it locks closed.
• With the hammer cocked, engage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer must not fall.
• Disengage the safety and press the trigger. The hammer should fall.
• Load two dummy shells into the magazine and confirm they feed and eject one at a time.
• Confirm the magazine cap is tight.

Maintenance

Lubrication points

• Bolt body exterior
• Bolt head locking lugs
• Magazine tube exterior
• Trigger group pivots

Cleaning notes

Inertia guns need very little lubricant and have no gas system to foul. Keep the inertia spring and bolt interior clean and essentially dry — excess oil there is the most common self-inflicted cause of cycling failures.

Suggested inspection interval: roughly every 2000 rounds. This is a general guideline, not a manufacturer specification.

Wear parts to inspect

Inertia spring · Bolt head locking lugs · Extractor and spring · Recoil spring in the stock tube

Common issues

Also covers

The procedures above are reported to apply to: Affinity 3 · Affinity 3.5 · Affinity Elite and Companion variants. Verify against the manual for your specific model.

Similar manual of arms

• Benelli M2
• Stoeger M3000

Sourcing