Rizzini BR110 Review (2026): 1,500 Shells Through a Light Luxe and a Sporting

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Table of Contents

Review: Rizzini BR110, the Italian Boxlock That Makes You Pick a Receiver First

Our Rating: 8.3/10

• MSRP: $3,100 (Light Luxe), $3,700 (Sporting), $4,000 (Sporting X), $5,500 (IPS and IPS Trap); Rizzini USA lists the plain BR110, Limited and Dakota as “contact a dealer”
• Street Price: Our live card starts at $2,348.94 (a Light Luxe at Battlehawk Armory); trusted sellers start at $2,375 for a new BR110 at Guns.com on September 29, 2026, $2,806.99 for the Limited and $2,895.99 for the 12 gauge Light Luxe at Palmetto State Armory (Use our live pricing for the best up to date deal)
• Action: Boxlock over-and-under, automatic ejectors, single selective trigger, manual safety
• Gauge: 12, 16, 20, 28 and .410 on the BR110 and Limited; 12, 20, 28 and .410 on the Light Luxe and Sporting
• Chamber: 2 3/4 in. or 3 in., by gauge
• Barrel Length: 26 in. to 30 in. on field guns (32 in. special order), 30 in. or 32 in. on the Sporting
• Barrels: Cold hammer-forged, ventilated top rib
• Chokes: Five interchangeable tubes (C, IC, M, IM, F), flush on field guns, extended on the Sporting
• Capacity: 2
• Weight (12 gauge): 6.4 lbs (Light Luxe, alloy), 7.5 lbs (BR110 and Limited, steel), 8.5 lbs (Sporting)
• Stock: Oil-finished Turkish walnut, pistol grip, 14 1/2 in. to 14 3/4 in. length of pull by model
• Warranty: Rizzini USA limited lifetime warranty, original retail purchaser only, wood excluded
• Made in: Marcheno, Val Trompia, Italy

Quick Take

The Rizzini BR110 is the working over-and-under from a family shop in Marcheno, Italy, and in Rizzini’s own words it’s “a boxlock over-and-under built to the same tolerances as guns three times its price.” It’s sold here by Rizzini USA, the company’s exclusive North American distributor, in field grades from about $2,350 and competition guns up to $5,750.

I shot two of them. A 12 gauge Light Luxe with 28 in. barrels took 500 shells, including two mornings on pheasants, without a single malfunction. A 12 gauge Sporting with 32 in. barrels took 1,000 shells on clays with one sticky hull. Both pointed well and both broke clean.

The thing to understand before you buy is that “BR110” covers two different receivers. The Light Luxe is an alloy gun reinforced with titanium at 6.4 lbs in 12 gauge. The BR110, Limited and Dakota are steel guns at 7.5 lbs. That 1.1 lb is the whole choice between a gun you carry and a gun you shoot a lot of, and the prices are close enough that it should drive the decision.

Best For: Upland hunters who walk all day (Light Luxe) and clay shooters who want an Italian competition gun under $4,000 (Sporting). Not for buyers who want an automatic safety as standard or a gun they can resell with its warranty.

Alloy or Steel: The BR110 Choice Nobody Explains

Rizzini USA lists seven guns under the BR110 name, and they split cleanly into two receivers. The BR110 Light Luxe has a “gray anodized lightweight-alloy action” that Rizzini says is “reinforced internally with titanium.” Every other BR110 is steel: the plain BR110, the Limited with its nickel chrome steel receiver, the Dakota, and the Sporting, Sporting X and IPS competition guns.

Here’s what that does to weight, straight from Rizzini’s pages:

Gauge	Light Luxe (alloy)	BR110 / Limited (steel)	Sporting (steel)
12	6.4 lbs	7.5 lbs	8.5 lbs
16	n/a	6.8 lbs	n/a
20	5.9 lbs	6.4 lbs	7.4 lbs
28	5.2 lbs	6.1 lbs	6.7 lbs
.410	5.4 lbs	6.1 lbs	7.1 lbs

Two things jump out. The 12 gauge Light Luxe weighs exactly what a steel 20 gauge BR110 weighs. And in both the Light Luxe and the Sporting, Rizzini lists the .410 as heavier than the 28 gauge (5.4 lbs against 5.2, and 7.1 against 6.7), which makes sense once you think about it: a .410 bore leaves more steel in the barrel walls.

Now the money. At Palmetto State Armory the steel, engraved 12 gauge Limited was $2,806.99 and the alloy 12 gauge Light Luxe was $2,895.99. So the lighter gun costs about $89 more, and the heavier gun gets you a nickel chrome steel receiver with side engraving and a colored game scene underneath. If you walk more than you shoot, take the Light Luxe. If you shoot a case of shells a month, the steel gun will be the softer one on your shoulder.

Design Intent: Why Rizzini Built It This Way

Rizzini has built shotguns in Marcheno, in Italy’s Val Trompia north of Brescia, since Battista Rizzini opened his own shop there in 1966, and the company says his children run it now. The BR110 is its bread-and-butter gun, and Rizzini’s copy describes it plainly: a hand-fitted boxlock, cold hammer-forged barrels, automatic ejectors, a single selective trigger and oil-finished Turkish walnut.

Rizzini’s pitch is a boxlock built to the same tolerances as guns that cost far more. It then dresses the same action for different jobs: engraving and grade for the field guns, a heavier steel action with ventilated side ribs and extended chokes for the Sporting, a raised ramped rib on the Sporting X and an adjustable rib and stock on the IPS.

Every gun leaves the factory proof-tested by Italy’s national proof house, the Banco Nazionale di Prova, according to Rizzini’s use and maintenance manual.

Rizzini BR110 Variants

Here’s every current BR110 on Rizzini USA’s site, with its list price where Rizzini publishes one:

Two pricing quirks are worth knowing. First, several BR110s sell above Rizzini’s own list price. Palmetto State Armory had the 20 gauge and .410 Light Luxe at $3,150.99 against a $3,100 MSRP, and the 30 in. IPS at $5,750.99 against $5,500, while the 32 in. IPS was $4,850.99 at the same store. Second, the options aren’t free: an automatic safety, a compact stock or a steel proof fixed choke each add $150 to a Light Luxe, and adjustable triggers ($295) and 34 in. barrels ($495, 12 gauge only) add to a Sporting.

Rizzini’s pages also carry a couple of slips. The Light Luxe spec table lists 26, 28 and 29 in. barrels while its description says 26 and 28 in., and the base BR110 page headlines “6.8 to 7.4 lbs” while its own spec list says 7.5 lbs for the 12 gauge. Ask the dealer to weigh the gun in front of you.

Competitor Comparison

An over-and-under between $2,000 and $3,000 means a Beretta, a Browning or a Rizzini for most buyers. Here’s where the BR110 fits.

Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I ($2,232.99 to $2,859)

The Silver Pigeon I is the obvious rival, and on price the two overlap almost exactly. The Beretta has the bigger name and the bigger dealer network, which matters when you sell it later. The Rizzini answers with five chokes in the box and, in the Light Luxe, a 6.4 lb 12 gauge. Our Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon review covers it in depth.

Browning Citori 725 Field ($2,263.36 to $2,759.99)

Browning lists the 12 gauge Citori 725 Field at $2,879.99 with three Invector-DS flush chokes, and at 7 lbs 8 oz with 28 in. barrels. That’s 1.1 lbs heavier than a 12 gauge Light Luxe for $220 less at list, with two fewer chokes. The Citori’s selling points are Browning’s name and its Invector-DS chokes. Read our Browning Citori 725 review for the full breakdown.

Franchi Instinct L ($1,249.99 to $1,599.99)

If the budget stops at $1,600, the Instinct L is a sensible place to look. Retailers list it with A-Grade satin walnut and a 3 in. chamber. It’s about half the price of a BR110, and you’ll feel the difference in the wood and the fit, but it’s a genuinely good first over-and-under. See our best over-under shotguns under $1,000 for cheaper options still.

Beretta 694 Sporting ($4,899.99 to $6,499)

This is the competition rival to the BR110 Sporting and IPS. Retailers list the 694 Sporting with Beretta’s B-Fast adjustable comb, and it starts about $2,000 above a BR110 Sporting. If you want Beretta’s dedicated competition gun and the budget allows, it’s the step up. If you want an Italian sporting gun for well under $4,000, the BR110 Sporting is the value pick.

Verdict: In field grade the BR110 goes head to head with the Silver Pigeon I and the Citori 725, and it wins on weight (Light Luxe) and chokes. In competition trim it undercuts the Beretta 694 by around $2,000. For the whole field, see our best over-under shotguns.

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Testing Protocol

We shot two BR110s: a 12 gauge Light Luxe with 28 in. barrels (2403-12) and a 12 gauge Sporting with 32 in. barrels (2602-12). That’s 1,500 shells over seven sessions in August and September: four on a sporting clays course, one on a skeet field, and two mornings on a pheasant preserve in South Dakota, in temperatures from 48°F to 86°F.

Ammunition Log

• Light Luxe, 500 shells: Winchester AA 2 3/4 in. 1 oz #8 (200), Federal Top Gun 1 1/8 oz #7.5 (150), Federal Upland Hi-Brass 1 1/4 oz #6 (100), Remington Pheasant 1 1/4 oz #5 (50)
• Sporting, 1,000 shells: Winchester AA 1 1/8 oz #8 (400), Federal Top Gun 1 1/8 oz #7.5 (300), Fiocchi 1 oz #7.5 target (200), RIO Royal Target 1 1/8 oz #8 (100)

All lead shot. Rizzini’s manual says steel shot needs the Italian proof house’s steel mark stamped on the barrel and chokes marked “Steel Shot,” so we kept steel out of this test.

Phase 1: Break-In

New over-and-unders are tight, and both of these were. The Light Luxe took real effort to open for the first box, and the Sporting’s forend was stiff to latch. I gave the hinge pins a thin coat of oil, as Rizzini’s manual recommends for the mechanism, and by 150 shells both guns opened and closed smoothly.

Phase 2: Reliability

The Light Luxe ran all 500 shells without a failure to fire, a failed second-barrel shot or an ejector problem. The ejectors threw both hulls clear together, about five to six feet back over my shoulder, every time.

The Sporting had one hiccup in 1,000. On shell 612 a RIO Royal Target hull stuck in the bottom chamber and the ejector only nudged it out a quarter inch. I pulled it by hand, and the hull’s brass was visibly swollen. It didn’t happen again in the next 388 shells, and I’d put it on the shell, not the gun.

Phase 3: Patterning and Clays

On a 30 in. circle at 40 yards, the Sporting’s Modified tube averaged 63% with Federal Top Gun #7.5 and the Improved Modified tube 69%, over five shots each. The Light Luxe’s Improved Cylinder put 66% of Winchester AA #8 inside at 25 yards. Both barrels on both guns shot to the same point, and the Sporting printed about 60/40, a touch high, which suits rising and going-away targets.

On clays I shot 84 and 86 of 100 on sporting courses with the Sporting, and 23 of 25 on skeet with the Light Luxe. In the field, the Light Luxe put 11 pheasants in the bag over two mornings, and at the end of a long walk I didn’t notice carrying it.

Tracking & Observations

After 1,500 shells the hinge pins showed light, even polish and no new play in either gun. The Light Luxe’s anodized receiver picked up one small scuff where it met a fence rail, which is the trade-off with an alloy action. Triggers broke at 3 lb 14 oz (bottom) and 4 lb 3 oz (top) on the Light Luxe and 3 lb 10 oz and 3 lb 12 oz on the Sporting, on our gauge, both crisp with short takeup.

What This Means for You

• Reliability: Plan on a tight break-in of 100 to 150 shells, then expect it to run.
• Ammo Preference: Federal Top Gun 1 1/8 oz patterned best in the Sporting; AA 1 oz ran perfectly in the Light Luxe.
• Accuracy Expectation: 63% to 69% at 40 yards with Modified and Improved Modified.
• Maintenance: Clean the bores at the end of each day and oil the hinge pins, as the manual says.
• Upgrade Impact: Check for steel proof marks before you buy steel shells.

Performance Testing Results

Reliability (9/10)

One stuck hull in 1,500 shells, and that on a swollen case. Ejectors on both guns were timed evenly and strong. An over-and-under doesn’t have much to go wrong, and nothing did.

Accuracy (9/10)

Rizzini says the barrels are regulated, and on our board they were: top and bottom barrels printed together at 40 yards on both guns. Patterns were even without hot centers, and the extended tubes on the Sporting changed patterns in the steps you’d expect.

Ergonomics & Recoil (8/10)

The Light Luxe is a joy to carry and quick to mount, with a 14 1/2 in. length of pull and a flat pistol grip. The price of 6.4 lbs is recoil: 1 1/4 oz pheasant loads rap you harder than they do in a steel gun. The 8.5 lb Sporting is the opposite, soft enough that 100 targets felt like nothing. The standard safety is manual, engaged when you push the slider back to show the “S,” which suits clays shooters but not every hunter.

Fit, Finish, and Quality Control (8/10)

Wood to metal was tight on both guns, and the 20 LPI checkering was clean. The Grade 2.0 walnut on both our guns was straight-grained and plain; if figure matters, the Limited’s Grade 2.5 or the Dakota’s Optowood finish is where you’ll find it.

Value (8/10)

For about $2,350 to $2,900 in field grade you get Italian hand-fitting, five chokes and a lifetime warranty. That’s strong value against a Silver Pigeon I. It drops a point because some BR110s sell over Rizzini’s list and because the warranty only covers the first owner, which cuts into resale.

Features (7/10)

Five chokes is generous. Charging $150 for an automatic safety on a field gun is not, and neither is making steel proofing an option. The Sporting’s adjustable comb and ventilated side ribs are right for the money.

Technical Deep Dive

Stock Dimensions by Model

Spec	Light Luxe	Sporting	Sporting X	IPS
Length of pull	14 1/2 in.	14 3/4 in.	14 3/4 in.	14 3/4 in.
Drop at comb	1 2/5 in.	1 9/16 in.	1 3/4 in.	1 1/2 in.
Drop at heel	2 1/4 in.	2 1/3 in.	2 1/2 in.	2 1/2 in.
Cast at heel / toe	3/32 / 1/4 in.	3/32 / 1/4 in.	3/32 / 1/4 in.	3/32 / 1/4 in.
Top rib	7x7mm ventilated	10×7 ventilated	10×7 ramped ventilated	10×7 adjustable ventilated
Chokes	5 flush	5 extended	5 extended	5 extended
Weight, 12 ga	6.4 lbs	8.5 lbs	8.8 lbs	8.5 lbs
MSRP	$3,100	$3,700	$4,000	$5,500

Note the Sporting X’s extra drop. Rizzini says its ramped rib gives a raised sighting plane for a more upright, heads-up position, and its stock carries 1 3/4 in. of drop at the comb against 1 9/16 in. on the Sporting.

Action and Barrels

Every BR110 is a boxlock with automatic ejectors and a single selective trigger. Rizzini describes the barrels as cold hammer-forged, and the Limited’s as nickel chrome steel. Chambers are 2 3/4 in. or 3 in. depending on gauge, so check the stamp on the barrel before you buy shells. For picking tubes, see our shotgun chokes explained guide.

Steel Shot

This matters for waterfowlers. Rizzini’s use and maintenance manual says that to fire steel shot, the gun must be tested and approved by the Italian proof authority, with the steel mark stamped on the barrel sleeve, and the chokes must be approved and marked “Steel Shot.” Rizzini also sells a “Steel Proof Fixed Choke” option for $150 on the Light Luxe and Sporting. Don’t assume. Look for the marks, or ask the dealer to show you.

Parts, Accessories and Upgrades

Upgrade Category	Recommended Component	Why It Matters	Cost Estimate
Chokes	Rizzini replacement chokes (Rizzini, Plus or XL Bore)	Sold on Rizzini USA’s own store by gauge	$75 to $95 each
Automatic safety	Factory option, ordered with the gun	For hunters who want a safety that engages on its own	$150
Adjustable trigger	Factory option on the Sporting, Sporting X and IPS	Tunes trigger reach for competition	$295
Case	Rizzini shotgun slip case	Protects the finish in the truck	$99

For shells and technique, see our best shotguns for clay shooting and best pheasant hunting shotguns, and if you’re new to clays, trap vs skeet vs sporting clays.

Common Problems & Solutions

• Tight to open when new: Normal on a new over-and-under. Oil the hinge pins lightly and shoot 100 to 150 shells; ours loosened up.
• A hull that won’t eject: Check the shell first. Our one stuck hull was a swollen case. Clean the chambers at the end of each day.
• Buying used: Rizzini’s warranty covers only the original retail purchaser, so a used gun has none. Guns.com had used BR110s about $520 under new; that saving is the warranty.
• Reloads: The manual says never to use reloaded ammunition, and the warranty excludes damage from it.
• Wood damage: The warranty does not cover wood. Keep an oiled stock oiled and out of the rain between hunts.

Who Should NOT Buy This Gun

The BR110 is a great value Italian over-and-under, but it’s not for everyone.

• First-time buyers on a budget: The Franchi Instinct L costs about half as much.
• Hunters who want an automatic safety as standard: The Browning Citori 725 Field is the easier buy.
• Shooters who plan to resell: The Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon I has the wider resale market.
• Sporting clays shooters who want a B-Fast adjustable comb: The Beretta 694 Sporting has one.

Final Verdict

The Rizzini BR110 is an honest Italian over-and-under at a Beretta price. My pick is the Light Luxe for anyone who hunts on foot: 6.4 lbs in 12 gauge, five chokes and it never missed a beat. For clays, the Sporting (from $2,865.19 on our live card, $3,231.99 for the 12 gauge at PSA) gives you a heavy, soft, well-regulated competition gun for about $2,000 less than a Beretta 694.

Decide on alloy or steel first, check for steel proof marks if you’ll shoot steel, and buy new if you want the lifetime warranty. For more choices, see our best shotgun brands.

Final Score: 8.3/10. A well-built Italian boxlock that gives you real choices, as long as you pick the right receiver.

FAQ: Rizzini BR110