Compare various Italian Zouaves

[RangerFrog]

I did a site search and found a lot of stuff, mostly "for sale" ads, but not the answer to my question, to wit: Is there a preferred Italian manufactured Zouave? There are several approved, of course, but I am wondering about which of the manufacturers have a reputation for better (or maybe worse) production of this specific model. If a given manufacturer has had variations in quality, I would like to know what to look out for. TIA for any input that will help me with this question.

Froggie

PS, I am not interested in knowing about any of the non-Italian makers at this point, just what I can find out about the Italians. Thanks again!

[Muley Gil]

Zoli.

[Lee Hoffecker]

Charlie
Things work differently in Italy, when I was living in Germany I visited several of the factories. Most of these factiores are all in the same town, Brasia, the owners all know each other and in many cases families are related. Factories vary in size from two car garages to the Beretta factory. Each company specializes and builds certain components and guns which they buy from each other. Just to mention a few you can buy a Zouave from Armi San Marco, Euro Arms, Armi Sport, etc. and they will all be manufactured by Zoli, but marked from the company that you bought it. Also, they can put American companies names on it like Navy Arms.
Lee

[Southron Sr.]

Like Lee, I have been to Brescia, Italy. I have actually have gone through one of the factories that make Zouaves.

Repro Zouaves VARY TREMENDOUSLY in QUALITY. Some of the early ones were of superb quality, but I have seen some Zouaves that were so poorly made I would hesitate to use them for tomato sticks.

I even saw a repro Spanish made Zouave where the "patch box" was a simple brass casting without even incorprating a hinge! When I picked it up at the dealer's shop, I GOT A SPLINTER IN MY FINGER FROM THE STOCK!

Actually, a repro Zouave would be my last choice when it came to a skirmish firearm for several reasons:

1. First of all, if you ever decide to do any re-enacting, many re-enactment groups outright ban Zouaves because of the belief that original Zouaves were never actually used in the war.

2. Because of the varying quality issue, I would never purchase a repro Zouave without carefully examining it first.

3. James River sells a shooters version of the 1855, two band Harpers Ferry Rifle that is a bit more pricey, but you will be getting a gun that is of better quality than the vast majority of Zouaves out there; but because of the "glut of Zouaves" on the market, if you ever decide to sell, you will get a much better price for the repro Harpers Ferry Rifle than a Zouave.

4. Another arm to consider is one of the two band repro Enfields. The originals had such a good reputation for accuracy that the Army of Northern Virginia armed their skirmishers (specialized troops that often engaged the enemy at long range, were used for sniping and scouting, etc) with "Sergeant's Enfields" which were two band Enfields. James River also sells a repro of that arm.

There are also 2 band Enfields made and sold by: Euroarms, Parker-Hale, Armi-Sport and many of them can make fine skirmish arms.

O.K. I will admit it-I am prejudiced against repro Zouaves because I have seen too many that are just plain crap. I will admit that there are some fine, accurate Zouaves out there but it isn't worth the hassle to me to sort out a good one from the bad ones.