doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Comments: NEA F.A.I.R. shotguns?

Anyone have anything good or bad to say about these? I guess they were Rizzinis imported by New England Arms a few years ago, which is all I know. Quality?
TIA! Joe

I have not had any direct experience with the FAIR Rizinnis, but both my son and I both own cased B Rizinni side plated 20 gauge guns, and both absolutely love them. We each shoot those guns as well or better than any we have. I would not part with mine, period, although he is posting his for sale to move upward to a more costly gun. If the FAIR gun is anything at all like the B Rizinni gun, they are good guns and worth the money.

Joe, most folks would rate the B. Rizzinis somewhat higher, but the FAIRs are pretty good guns. Cabela's bought up a bunch of them after NEA went out of business. They still have a number of those left, at pretty attractive prices.

I had what was an early import 20/28g model 600 (case colored, no side plates gold splatter animules on the side).
Round knob well figured oil finish stock. Both barrels 28". Total weight around 6+ lbs with either barrel. Somewhat gaudy cyanide case colors. the gold "inlaid" birds on the sides were very poorly done and pretty ugly up close. General fit/finish of wood/metal was good but not perfect. Mechanicals seemed ot be pretty good.

the gun handled nicely and always did what it was supposed to do.
The stock profile on this one was kind of chunky and a well known gunshop managed to turn the wrist area charcoal BLACK when trying to bend it to fit me for ultra-premium $$$ (they told me it was the gun's oil finish fault). I had Mr. Baker in Pa actually bend it properly (the first shop didn't even bend it as requested while cooking it) and clean up the surface of the stock as best he could quickly (It was burnt into the wood too deep to completely clean without reshaping/recheckering).

I should have kept the gun except that I got sick everytime I looked at it and didn't have enough sense than to insist that it be put right (they were one of the most prestigious old line shops around an I was an ignorant neophite so they MUST have been right). That would have actually made a better stock profile in the end.
These days I whould have not accepted the hack work the first time and presented to the manager of that shop as a new form of suppository immediatly before I actually hada long convesation with the absentee owner!
I was younger, inexperienced and naive then.

Forgive the rant. It has little to do with the actual gun as made/delivered.


Conclusion. FAIR rizinis are decent guns. Some of the superficial fit/finish can be a bit offsetting. inspect the one you want and judge it on it's own. price should be reflective of these things. make sure it functions properly and puts the pellets on target.

I have owned a F.A.I.R 400 in 16 Gauge for a couple of years, and shot it around 2K rounds - fit and finsh seems to be on the level of a "field Grade" Citori, but it is a lighter gun. Mine built on a 16 Ga. Scaled frame weighs 6 Lbs 4 Oz. with a 26 inch barrels. I plan on keeping it the rest of my days.

Use caution with the NEA F.A.I.Rs on the market now, some of them seem to be culls.