Fausti was making guns being sold in the States for a long time, under other names, before I recall seeing anything under their own name. The first Fausti I can recall was the Style, a relatively inexpensive (mid-teens price range) sxs they made for Cabela's. I had one briefly. Nothing particularly wrong with it, but a friend wanted it more than I wanted to keep it. They were much better than some of the guns they'd been making for other companies. They eventually made the Athena d'Italia guns for Weatherby and the 12 and 20ga LC Smiths for Marlin (which were essentially the Athena d'Italia with different cosmetics).
They then did some fancier sxs under their own name for Cabela's--the original Deas in either round body or side-plated versions. Originally priced at $4K, Cabela's had to discount them pretty significantly in order to sell them. Don't think they were bad guns, but at that point they had not established enough of a reputation to hit that price point. And back then, you could still buy a new AyA #2 for about the same money.
The Walmart guns with Fausti all over them were from the late 90s and early 2000s. Much earlier than any of the guns you mentioned, especially the Cabela guns. What other names were Faustis being marketed under before then?
