Fiocchi Speed Steel 20ga 3" 7/8oz #4-Shot Ammunition /25

Fiocchi Speed Steel 20ga 3'' 7/8oz #4-Shot Ammunition /25

Whether shooting mallards over decoys or pass-shooting geese at ultra-long-range, Fiocchi Flyway steel shotshells come in a wide variety of loads to suit your specific needs. Flyway Series shotshells combine treated steel shot, protective wads, and matched powders to deliver reliably dense patterns and confident terminal performance from a load that is easy on your gun barrel but hard on your target. When you must use steel shot, there is a Fiocchi Flyway shotshell you can depend on.

Specifications:
Manufacturer: Fiocchi
Brand: Speed Steel
Gauge: 20ga
Length: 3"
Shot Size: #4-Shot 
Shot Weight:
Type: 7/8oz
MPN: 203ST4
Rounds Per Box: 25

Ballistics:
Muzzle Velocity: 1500 fps

Features:
- Non-Toxic Steel
- Consistent, dense patterns
- Devastating on target

About the Manufacturer:

The Fiocchi empire began improbably with a bit of a splutter, born of a predecessor’s failure and a bank foreclosure. In the early 1800s Fiocchi family ancestors lived around Bologna, a thriving commercial and industrial center. Two of the men followed Napoleon’s army in his Italian campaign and took up residence in Milan. One of them, Giulio Fiocchi, became a bank manager and was fatefully assigned to oversee a loan made to a manufacturer of black powder and muskets in Lecco, a small city northeast of Milan located at the southern tip of the eastern prong of Lake Como. Suffering hard times after the war, the arms manufacturer defaulted on the loan. In 1876 Giulio was instructed to visit the facility and extract whatever funds could be negotiated. On horseback Giulio rode to the gorgeous city, investigated and concluded the borrower was insolvent and that any repayment was unlikely.

Giulio knew nothing of guns and powder but possessing a keen business intuition, he sensed an opportunity. He consulted with his brother, Giacomo, an engineer educated at the newly founded University of Milan, on the viability of starting their own ammunition business. Since the time of the Roman Empire, that area of Lombardy had been famous for manufacturing metallic small parts. The first cased ammunition for breach loading firearms started to appear and Giacomo was willing to risk that metallic case ammunition production could be profitable. Giulio persuaded his Milan bank to loan them the money to buy the defaulting company. They ceased musket production and in 1877 hunting and sporting ammunition production began under the name Giulio Fiocchi Enterprise.

Fiocchi implemented a forward vision of employee benefits and relationships. In 1904 Giulio Fiocchi built houses in Lecco for the workers and paid them sufficient wages to enable them to afford a decent living and to buy the houses if they desired. Fiocchi hired women and built a school and a nursery for the workers’ children, which still are in operation. These enterprises were all funded by the Fiocchi family, resulting in worker loyalty so strong that presently many third and fourth generation workers are at the firm. Fiocchi became a principal supplier of ammunition to the Italian army during WWI. Giulio, who fathered thirteen children, died in 1916 and bequeathed the company to son Carlo. Although Italy endured difficult times after WW I during its reconstruction, Fiocchi flourished.
Shortly after the commencement of WW II, the Fiocchi factory was seized by the Nazi Wermacht. As defeat became imminent, the Nazis attempted to destroy the plant to keep it out of Allied control. Fiocchi workers thwarted the Nazi effort but their accomplishment was somewhat pyrrhic in that British and American bombers almost totally destroyed the factories.

After the war the seven Fiocchi brothers faced a stark choice: go their separate ways or rebuild the factories. They decided to rebuild. Assisted by their workforce of about fifteen hundred, the facilities were reconstructed in about one year, without any investment from the Marshall Plan. After the war Carlo served as an economic advisor to the prime minister of Italy.

The facilities were modernized with new equipment boasting superior design and technology, many designed by Fiocchi engineers tailored specifically for manufacturing modern ammunition. As related to me by Carlo Fiocchi, the current vice president of Fiocchi of America, grandson of Carlo mentioned above, Fiocchi thus gained an edge over other ammunition manufacturers in the 1950’s and 60’s. “The factory was extremely modern by ammunition company standards.” The ammunition market changed at an accelerating pace after WW II, with globalization creating competition beyond regional and national spheres of influence. The company had to become marketing oriented in addition to constantly improving product quality.