Sabatti Saphire .308

Testing Multi-Radial Rifling

- John Haviland

The Sabatti family traces the roots of its gun-making business to Italy in the 1700s, when Ludovico Sabatti built flintlock pistols and barrels. Successive Sabatti generations kept the gun manufacturing craft active through the centuries, culminating in the present Sabatti company opening its doors in Italy in 1960 to manufacture hunting and competition guns that now include side-by-side double rifles, over/ under shotguns and bolt-action rifles.

The Saphire is Sabatti’s newest bolt action. “Saphire” is an acronym for Sabatti All Purpose Hunting Italian Rifle. The rifle’s walnut stock is a tribute to tradition, while the rifle’s progressive features include an aluminum receiver with an integral Picatinny base, switch-barrel capability and Multi-Radial rifling.

I’ve been shooting a Saphire chambered in .308 Winchester for a month. The rifle produced good accuracy with several .308 factory loads and handloads shot from a bench. The rifle’s trigger and full-size stock also proved useful shooting from field positions.

The Saphire’s receiver, or “frame,” as Sabatti refers to it, is machined from aluminum instead of more typical steel. Little stress is placed on the receiver, though, because lockup of the rifle’s three-lug bolt is in seats in a steel extension threaded to the breach of the barrel. The bolt head is a separate piece and is locked to the bolt body with a thick cross pin. That gives the head some play, or “float,” for the lugs to align precisely in their seats.