Celebrity Talk

with Carlo Fiocchi

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Welcome to the Shotgunworld Celebrity Talk. This section of Shotgunworld will be used to bring you interviews with industry leaders, authors and shooting innovators. These will be celebrities that you want to hear from. In conjunction with this we will also provide a section in our Celebrity Forum for you to ask questions directly. All you have to do to ask a question is visit our Celebrity Talk Forum. Lets get started...

Our Celebrity Interview is with Carlo Fiocchi of PMC Ammo. You might recognize the Fiocchi family name of Italy, which has been famous in the gun industry for generations. Currently Mr. Fiocci is the VP of Sales for PMC Ammo and is a highly respected member of the gun industry.

 SGW: The Fiocchi name is well known, but we know very little about you. Can you
tell us a little about yourself?
Carlo:  I was born in Milano ( Italy ) the 26 of December 1956 , my
education back ground is in classic studies and after some
College I opted to work for Hay Internatinal , a marketing American
consulting company , where I had the opportunity to learn
on the field rather then on the books. I worked ( after the mandatory
Army period that I spent in the Italian Airborn Division
as a Sargent ) two years in a company involved in the ceramic industry
and joined Fiocchi Munizioni as a product manager for
Pardini Pistols , Anschutz Rifles and related .22 match ammunitions in
1981. I had previously worked in Fiocchi during some of the summer
holidays , since I was 16 years old but mainly in production to get
aquainted with the manufacturing process of ammunitions.
Due to my half British heritage ( Grandmather was english ) I was in a
couple of years in charge of export for the english spoken countries
where Fiocchi was back then exporting to : Usa , UK , Ireland , Canada ,
Australia and New Zealand. In 1984 I was involved in the inception of
Fiocchi of America in Springfield ( MO ) and moved there from 1985 until 1989.
I returned in Italy in 1989 to take over the Sales & Mkt.Managemnet of Fiocchi
Munizioni and promoted the creation of 4 subsidiaries in various
countries ( New Zealand , Chile , Argentina , Hungary ).I left the
family company in 1996 , consulted on my own , always in this field , for 4 years
and joined PMC and B.C.Outdoors in January 2001.I live today in Boulder City , NV , I have
two daughters ,Age 25 and 18 , I am divorced and spend most of my life working like an
alpine troops mule as many of us are doing.
 

SGW: What was it like growing up as a Fiocchi? With such a strong heritage in shotguns it must have influenced you.
Carlo: Belonging to the fourth generation of a family devoted to the
ammunition business is a mission and you can imagine and you are
practically raised on milk and shotgun powder. It never really crossed
my mind to do something else in my life ; this field , although
realistically very small and extremely competitve is for sure
fascinating and it never gets to be boring.

SGW: What's your favorite type of hunting? Or do you hunt?
Carlo: I am not much of a hunter ; not because I do not enjoy it but
because I simply have no time to go hunting. The rare opportunities I
had saw me hunting wild boar ( typically european and beside I love the
meat ) and phaesant and quail hunting. I really like looking at the dog
working...

SGW: What's your favorite clay sport and handicap? Do you get to shoot much anymore?
Carlo: As you may have guessed from my previous working life I started
as a small bore pistol shooter. Shotgun shooting I started , believe it
or not , two years ago , by learning how frustrating Sporting Clasy can
be from Dan Mitchell , an old friend that I met years ago during the
Atlanta Olympic games when I was following , like in many other similar
occasions , the national teams that we where sponsoring due to
technical assistance that we where providing in shotshells. Today I
really enjoy shooting Sporting Clays but I can rate myself as excellent
only if I can shoot the whole case of target standing on a post !!

SGW: Of all the shotguns that you own which one is your favorite and why?
Carlo: I know it may sound incredible but my Verona 801-12 Semi - Auto
is the shotgun that better fits my shooting ; the LX980 is for sure a
superior tool
but , being a semi - auto shooter the latter is a far better gun then I
am a shooter.

SGW: We've noticed a lot of growth from PMC in the last couple of years. Just how large is the company and all the subsidiaries?
Carlo:  PMC and B.C. Outdoors are going to be grossing sales in 2004 for
about 22 million dollars. In reality due to the aggressive marketing that
the two companies are putting forward we give the impression to be
larger than what we really are.

SGW: What criteria did Rizzini meet in order to become your shotgun supplier?
Carlo: As you know our Over and Under shotguns are produced by F.A.I.R.
( Fabbrica Armi Isidoro Rizzini ) except for the Verona LX980 which is a
creation of Zoli. In selecting FAIR the criteria was simple , although
it required from Rizzini a huge effort ; we needed a company that had an
extremely good balance between quality and cost of the production ,
somebody that was willing to listen and meet the demands of the American
market , both aestetically and technically , and last , but not least ,
the possibility to be flexible in production by supplying also small
runs in a limited amount of time. We are very happy with the relation we
had so far with Isidoro Rizzini.

SGW: Remington announced that they are importing the Baikal's. Do you think this was a good idea? What are your opinions on this?
Carlo: It is not about a strategical decision it is about the way it is
going to be used. I believe it is to early to comment on this ; I have a
huge respect for Remington Arms.

SGW: What new products can we look forward to from PMC? Are you expanding into other areas?
Carlo: PMC is gradually pushing towards an increase in the internal
production ( in Nevada ) therefore this will allow us to be more
creative vis a vis new products in force of the added flexibility. We
have some really exciting new products coming towards the end of the
year and you will be the first one to learn about them..... But I cannot
let the cat out the bag now.


SGW: Do you see yourself as the VP of an ammunition company that sells
shotguns or VP of a shotgun company that sells ammunition?
Carlo:  I see myself as an ammunition man with a passion
for shotguns.

SGW: How has the proliferation of the internet affected your business?
Carlo: As the demographics are showing we are moving gradually more and
more towards an increasing utilization of this tool. Companies like ours
need to be ready to pick up the challenge because this can allow a small
corporation like ours to fight on an equal base with bigger companies.
The internet is a tool that can prove that if you work smart you can
achieve very interesting results.

SGW: Thanks so much for taking the time for our interview. You know there are a lot of Verona fans on Shotgunworld. Is there any message you would like to pass onto them?
Carlo: To the Verona and PMC fans only two words : Thank You. Let it be
clear that if in need of anything they can contact Cress or myself ; we
will try to assist in any reasonable need they may have.