Today I’m taking the SPAS-12 out to the range, to try a variety of ammunition and see what runs in it. The SPAS is a gas-operated shotgun that can be switched to manual pump operation for use with underpowered ammunition. This was originally intended as a way to allow things like beanbag and other less lethal rounds to be used by police forces – but it is also a way to run light practice birdshot that would not normally cycle the gas system. So let’s see what runs and what doesn’t!
Shotgun
Franchi SPAS-12 at RIA
The Franchi SPAS-12 (Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun) is a dual-action police shotgun produced in Italy between 1979 and 2000, and imported into the US until 1994. It can be operated either as a semiautomatic or […]
Book review
Book Review: Italian Partisan Weapons in WWII
“Italian Partisan Weapons in WWII” was originally written and published in Italian by Gianluigi Usai, and recently (2016) translated into English by Ralph Riccio and published by Schiffer in the US. It was intended to […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Special Troops M91 Carcano Carbine and the M91/24 Carbine
“Special Troops” does not mean Special Forces; it means all the various service branches that need neither a full length rifle nor a permanently attached bayonet. This included artillery, engineers, naval troops, and more. The […]
Congratulations, Ian, you found pretty much all the faults of the SPAS-12 all at one go.
My experience with one was that;
1. Remington 00 buck or slug loads would not cycle the action reliably. These were not “light loads”, but full-power hunting loads intended for deer. Smokestacking and failure to eject at all were typical malfunctions. I never did find any load of any brand that cycled the damnable thing reliably. I suspect its gas system was balanced for something equivalent to upland game or migratory bird loads (typical for Franchi’s more “sporting-type” 12-gauges)- meaning 3-inch Magnum ammunition- which of course would not work in the SPAS-12’s 2 3/4″ chamber.
2. The safety system sucked. One Garand-type safety, left side of trigger guard, one M1 Carbine type safety, right side of trigger guard. Both had to be set just right or it would not fire. Also, the Garand type safety had a detent spring that would actually push it back under recoil. Imagine your shotgun putting itself on safe in the middle of an IA. Not optimal.
3. As for that wacky stock, thank the French Air Force. They wanted “door gunners” on their Aerospatiale Puma CSAR helos, but didn’t want to mount machine guns in the doors. (Less on grounds of PR than those doors being cramped enough to begin with, one thing about the Puma nobody liked, including the RAF.)
The solution? The SPAS-12. The drill was to use the “hook” under your forearm to steady it, hook a dummy cord (yes, basically a bungee cord) from a handrail over the door to that “ghost-ring rear sight” (actually the latch point for the stock when folded), and use it one-handed, allowing you to use your other hand to hang on to the chopper with.
Anyone who has seen the original Red Dawn or Rambo; First blood Part II got a good look at just how…exuberant.. a Puma’s maneuverability at speed could get. And they were deliberately slowing it down for filming purposes. A door gunner needed a free hand to steady himself, even with a safety harness.
The SPAS-12 was a highly-specialized weapon. Like it says, it’s right there on the label; Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun. It was a gun for the crew chief on a CSAR chopper, and apparently saw quite a bit of use in that role during the French “intervention” in Chad.
What it was not was a particularly reliable or practical tactical shotgun, for police or anybody else. I know the Italian Carabineri used it, but not for very long.
As for myself, all the SPAS-12 did for me was make me appreciate the Remington 870 SP Deer just that much more. That “entry level deer gun” was the definitive police patrol shotgun for an entire generation, with good reason.
The SWAT boys tried the Remington 11-87 after deciding the SPAS-12 just wasn’t for them. In the end, I believe most of them ended up using Benellis.
clear ether
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