Shotgun
Franchi SPAS-12 at the Range
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 […]
Italy
Shotgun
SPAS-12: Franchi’s Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun
Enter to win this iconic SPAS-12! https://www.fanathem.com/forgottenweapons Deadline to enter is 11/22/24 @11:59 PM PST Franchi introduced the Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun (SPAS-12) for Italian military and police agencies in 1979 and it quickly because […]
Commentary
Beretta M38A vs Suomi kp/31 (w/ John Keene)
If you had to pick one, would you take an early Beretta 38A (with bayonet), or a Finnish kp/31 Suomi? Both have semiauto selectors, although the Beretta’s its easier to use. The Suomi has a […]
Semiauto pistol
Arsenal Strike One: Russian Police Pistol Comes to the West
The Strike One pistol originated around 2011 as a collaboration between Nicola Bandini and Dimitry Streshinskiy as a pistol to replace the Makarov in Russian police use. By 2014 is was progressing very successfully through […]
Reproduction
Armi Jager AP85: An Italian .22 Rimfire Faux-MAS
Armi Jager was an Italian arms-making company that was created in the early 1950s by Armando Piscetta. He initially made .22 rimfire sporting rifles, then transitioned into making Old West style revolvers, and in the […]
Medium MGs
Breda 37: Italy’s Forgotten Heavy Machine Gun
The Breda Model 37 was Italy’s standard heavy machine gun (which meant a rifle-caliber gun fired only from a tripod) during World War Two. It was chambered for the 8x59mm cartridge, as Italy used a […]
Revolver
Mateba Unica 6: A Semiauto Revolver in .44 Magnum
The Mateba 6 Unica is the culmination of a series of revolver development by Italian designer Emilio Ghisoni (1937-2008). The Unica 6 is one of only a few self-cocking revolvers to see commercial production and […]
Submachine Guns
Spectre SMG at the Range
The SITES Spectre was imported into the US primarily as a semiautomatic pistol – but it was really designed to be an SMG. It has an interesting closed-bolt fire control system, and in SMG for […]
Competition
Hipster 2-Gun: Beretta AR-70/90 & Bernardelli P018S
We took a look at both of these guns individually this past week, and now it’s time to try them both out on the clock… While I like the Bernardelli quite a lot, it had […]
Semiauto Rifles
Italian GWOT Steel: the Beretta AR-70/90
While the Italian military did adopt the AR-70, it did not actually issue them to all troops. Most continued to use the 7.62mm BM-59 until 1990 when the Beretta AR-70/90 was adopted. This rifle was […]