Italy - Forgotten Weapons

Franchi SPAS-12 at RIA

November 9, 2015 Ian McCollum 23

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 […]

Beretta M1918 SMG Photos

October 23, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

The Beretta M1918 was one of two simultaneous efforts to turn the M1915 Villar-Perosa machine gun into a more practical weapon. The Officine Villar Perosa (who had manufactured the 1915 gun in the first place) […]

Slow Motion: Egyptian Helwan (Video)

October 22, 2015 Ian McCollum 16

The Helwan is a licensed copy of the Beretta 1951, made in Egypt. It is a single-stack, single-action 9mm pistol using the same basic locking system as the German P38. This design would later be […]

Vintage Saturday: Classi Alpini

August 15, 2015 Ian McCollum 55

Italian Alpini posing for a photograph with a nice selection of Italian small arms – 1934 or 35 Beretta pistols, Beretta 38 submachine gun, and a 1935 model Fiat-Revelli machine gun.

Garand converted to use AR10 magazines by Artillerie Inrichtingen

Dutch M1 with AR-10 Magazines

August 5, 2015 Ian McCollum 19

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Dutch government was looking to adopt a new rifle for its Army, and considered both the AR-10 (which was being produced domestically by Artillerie Inrichtingen) and the […]

Slow Motion: Scotti Model X

July 23, 2015 Ian McCollum 47

The Scotti Model X (the X standing for the 10th year of the Italian Fascist era, or 1932) was one of a bunch of semiauto rifles tested by the Italian military during the late 1920s […]

Scotti Model X Internals

May 21, 2015 Ian McCollum 46

I recently acquired a Scotti Model X rifle, so now we can have a set of internal photos of one (shooting and evaluation will be coming). This was one of the semiauto rifles trialed by […]

Experimental Fiat-Revelli Magazine

May 18, 2015 Ian McCollum 16

Apologies; we have a pretty brief post today. I’ve been moving into a new house and things got a bit hectic. At any rate, I did happen to notice this photo from Max Popenker of […]

Colombo Ricci Automatic Revolver

January 30, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

The Colombo-Ricci is (was) an automatic revolver reportedly designed in Italy around 1910, and chambered for the standard 10.4mm Italian revolver cartridge. Very little information is available on the gun, but it seems reasonable to […]

Iraqi Tariq Pistol at RIA

November 12, 2014 Ian McCollum 32

The official issue sidearm for the Iraqi Army (and many of its police agencies) is the Tariq, a domestically-manufactured copy of the Beretta M1951 pistol. The Beretta is a pretty decent pistol, mechanically fine and […]