Italy - Forgotten Weapons

Lercker machine pistol

November 9, 2012 Ian McCollum 30

We don’t have very much information on today’s forgotten weapon, which is an Italian machine pistol designed by a gunsmith named Lercker. He worked for Beretta, but also had his own shop, where he designed […]

Comparison Video: MP41 & Beretta 38/44

November 5, 2012 Ian McCollum 8

We had the chance to shoot a couple of the lesser-known submachine guns used in World War II, a German MP41 and an Italian Beretta 38/44. Both are pretty typically submachine guns, firing 9mm Luger […]

Italian Cei-Rigotti self-loader

October 24, 2012 Ian McCollum 9

We have blogged about the Cei-Rigotti before, but I figured I’d do a re-cap on it, considering the new information we’ve found on its caliber. I’ve also uploaded a gallery of photos of the rifle […]

The Importance of Primary Sources

October 23, 2012 Ian McCollum 13

One of the problems when trying to learn about rare and unusual firearms (rare and unusual anything, actually) is the lack of primary source material. In other word, information about the gun written by someone […]

Fiat-Revelli M1935

September 21, 2012 Ian McCollum 9

So a week or two ago, we took a look at the Italian Fiat-Revelli M1914 – a particularly funky machine gun. The Italian military put up with it through World War I because they didn’t […]

Italian Perino Machine Gun

September 19, 2012 Ian McCollum 14

The Perino is a gun that really should have been adopted, but wasn’t. Its development began in 1901 when Giuseppe Perino (an Italian Army officer) patented the design for a recoil-operated machine gun with a […]

Italian Fiat-Revelli Modello 1914

September 7, 2012 Ian McCollum 1

Since we looked at the Breda Model 30 a couple days ago, it seems appropriate to also take a look at another early Italian machine gun: the Fiat-Revelli M1914. Italy had been an early adopter […]

Book Review: Italy’s Battle Rifle

September 6, 2012 Ian McCollum 7

We just got in a copy of Russ Arendell and Steve Woodrum’s new book on the Carcano, Italy’s Battle Rifle: Story of the Mannlicher-Carcano Series of Rifles. It’s the most useful reference book on the Carcano […]

Breda Model 30 LMG

September 5, 2012 Ian McCollum 25

The Breda Model 30 was the standard Italian light machine gun of World War II, and is a serious contender for “worst machine gun ever”. Yes, given the choice we would prefer to have a […]

Lorenzoni Flintlock Repeating Pistol

August 13, 2012 Ian McCollum 23

Today we have one of the oldest guns we’ve looked at, a Lorenzoni repeating flintlock pistol. The system was designed by an Italian gunmaker in Florence name Michele Lorenzoni. They were made in very small […]