As part of his effort to imbue Italy with a fascist culture, Mussolini formed the ONB, or National Balilla Organization as a replacement for all other youth organizations in Italy in 1926. It was intended […]
In the late 1970s and early 80s, Gordon Ingram came close to producing a military rifle in one of the most convoluted international arrangements I’ve yet heard of. Prototypes were made in Italy using British […]
Italy was the first major adopter of the Maxim heavy machine gun and had several hundred by 1914 – but wanted to have a domestic design in production as well. The Italian government and military […]
The Italian military adopted the single-shot Vetterli rifle in 1870, and by 1882 the Italian Navy was looking for something with a bit more firepower. The proceeded to adopt the Vetterli-Bertoldo in 1882, a version […]
Today we are looking at a uniquely Ethiopian carbine, a hybrid M90/95 Mannlicher. It began life as an Austrian-issue M90 carbine proofed in 1892. It served through World War One, and was probably given to […]
Lot 1235 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. This palm-squeezer type pistol was designed by Catello Tribuzio (sometimes spelled Trabuzio) of Turin around 1890. It is a very simple design, including a clever dual […]
Engraved pistols are not just the domain of antiques; they are being made right now, on the most modern platforms. This is the “Arabesque”, a project between Walther and Bottega Incisioni Giovanelli. The base gun […]
In my opinion, the M38 Carcano as a very insightfully designed infantry rifle for World War Two, acknowledging the real-world use conditions of such weapons. With the M91/41 (aka M41), Italy took a step back […]
During the 1920s, Italy was concerned about insufficient lethality with their 6.5x52mm cartridge, and began experimenting with larger bore diameters. By the late 1930s they settled on a new 7.35x51mm round, based closely on the […]
“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 […]
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