Previously, we looked at the Breda Model 39, an Italian rifle that competed against what would become the Beretta BM-59 in a bid to be the Italian military rifle of the 1950s and ’60s. TFB friend Trevor Weston sends along more photos of three Italian rifles [Read More…]
Trevor Weston sends us more information on obscure Italian prototypes, this time two general purpose machine guns design by Breda. Trevor’s contact Vic Tuff writes: The Breda machine guns are very interesting and the LMG version has a definite ‘Bren’ [Read More…]
ARpilot sent us this photo of a Thompson submachine gun Model 1919 replica being used by reenactors celebrating the anniversary of the liberation of Italy. He wrote … Today, April 25, 2015, the 70th anniversary of the liberation of my country from the [Read More…]
LifeSizePotato is the YouTube channel of a collector of rare, antique, unusual, and high quality handguns, which hosts video reviews of the weapons he collects. This week, he stepped outside of his box a little bit to review the Strike One handgun, a modern polymer [Read More…]
The Italian Media are upset that Armalite used a photo of Michelangelo’s David in an advertisement for their AR-50A1 .50 BMG rifle. The UK Guardian newspaper, with all the hyperbole they could muster, likened this a worse affront that when the statue was [Read More…]
Italian firm BCM Europe Arms was exhibiting their Extreme rifle at the Italian gun expo EXA 2012 which finished earlier this week. The Extreme Rifle is a competition rifle and is chambered in .338 Lapua Mag. (27.5″ barrel), .408 Chey-Tac (27.5″ barrel) and [Read More…]
The pistol-sized rifle craze is hitting Europe. Beretta has revealed that they are developing a .22 LR pistol based on the Beretta ARX-160 rifle. I do not think the receiver or internals will be compatible with the full size 5.56mm ARX-160. A 7.62x39mm lower for the [Read More…]
The CompBullet is an interesting bullet made by an Italian company. The bullets, made from a solid copper alloy, have vents machined into them. According to the company, these vents reduce friction by allowing gas to lubricate the bullet as it passes through the barrel [Read More…]
The Beretta is now producing ARX160 carbines in a Tan / Flat Dark Earth color. The light-brown colored rails and backup iron sights are a very nice touch. [ Many thanks to Starik for the photos. ]
I knew when I said that the Browning was the first post-patent Inertia operated shotgun, a reader would find one produced earlier 😉 A reader pointed out the SI 12 shotgun made by the Italian firm Marocchi since 2009. You readers are just to clever for me. [ Many [Read More…]
Gun archaeologists Max Popenker and Anthony Williams uncovered a previously unknown prototype machine gun that dates back to WWII. Max blogged the below photos, but is tight lipped about the details. The gun will be featured in their upcoming book Sub-Machine Gun. This [Read More…]
Paolo spotted the FABARM Martial Ultra Short 14″ SBS (short barreled shotgun) at the EXA 2011 gun expo in Italy. The pump-action shotgun fits five 3″ 12 gauge rounds into its magazine that is just slightly shorter than the 14″ barrel. The heat shield [Read More…]
It is officially Guns-In-Castles week at The Firearm Blog. YamaLink emailed in a photo he took last week of some very old pistols that are on display at the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia (the Palace of the Doge) in Venice, Italy. Beautiful pieces. [ Many thanks to YamaLink. [Read More…]
New in the US from Fausti … Sleek and fast pointing, the Caledon is offered in 12, 16, 20, 28 gauge and .410 bore. All receivers are scaled to the gauge except the .410 bore, which is on a scaled 28 gauge receiver. All guns feature a 14-1/2” length of pull, [Read More…]
The F.LLI Pietta’s MK-85 is a .22 LR pistol that is a scaled down semi-automatic clone of the British Sterling submachine gun. Its single stack magazine holds 15 rounds. The barrel is 7″ long. It weighs 3 lbs. Apparently the F.A.P. (Fabbrica d’Armi [Read More…]
The Italian Army has started adopting the next-gen Beretta ARX-160 assault rifle. Shooting Wire reports … The Italian Ministry of Defense has become the first military group to receive shipments of Beretta’s new ARX-160 automatic rifle. The first 1,600 units [Read More…]
The Italian army adopted the Beretta BM59, basically an M1 Garand chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO capable of select fire. It was about as successful as all the other select fire battle rifles adopted around the world (not very). From Wikipedia: After World War II, Italy [Read More…]
The Carabinieri (Italian gendarmerie) have seized a pen gun from a mobster in Naples. .22 Short rounds and one standard (subsonic) .22 Long Rifle My memory is pretty bad but I think it was 6 months ago when the Italian police captured one of those cell phone guns from [Read More…]
Italian police caught gangsters trying to purchase half a million AK-47s from Norinco (the Chinese state arms exporter) on behalf of a Libyan. Apparently they were only purchasing 10 million round of ammo. Thats 50 20 rounds per gun – less than two one magazines [Read More…]