Franchi LAW12 - Like the SPAS-12, but Semiauto Only
Italy
•
12m
The LAW-12 was a sister product to the much better-known SPAS-12 shotgun made by Franchi in the 1980s. The SPAS was a selectable pump or semiauto system, and the LAW was semiauto only. This made it simpler, less expensive, and about 2 full pounds lighter. It was intended for the law enforcement market, with an eight-round magazine capacity (plus one in the chamber), a secondary “quick employment safety”, and magazine disconnect for select-slug drills. It never did prove particularly successful, though, on account of its relatively high price and its lack of compelling features to distinguish it from other options available at the time. Importation into the US ceased in 1989 as a result of the Bush import ban, and production ended in about 2000.
Up Next in Italy
-
BM59: The Italian M14
After World War Two, both the Beretta and Breda companies in Italy began manufacturing M1 Garand rifles. When Italy decided that they wanted a more modern selective-fire, magazine-fed rifle, they chose to adapt the M1 Garand to that end rather than develop a brand new rifle. Two Beretta engineers...
-
Danish Gevaer m/50 - An American Gun ...
Dozens of countries around the world received M1 Garand rifles from the United States in the decades after World War Two, and Denmark was one of those that not only got some rifle but went so far as to formally adopt the M1 as its post-war standard. The US and Denmark signed a mutual defense agre...
-
Beretta 38/42 at the Range
The pre-war Beretta Model 38A was a magnificent SMG, but it included a fair number of fancy elements that would prove to costly to justify once wartime production needs grew. Beretta would simplify the design progressively over the course of the war. What we have today is a Model 38/42 with a muc...