Italian GWOT Steel: the Beretta AR-70/90
Italy
•
16m
While the Italian military did adopt the AR-70, it did not actually issue them to all troops. Most continued to use the 7.62mm BM-59 until 1990 when the Beretta AR-70/90 was adopted. This rifle was a substantial rework and improvement of the AR-70, using AR-pattern magazines and a 1:7" twist barrel to run the SS109 62gr ammunition chosen as the new NATO standard in 1981. The 70/90 also added a 2-position gas regulator to the design, while carrying over the folding bipod and grenade launching capabilities of its predecessor.
The AR-70/90 was made in semiautomatic from by Beretta for the civilian market, but only after US regulation prohibited its importation. As a result, these rifles were essentially nonexistent in the US until a few years ago, when a number of cut-up parts kits were imported. Several small shops set up to make them into semiautomatic rifles with new US-made receivers, including Brimstone Arms, who made this one for me.
Up Next in Italy
-
Beretta SCS-70 for Italian Special Fo...
The SCS-70 (Special Carbine, Short) is a version of the standard Beretta AR-70 rifle made for Italian special forces use. It has a 12.7” barrel, no gas cutoff or rifle grenade capability, pistol grip storage compartment, and a polymer sidefolding stock. These were used until about 1990, when the...
-
Bernardelli P018S: A Hipster's Servic...
Bernardelli is (was) an Italian firearms manufacturer in the Val Tromp dating back to the 1600s...but whom few people have ever heard of. They produced 1889 Bodeo revolvers between the World Wars, and after World War Two they had a line of pocket pistols that were never particular popular or resp...
-
Algimech AGM-1: A Short-Lived Italian...
In the mid 1980s, an Italian designer named Alphonso Giambelli developed a bullpup pistol-caliber carbine with hopes of selling it to Italian law enforcement. That never happened, but the gun was offered on the commercial civil market as the semiauto AGM-1 by a company named Algimech (after ALpho...
