Sosso 1941 Italian Prototype Pistol
Italy
•
16m
The Model 1941 Sosso is a huge Italian experimental semiauto pistol designed by Giulio Sosso. It uses a short recoil locking mechanism and is chambered for standard 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition, but its more unusual feature is its magazine. Instead of using a traditional spring and follower, the magazine body holds a 21-segment chain, like a machine gun belt. The chain is rotated one position each time the pistol's slide cycles. This would prevent problems related to magazine spring fatigue or varying pressure between the first and last round, but it also introduces a whole new set of potential problems.
Only 5 of these pistols were made (by FNA Brescia), with the other 4 of them being presented to significant Italian political and military figures. It was not adopted or put into any sort of serial production for reasons that should become very clear once the internals of the gun are seen. One could probably buy a dozen Beretta 1934 pistols for the cost of one Sosso...
Up Next in Italy
-
Armaguerra Last-Ditch M35 Pistol
When Italy signed an armistice with the Allied powers in 1944, the German military took over control of several Italian arms factories still in their geographic control. These included Beretta and Armaguerra, in Cremona. The German military was happy to use Italian pistols and submachine guns, an...
-
Benelli B76 Family: Italian Inertial ...
Benelli is not the company we think of today for modern service pistols - and according to the sales record of the B76 family, they weren't in the 1980s either. Designed in the early 1970s and put into production in 1976, the Benelli B76 is very pretty single-stack service pistol, notable for bei...
-
Benelli B76 vs MP3S at the Range
The Benelli MP3S is a very rare pistol in .32 S&W, and a nearly unheard of one in 9mm Parabellum. Well, thanks to viewer Todd we have one of those 9mm examples to take to the range today - thanks, Todd! I figured it would be interesting to try it side by side with my standard Benelli B76 and see ...
