Sosso 1941 Italian Prototype Pistol
Semiauto Pistols
•
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 Semiauto Pistols
-
Olympic Arms' OA-98 AR Pistol - A Str...
The AR-15 does not lend itself to stock-less use, because its basic design places the recoil spring in the length of the stock, and requires that space for the bolt carrier to travel in. Olympic Arms, however, developed a way to modify the basic AR-15 design to allow for a pistol version that did...
-
Rogak P18 - A Cautionary Tale of Manu...
The Rogak P18 was a copy of the Steyr GB service pistol, with some disagreement over whether it was unlicensed or just unfortunately made. Les Rogak was a Steyr distributor in Illinois who managed to acquire a set of plans for the GB pistol, and put it into production before Steyr-made examples w...
-
Warner Infallible: An Optimistic Comp...
The Warner Arms Company was formed in (or around) 1911 to import and sell Schwarzlose 1908 blow forward pistols in the United States. It was run by Franklin Warner, who also operated a sporting goods store (Kirtland Sporting Goods) in New York, and thus had a ready retail outlet for imported pist...
