POTD: An Icon Long After Its Time – Franchi SPAS 12
Sam.S 01.06.22
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have an iconic shotgun that has gained popularity and lore long after its time. I of course am talking about the Franch SPAS 12 shotgun. The SPAS 12 is a 12 gauge Italian shotgun made by Franchi and marketed as the Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun. This was a clever bit of marketing in fact to make the gun more appealing to the sporting community at large aside from the military and police market. The SPAS 12 was unique in that it can toggle between semiautomatic and pump-action at the flip of a switch. This is appealing because semiautomatic shotguns typically do not cycle with light loads and the option for police forces using something light like nonlethal rounds and heavier like buckshot is a welcome thing. The SPAS 12 did circulate lightly around the US but was cut short by the assault weapons ban. Nowadays it lives in infamy in almost every FPS video game and multiple action movies.
“Introduced in Italy in 1979 with dual action, semi-automatic and pump mechanism. Blade front and peep rear sights with a full length magazine tube, stamped heat shield, standard frame markings, ribbed forearm, plastic pistol grip and folding metal stock with swiveling forearm hook. Threaded for external choke tubes with a thread protector.”
Lot 790: Franchi Spas-12 Semi-Automatic/Slide Action Shotgun. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved January 5, 2022, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/66/790/franchi-spas12-semiautomaticslide-action-shotgun.
