Caiyun found that the number of explosive guns in the introduction of film and television dramas and games has been rubbed up, and today I will talk about a blockbuster gun in film and television dramas and games, the SPAS-12 shotgun produced by luigi Franchi Spa in Italy.
Franzi SPAS-12 shotgun
The SPAS-12 shotgun is a shotgun introduced by Franzi Corporation in 1979. Unlike the Remington 870 and Mossberg 590, which are both military and civilian combat models and civilian sports hunting models, SPAS-12's target customer positioning is the military and law enforcement departments, which is a pure military gun, so it does not have different calibers and different length barrels like other shotguns, only the most commonly used 12 calibers of the military and police, the barrel length is only 546mm (21.5 inches), using a tubular magazine under the barrel for ammunition, with a bullet capacity of 8 rounds.
SPAS-12 shotgun is a dual mode shotgun, the so-called dual mode refers to its combination of conductive semi-automatic and pumping two working modes, the shooter can flexibly switch according to needs. When firing single-headed and deer bullets with high chamber pressure, the shooter can use semi-automatic mode, with enough gas pressure to push the automaton to complete the automatic cycle, and the combat rate of fire is high.
SEMI-AUTOMATIC FIRING STATE OF THE BUS-12 SHOTGUN
The SPAS-12's air-conducting piston is sheathed in a tubular magazine, and in this figure, the piston recoil drives the bolt recoil shell through the analysis of the perforated barrel guard.
When firing non-lethal bullets such as low-bore-pressure rubber monocephalic bullets and cloth bag bullets, the shooter can switch to pump mode to ensure reliable launch.
SPAS-12 shotgun in pump-fired state
The SPAS-12 switching semi-automatic and pump-actuated switch is located at the bottom of the sliding handguard and is a button that pulls the handguard back slightly when the pumping mode is pressed, connecting the handguard to the piston rod and closing the vent hole, which is pumping. Because the gun's handguard is not directly driving the bolt, it is driving the air-conducting piston rod, and the air-conducting piston rod drives the bolt, and there are many transmission parts, and it is also necessary to overcome the re-entry spring elastic force, so it takes greater force to pull the handguard.
If you want to switch to semi-automatic shooting, simply press the button at the bottom of the handguard and push the handguard slightly forward until it gets stuck, at which point the vent opens and the handguard breaks off from the piston rod, always remaining in front and not sitting back with the gas piston.
Toggle semi-automatic/pumping button
Because to take into account both lethal and non-lethal bullets, it is possible to store deadly bullets in the magazine, coinciding with the need to fire non-lethal bullets, so the magazine of the SPAS-12 has a partition, there is a button under the shell window on the right side of the receiver, and the button can be pressed to cut off the magazine, at this time it can only be loaded from the shell window single shot, and one shot can be loaded.
Cartridge separator button for the SPAS-12
The design idea of the magazine separator is very good, but in practice law enforcement departments generally do not use it this way, because a gun mixed with lethal and non-lethal bullets is a safety hazard after all, in case of a mistake will cause irreparable consequences, so many national law enforcement departments will use special shotguns to fire non-lethal bullets, in order to avoid confusion these guns will be painted with bright logo colors.
The officer was armed with a shotgun designed to shoot non-lethal bullets, with a handguard stock painted orange.
In order to take into account different types of ammunition as much as possible, the mechanical sight of the SPAS-12 is also designed to be very "versatile": its mechanical sight is a large diameter hole, that is, a "ghost ring" sight, but there is also a gap under the hole, so when using a single-headed bullet to hit a long-distance target, the gap under the hole can be used to cooperate with the flaky crosshair to achieve a more accurate shot; when using a shotgun shell, it can directly use this large diameter hole to cover the crosshairs and shoot at close range.
Close-up of the door of the SPAS-12 with a small notch under the large diameter borehole
The SPAS-12 uses a folding stock stamped with steel plates, and the most striking thing about this stock is that it has an exaggerated curved hook. This curved hook is specially designed by Franzi Company, which can be carried as a gun handle when the stock is folded upwards, and the hook can be rotated 90° after opening the stock, and the hook is supported on the shooter's elbow, so that it can be shot with one hand. However, the SPAS-12 shotgun is heavier and has a front center of gravity, even if there is this curved hook hanging on the elbow to shoot with one hand, it is still difficult to control, so it is not practical, so many users do not want this exaggerated hook when buying SPAS-12.
The stock is folded, and the curved hook on the stock doubles as a handle
The stock is open
In Forgotten Weapons, Ian demonstrates the use of this hook
If users do not like to fold stocks, or if some countries and regions restrict folding stocks, there are also fixed stocks available. The spas-12's fixed stock is made of black fiberglass reinforced plastic and comes with a small grip, so if you want to replace the fixed stock, you need to remove the original grip and the folding stock together.
The SPAS-12 fixed stock is compared with the folding stock type
Manual insurance for the SPAS-12 has undergone an iterative update. The earliest version of the SPAS-12 had a large lever in front of the trigger guard, and the bumper was flicked to select the insurance or launch, but there was a problem with the design of this insurance, and it may go off when the insurance was turned off, so later there was an upgrade modification kit, which removed the large lever and became a horizontal pin insurance that slid left and right.
Early versions of leveraged insurance
Later upgrade kits replaced the levers with cross pins
As mentioned above, the SPAS-12 shotgun was developed at the beginning of the military and police market, and after the successful development, it did sell a lot in the military and police departments of some countries, but Franzi also wanted to get involved in the US civilian gun market, so it was necessary to package the SPAS-12 as much as possible to make the military color less obvious, more like a civilian gun, and one of the measures taken was to cover the ears and ring the bell and make an article on the name translation. The SPAS-12 was originally an abbreviation for "Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun", but when it entered the U.S. market in 1998, it was changed to "Semi-auto/Pump Automatic Shotgun"; later, in order to further emphasize that the gun was used for civilian sports purposes, it was changed to "Sporting" Purpose Automatic Shotgun), which went to great lengths to downplay military color.
But the SPAS-12's military color is too strong, the appearance is wild, the barrel guard and the folding butt are full of evil holes, absolutely in line with the "evil characteristics", and it is a semi-automatic with strong firepower, how to look at it is not a civilian gun, so in the mid-1990s by the US ATF identified as a "destructive device" (refers to explosive weapons, military grenade launchers, Guns larger than 0.5 inches in caliber and clearly not sport hunting weapons, as well as various imported guns that are obviously not civilian weapons at first glance), banned the new SPAS-12 for civilian sale in the United States, and some of the previously imported SPAS-12s became collectibles on the U.S. market because of their limited quantity.
So wild in appearance, full of evil holes, dare to pretend to be a sport hunting weapon?
The SPAS-12 shotgun was banned in the United States because of its evil appearance and wild appearance, but because of its evil appearance, it appeared frequently in movies, TV dramas and video games. For example, the robot played by the governor in "Terminator" holds an AR-18 and SPAS-12 and about to open a bow and wash the police station, shooting a child.
"Terminator" famous scene, bloodbathed police station
In the 1999 film "The Matrix" hall shootout, men and women in the pig's foot are unmatched, killing in and out of a rain of bullets fired by a large group of soldiers, with a hundred blocks, and also grabbing a SPAS-12 counter-kill.
The Matrix Lobby Shootout
Another example is the use of SPAS-12 by Robert Malden and Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, where Dr. Grant gets stuck in his gun when he tries to drive away the velociraptor with SPAS-12 and is discarded on the ground, giving the gun a close-up in the movie.
The SPAS-12 in Jurassic Park, which is stuck and thrown to the ground, can also be seen in this still, which has a large lever insurance in front of the trigger guard, which is an early type of SPAS-12.
As for video games with SPAS-12, that's more, Call of Duty, Max Payne, Rainbow Six, Battlefield 2042... ALMOST EVERY SHOOTER GAME SET IN MODERN WARFARE WILL HAVE SPAS-12 APPEAR.
It is also because the shape of the SPAS-12 is too evil, coupled with the semi-automatic/pump switching design is too complicated, the general home defense and shooting competition are not needed, the perforated barrel guard also adds a lot of weight, so in addition to the SPAS-12, Frankie Company has launched a semi-automatic shotgun called LAW-12, the shape of the gun is much milder, removing the barrel guard full of evil holes, becoming more lightweight, folding the stock is also changed to a fixed stock, and most importantly, the semi-automatic / The pump switching function became a pure semi-automatic shotgun, so the LAW-12 can be seen as a reduced version of the SPAS-12.
Franzilaw-12 semi-automatic shotgun
In general, the Franzi SPAS-12 is not a perfect shotgun, although its appearance is very eye-catching, semi-automatic/ pump switching function is also cool, but this gun is too heavy, the structure is too complex, some functions are not necessary in actual combat, so the SPAS-12 is more fire in the second dimension, although it is used in reality, but it is not extensive.