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Was the SPAS 12 a flop

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Heavy, bulky, and too complicated for how shotguns are used. Interesting thought experiment, though.

Makes a great movie gun.
 
Me growing up in the 80s the SPAS was something to behold. Schwarzenegger made it even more fearsome looking. I did handle one back in gunshows in the 90s and was surprised it s so heavy . Maybe overbuilt, huh
 
I think it tried to be so much that it missed the (or almost any) target market. Sort of like the concepts folks come up with for swap-caliber kits for rifles -- there's very little practical need for that that could possibly justify the complexity, weight, cost, bulk, and other draw-backs.

When 99% of "tactical" (er...this was the 70s-80s, right? So call it "PRE-tactical" :D) users got the job done JUST fine with a pump shotgun, a complicated, expensive and very large pump shotgun that could ALSO fire as an auto just was pointless.

If an auto was ever needed for police/military shotgun tasks (and that would be arguable) they could buy an autoloader AND a pump gun for less, and either would be easier to carry and use -- and would be more reliable.
 
Very few SPAS-15 imported, got to see one for sale at Jensen's in Tucson waaaaay back in the day. I think magazines go for more than the gun does now. It was the first detachable mag shotgun here, I think, not 100% sure. Political import restrictions killed it.
 
An acquaintance had one several years ago; I got the impression from his comments about his "SPAStic" that it convinced him that, more often than not, simpler is simply better.
 
Just another one of those things that "seemed like a good idea at the time." The marketplace can be brutal towards better ideas that aren't.
 
If I recall correctly they were 1200 back when they came out... that was a good chunk of change back then
 
Was the SPAS 12 a flop
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Not so much a flop as it was the U.S. stopped the importing of them under the "no sporting purpose" deal.

Had it not been for that, I think there would have been a heck of a lot more of them here now.

rc
 
The SPAS 12 was banned in 1989 as the first act of "conservative" William Bennett when he was appointed to the newly created post of "Drug Czar" by "conservative" President George H.W. Bush. The gun was actually made for 21 years, despite being locked out of the lucrative American gun market, so it's hard to call it a flop. The odds were just stacked against it by "conservatives". I bought one before the ban for around $800 and wouldn't part with it.
 
The Benelli M3 is a much better pump/auto shotgun and it's lighter, more reliable and I believe it's more reliable.
 
During the 1980s, the Franchi SPAS-12 was adopted/in use with several European counter-terror units.
They were replaced during the 1990s by other types of shotguns.

Franchi discontinued the SPAS-12 in the early-1990s.
So, it was only in production for a couple of decades (late-1970s to early-1990s).



The Beretta Holding Group owns Franchi and Benelli.
So when Benelli released the M-3 Super 90, Franchi discontinued the SPAS-12.
 
My range buddy has one. In all the years we've shot together, he took it to the range one time and that was to show me and his son-in-law. It is complicated to operate, IMO. If folks can mis-operate a pump gun under stress, I would have to see what they would do with a SPAS 12. It is also fricken heavy. I put a couple of rounds through it and gave it back to my buddy. "Been there, done that, skipped the whole t-shirt thing!"
 
I bought one back in the day. Like most who bought one we saw Terminator and had squared off haircuts like Arnold. I have to say even to this day it is impressive to look at. The weight never really bothered me since I wasn't having to hump it in the field. I just broke it out to impress people when they came over to shoot. Comments like, "those aren't legal are they?" were priceless. Trying to figure out how to operate it was also priceless. The manual of arms for this thing was crazy but the application for a grenade launcher and various shot diverters kind of made up for that. Seems like it cost me somewhere between 450-650 back in the day but it's been half my life ago. From a tactical standpoint the LAW 12 or SAS 12 were more sound.
 
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