The SPAS-12 is a combat shotgun manufactured by Italian firearm company Franchi S.p.A..

Overview

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The SPAS-12 was designed during the 1970s as a semi-automatic military or law enforcement shotgun, and production began in October 1979. In 1983, the gun was introduced to the United States, where it was marketed as a sporting shotgun to help bypass laws that would normally label it as illegal for civilian ownership. As a result, the SPAS acronym officially stands for "Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun". However, military-oriented features like a heavy heat shield for sustained fire increase the weight of the weapon to the point where it can become unwieldy for hunting or competition shooting. For this reason, there exist popular reinterpretations of the acronym, such as "Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun".

The SPAS-12 can function on two settings. The first is "automatic" (more accurately, self-loading semi-automatic) - the foregrip is locked forward and a gas system serves to load the next round without further effort from the operator. In automatic mode, the gun can expend around 4 rounds per second, one round per trigger pull. The second setting is pump-action - the foregrip must be manually pumped back and forth after every shot to eject the spent shell and load a new round from the internal magazine. This mode is required to reliably fire low-pressure ammunition such as tear gas rounds or less-lethal bean bags. Switching between firing modes is done by pressing a button under the foregrip, and sliding the foregrip slightly forwards or backwards until it clicks into position.

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