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Franchi SPAS-12
The SPAS-12 is a combat shotgun manufactured by Italian firearms company Franchi from 1979 to 2000. It is a dual-mode shotgun, adjustable for semi-automatic or pump-action operation at the push of a button in accordance with the type of ammunition being used at the time. The idea behind the dual modes is to have the weapon cycle in semi-automatic when using normal shells, while the pump-action setting is for low-pressure ammo such as beanbag or baton rounds. To switch modes, the user simply need to push down a button on the underside of the forend, then either locking the forearm forward (semi-automatic), or sliding it back towards the shooter (pump-action). A series of two guide lines engraved onto the top of the heatshield serves as the mode indicator when matched up to the rear end of the pump sleeve; the forend matched up against the front guide denotes semi-automatic mode, and pump-action for the rearward line. Several iterations of the SPAS-12 existed throughout its 21-year production run, with four different stock types (fixed, folding, removed and skeletal) and three manners of safety mechanisms, though perhaps the foldable stock version is the most well-known, either with or without the bracing hook on the buttstock. Most depictions of the SPAS-12 in video games feature the shotgun with the first-generation lever safety.
The SPAS-12 was sold primarily to law enforcement customers and on the civilian market and has been featured in many movies, TV shows, and video games. Originally envisioned as a dedicated and rugged police shotgun, the SPAS acronym initially stood for Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun, but was later renamed to Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun in the hope this name would be less likely to cause problems with exports to the United States. Sale of the SPAS-12 in the United States was originally through Firearms Import and Export (FIE), and later American Arms Inc. following FIE's closure. Both "generations" of the shotgun bear distinctive features, however, most notably the magazine tube capacity (only FIE SPAS-12s have full-length tubes) and safety type (FIE SPAS-12s in their original configuration have the recalled lever safety that often failed to engage, and on some units could even fire the weapon if it was disengaged while a shell was chambered; the ones on American Arms SPAS-12s are a reliable button-type cross-bolt safety). Importation of the SPAS-12 into the United States ceased in 1994 following the advent of the Assault Weapons Ban, and official production stopped in 2000 with around 37,000 made, making it a relatively rare (and understandably expensive) weapon nowadays, with less than two thousand units ever having made it onto American soil. The SPAS-12 has since been succeeded by the Franchi SPAS-15, which has also been discontinued.
Owing to its impressive appearance, the SPAS-12 is often depicted in media as a "hero's gun" or advanced/prototype weapon of sorts, being essentially the shotgun equivalent of the Desert Eagle. Films and video games made during the latter half of the last century often has the SPAS-12 being used as a police shotgun, which is not incorrect, however such a sight in reality is rare. In actuality, the SPAS-12 was plagued with a plethora of technical shortcomings that made it unpopular among law enforcement units. Most of the complaints were directed towards its heavy weight, its fragile safety mechanism that is prone to breaking and/or not working half the time, the numerous sharp edges on the folding stock, the stiffness of the forearm in pump-action mode (since the forend pushes on the action rather than being directly attached to it), and the reliability issues when using even full-power loads in semi-auto. Another issue that is often overlooked in media is how unwieldy it is to reload the weapon; since the carrier latch also doubles as the SPAS-12's bolt release, reloading it requires the user to upend the shotgun while keeping the button depressed in order to insert fresh shells, as the carrier will be immobilized otherwise. Most depictions in games simply has the user jamming additional shells into the weapon while ignoring the release button entirely.
The SPAS-12 is often depicted as being used almost exclusively in pump-action mode: this is largely a product of movies, since the SPAS will flatly refuse to cycle even the hottest blanks in semi-auto mode. Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to show it in semi-auto consistently cycling anything other than magnum buckshot or high-power slugs. Certain video games also oddly has the player character rack the pump while the weapon is in semi-automatic mode, which is not possible.
Derivatives of the SPAS-12 are the Franchi LAW-12 (semi-automatic only) and the SAS-12 (pump-action only), neither of which have parts interchangeable with the parent weapon without some serious modification.
The SPAS-12 shotgun has appeared in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Specifications
(1979 - 2000)
- Type: Shotgun
- Caliber(s): 12 gauge
- Weight: 9.7 lbs (4.4 kg)
- Length: 41 in (104.1 cm)
- Barrel length(s): 22 in (54.6 cm)
- Capacity: 5, 6, or 8-round tube magazine +1 chambered
- Fire Modes: Pump-Action, Semi-Auto
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Terminator | Arnold Schwarzenegger | The Terminator | 1984 | |
| Blastfighter | Michael Sopkiw | Jake "Tiger" Sharp | With sniper scope and night vision device | 1984 |
| Exterminator 2 | A thug | 1984 | ||
| Water | mercenary | 1985 | ||
| Brazil | Ministry of Information Troops | 1985 | ||
| Cop's Honor (Parole de Flic) | Stéphane Ferrara | Abel Salem | 1985 | |
| Hold-Up | Montreal SWAT | 1985 | ||
| The Hitcher | Rutger Hauer | John Ryder | 1986 | |
| The Hitcher | C. Thomas Howell | Jim Halsey | 1986 | |
| The Wraith | Modified with LEDs on the heatshield | 1986 | ||
| Legacy of Rage | Brandon Lee | Brandon Ma | 1986 | |
| RoboCop | Detroit SWAT officer | 1987 | ||
| Beverly Hills Cop II | John Ashton | Sgt. John Taggart | 1987 | |
| A Better Tomorrow II | Chow Yun-Fat | Ken Lee | 1987 | |
| Let Sleeping Cops Lie | French police officers | 1988 | ||
| Cohen and Tate | Adam Baldwin | Tate | 1989 | |
| Hardware | Dylan McDermott | Moses | 1990 | |
| La Femme Nikita | cop | 1990 | ||
| If Looks Could Kill | SWAT officers | 1991 | ||
| Highlander II: The Quickening | General Katana's men | 1991 | ||
| Jurassic Park | Bob Peck | Robert Muldoon | 1993 | |
| Sam Neill | Dr. Alan Grant | |||
| RoboCop 3 | CCH Pounder | Bertha | 1993 | |
| Cyber Tracker | Seen in armory | 1994 | ||
| Dead Weekend | TWF soldier | with stock removed | 1995 | |
| Virtuosity | Denzel Washington | Lt. Parker Barnes | 1995 | |
| Bad Boys | An Assassin | 1995 | ||
| Jumanji | on display | 1995 | ||
| Mercenary | Olivier Gruner | Capt. Karl 'Hawk' May | 1996 | |
| Mercenary | One of the Alan's mercenaries | 1996 | ||
| Original Gangstas | Ron O'Neal | Bubba | 1996 | |
| The Lost World: Jurassic Park | Hunter | 1997 | ||
| The Rage | Lorenzo Lamas | FBI Special Agent Nick Travis | 1997 | |
| The Rage | Kristen Cloke | FBI Special Agent Kelly McCord | 1997 | |
| The Rage | Sheriff's deputies | 1997 | ||
| The Matrix | Carrie-Anne Moss | Trinity | 1999 | |
| The Matrix | SWAT officers | 1999 | ||
| In China They Eat Dogs | Slavko Labovic | Ratco | 1999 | |
| Snatch | Robby Gee | Vincent | 2000 | |
| Battle Royale(Film) | Shogo Kawada | 2000 | ||
| Ghosts of Mars | Pam Grier | Commander Helena Braddock | 2001 | |
| Ice Cube | James 'Desolation' Williams | |||
| Lara Croft: Tomb Raider | seen in Lara's gun cabinet | 2001 | ||
| 3000 Miles to Graceland | Kevin Costner | Murphy | 2001 | |
| Warriors (Guerreros) | Blerim Gjoci | Albanian leader | 2002 | |
| 2009: Lost Memories | JBI SWAT | 2002 | ||
| Christmas Rush | Dean Cain | Cornelius Morgan | 2002 | |
| Santino Buda | Simulus | |||
| Chris Benson | Al Quigley | |||
| Redemption | Lam's thug | 2002 | ||
| Underworld | Michael Sheen | Lucian | 2003 | |
| I, Robot | Chi McBride | Lt. John Bergin | 2004 | |
| Doom | Seen in an armory, mocked up to resemble the shotgun in Doom 3 | 2005 | ||
| The Departed | One of Costello's thugs | with fixed stock | 2006 | |
| Babylon A.D. | A soldier | 2008 | ||
| A Dangerous Man | Chinese thug | 2009 | ||
| Crank: High Voltage | Orlando gang member | 2009 | ||
| New Kids Nitro | Wesley van Gaalen | Rikkert | stock folded and butt-hook removed | 2011 |
| Huub Smit | Richard | stock folded and butt-hook removed | ||
| Interview with a Hitman | Stephen Marcus | Traffikant | 2012 | |
| 3 Days to Kill | is seen in Ethan Runner's safe | 2014 | ||
| Brick Mansions | Tremaine's men | 2014 |
Television
| Show Title | Actor | Character | Note/Episode | Air Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter - Season 1 | Fred Dryer | Hunter | 1984-1985 | |
| Stepfanie Kramer | Dee Dee McCall | |||
| Hunter - Season 2 | Fred Dryer | Hunter | 1985-1986 | |
| Miami Vice - Season 1 | Jim Zubiena | Ludovici Armstrong | Ep. "The Hit List" | 1984-1985 |
| Jaime Escobar | Ep. "The Maze" | |||
| Miami Vice - Season 2 | A pirate | Ep. "Trust Fund Pirates" | 1985-1986 | |
| Miami Vice - Season 3 | Reb Brown | Reb Gustafson | Ep. "Viking Bikers from Hell" | 1986-1987 |
| Police officers and SRT members | Ep. "Cuba Libre", "Viking Bikers from Hell" | |||
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | A terrorist | 1993-1999 | ||
| Star Trek: Voyager | Clayton Murray | Porter | Ep. "Future's End" (S3E8) | 1995-2001 |
| Bugs | Ep. "Stealth" | 1995-1999 | ||
| Alarm für Cobra 11 - Die Autobahnpolizei | Various bad guys | Several episodes | 1996-present | |
| V.I.P. | Seen in Vallery's armory | 1998-2002 | ||
| Stargate SG-1 - Season 3 | Richard Dean Anderson | O´Neill | "Nemesis" (S3E21) | 1999 - 2000 |
| Christopher Judge | Teal'c | "Nemesis" (S3E21) | ||
| Julie Lescaut | French SWAT | "La tentation de Julie" (S11E04) | 2001 | |
| Stargate SG-1 - Season 5 | Richard Dean Anderson | O´Neill | "Menace" (S5E19) | 2001- 2002 |
| Christopher Judge | Teal'c | "Menace" (S5E19) | ||
| Don S. Davis | George Hammond | "Menace" (S5E19) | ||
| My Name is Earl | Juliette Lewis | Jesse | "The Bounty Hunter" (S1E21) | 2005 |
| Hokkaido Police. Russian Department (Politsiya Khokkaydo. Russkiy otdel) | S.A.T. | 2007-2011 | ||
| Blue Bloods | Bank robber | "Officer Down" (S1E04) | 2010-Present | |
| Bullet in the Face | Racken's henchman | with stock removed (S01E06) | 2012 | |
| The Walking Dead - Season 5 | Unknown | Alexandrian Resident | "Forget" (S5E13) | 2015 |
| The Walking Dead - Season 6 | Seen in the Alexandria Armory; "Now" (S6E05) | 2015 | ||
| The Walking Dead - Season 7 | Norman Reedus | Daryl Dixon | "Service" (S7E04) | 2016 |
| Savior Member | "Service" (S7E04) |
Video Games
Videogames with aim-down-sight mechanics tend to invent a way to aim down the SPAS' iron sights with the folding stock up: this is not possible in reality.
| Game Title | Referred as | Mods | Note | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jurassic Park: Trespasser | 1998 | |||
| Half-Life | Incorrectly depicted as able to "double fire," as if the tube magazine is a second barrel | 1998 | ||
| Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear | full-auto | 1999 | ||
| Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror | "SPS12" | 1999 | ||
| Resident Evil Survivor | 2000 | |||
| Resident Evil: Code Veronica | 2000 | |||
| The World Is Not Enough | "Frinesi Special 12" | incorrectly shown as full auto | 2000 | |
| Project IGI: I'm Going In | 2000 | |||
| Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | Caution and Alert modes | 2001 | ||
| Conflict: Desert Storm | "Franchi SPAS-12 Combat Shotgun" | 2002 | ||
| Hitman 2: Silent Assassin | "SP12" | 2002 | ||
| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | "S.P.A.S 12" | 2002 | ||
| The House of the Dead III | Short barreled and stock removed, With built-in weapon lights foreend | Hold only 6 rounds | 2002 | |
| The Specialists | 2002 | |||
| Splinter Cell | used by hostile NPCs | 2002 | ||
| 007: Nightfire | "Frinesi Automatic 12" | Incorrectly shown as full-auto | 2002 | |
| Project IGI 2: Covert Strike | 2003 | |||
| Freedom Fighters | 2003 | |||
| Resident Evil Outbreak | 2003 | |||
| Ghost Squad | "SG112" | With stock removed and foregrip | Holds 6 rounds in 8-round tube | 2004 |
| Hitman: Contracts | 2004 | |||
| Söldner: Secret Wars | 2004 | |||
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | "Combat Shotgun" | 2004 | ||
| Half-Life 2 | Incorrectly depicted as able to "double fire," as if the tube magazine is a second barrel | 2004 | ||
| Area-51 | "M-170 "Hammer" Combat Shotgun" | 2005 | ||
| F.E.A.R | "VK-12 combat shotgun" | shown to hold 12 rounds at a time | 2005 | |
| Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories | "Combat Shotgun" | 2005 | ||
| Black | Short version | 2006 | ||
| 24: The Game | "Gray MK5" | 2006 | ||
| Hitman: Blood Money | "SP12 Shotgun" | 2006 | ||
| Splinter Cell: Double Agent | used by hostile NPCs | 2006 | ||
| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories | "Combat Shotgun" | 2006 | ||
| Rainbow Six: Vegas | 2006 | |||
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl | "SPSA14" | 2007 | ||
| Code of Honor | 2007 | |||
| 7.62 High Calibre | "SPAS-12" | 2007 | ||
| Stranglehold | 2007 | |||
| World in Conflict | Cutscenes only | 2007 | ||
| Kane and Lynch: Dead Men | "SP12 Shotgun" | 2007 | ||
| Uncharted: Drake's Fortune | 2007 | |||
| Alliance of Valiant Arms | 2007 | |||
| Urban Terror | 2007 | |||
| Army Of Two | "FSPS-12" | 2008 | ||
| Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 | 2008 | |||
| Grand Theft Auto IV | Seen in the hands of a police officer during a loading screen, but not in the game itself | 2008 | ||
| Battlefield: Bad Company | 2008 | |||
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky | 2008 | |||
| Far Cry 2 | 12-round magazine | 2008 | ||
| Counter-Strike Online | "SPAS-12" | 2008 | ||
| Wheelman | 2009 | |||
| Code of Honor 3: Desperate Measures | not usable | 2009 | ||
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | Pump-action only; capable of equipping suppressor, foregrip, and/or various sights | 2009 | ||
| Left 4 Dead 2 | "Combat Shotgun" | holds 10 rounds, w/ the tactical flashlight and optional laser sight | 2009 | |
| Rogue Warrior | 2009 | |||
| Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | "SPAS-12 Combat" | 2010 | ||
| Splinter Cell: Conviction | Suppressed | 2010 | ||
| Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker | 2010 | |||
| Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days | "Gras-12" | 2010 | ||
| Bloody Good Time | "Shotgun" | 2010 | ||
| Call of Duty: Black Ops | Incorrect mix of pump-action and semi-automatic operation. Can fire Dragon's Breath shells in semi-auto | 2010 | ||
| GoldenEye 007 (2010) | 2010 | |||
| The 3rd Birthday | 2010 | |||
| Dead Island | 2011 | |||
| Battlefield 3 | 2011 | |||
| Uncharted 3 | 2011 | |||
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 | 2011 | |||
| Uncharted: Golden Abyss | 2011 | |||
| Chernobyl Terrorist Attack | 2011 | |||
| The House of the Dead: Overkill Extended Cut | Automatic Shotgun | Replaces Benelli M3 Super 90 from original version | 2011 | |
| The Expendables 2: Videogame | 2012 | |||
| Black Mesa | Incorrectly depicted as able to "double fire," as if the tube magazine is a second barrel | 2012 | ||
| 007: Legends | 2012 | |||
| Call of Duty: Black Ops II | 2012 | |||
| Far Cry 3 | Lefty receiver with aftermarket top rail. Accepts silencers, standard rifle optics and extended magazine tubes. | Semi-automatic mode only; incorrect pump-action chambering. Short barrel and 6+1-round magazine tube by default. | 2012 | |
| The Showdown Effect | 2013 | |||
| Tomb Raider (2013) | 2013 | |||
| Warface | 2013 | |||
| Ghost Recon: Phantoms | 2014 | |||
| Survarium | SPAS-12 | 2014 | ||
| Far Cry 4 | Lefty receiver with aftermarket top rail. Accepts silencers, standard rifle optics and extended magazine tubes. | Semi-automatic mode only; incorrect pump-action chambering. Short barrel and 6+1-round magazine tube by default. | 2014 | |
| Contract Wars | 2014 | |||
| Payday 2 | Predator 12G | 8-round magazine tubes and different stock configurations | Semi-automatic only | 2014 |
| Rainbow Six: Siege | SPAS-12 | Red Dot Sight, Holographic Sight, Reflex Sight, Laser | Semi-automatic mode only; added in the 2016 Operation Dust Line expansion | 2015 |
| Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades | 2016 | |||
| Ironsight | SPAS-12 | Pump-action mode only | 2018 | |
| Far Cry 5 | SPAS-12 | Lefty receiver with aftermarket top rail. Accepts silencers and standard rifle optics. | Semi-automatic mode only; underloaded 6+1 capacity in 8-shot magazine tube. | 2018 |
Anime
| Title | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burn Up! | Maki | With stock and butt hook | 1991 |
| Spriggan | Jean Jacquemonde | 1998 | |
| Vandread | BC | 2000-2001 | |
| Noir | Paolo | 2001 | |
| Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex | Marco | 2002-2003 | |
| Burn-Up Scramble | Maya Jingu | 2004 | |
| Blood+ | Red Shield personnel | 2005 | |
| Boondocks, The | 2005-2014 | ||
| Black Lagoon | Roberta | Mocked up as a parasol | 2006 |
| Asobi ni Ikuyo: Bombshells from the Sky | Manami | Short barrelled version | 2010 |
See Also
- Franchi - A list of all firearms manufactured by Franchi.