Spas 12


Deserteagle

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Does anybody know much about the Franchi SPAS 12 gauge shotgun? From what I've read, they were banned from import many years ago because the feds did not consider them to have any "sporting purpose", even though the name of the shotgun is, sporting purpose automatic shotgun. But that doesnt mean you cant own one, and that was a while ago. Any of you seen these? Can we find/buy these anywhere?
 

The SPAS 12 can also be operated as a pump, or slide-action shotgun. It was seen in the movie Jurasic Park.
 
Does anybody know much about the Franchi SPAS 12 gauge shotgun? From what I've read, they were banned from import many years ago because the feds did not consider them to have any "sporting purpose", even though the name of the shotgun is, sporting purpose automatic shotgun. But that doesnt mean you cant own one, and that was a while ago. Any of you seen these? Can we find/buy these anywhere?

Saw one of these at a local gun show here in NC last month. Price tag was about $2100 if I remember right. Not sure if this was typical or what. I'll have to check my bluebook of guns.
 
Saw one of these at a local gun show here in NC last month. Price tag was about $2100 if I remember right. Not sure if this was typical or what. I'll have to check my bluebook of guns.

Thanks for the response. Good to know there are some out there, I have yet to find one myself though.
 
Another reason why the Franchi SPAS-12 and parts for it is rare is because it was discontinued during the mid-'90s.

Beretta owns Benelli and Franchi (along with several other companies)...
When Benelli introduced the M-3 Super 90, Franchi discontinued the SPAS-12.
The Benelli M-3 Super 90 is a selectable pump-action/semi-auto that was lighter and more reliable than the SPAS-12. That was one of the reasons why Beretta had Franchi discontinue the SPAS-12, another reason was Beretta's descision to have Franchi pull of the Mil/LE shotgun market (so Benelli & Beretta could market it better) and concentrate on sporting shotguns.

Due to it being discontinued and it being used in several movies & video games, the Franchi SPAS-12 & SPAS-15 are collector's items and are priced accordingly.

You can currently get better (reliability/accuracy/handling) shotguns, than the Franchi SPAS-12, for less money.
 
Another reason why the Franchi SPAS-12 and parts for it is rare is because it was discontinued during the mid-'90s.

Beretta owns Benelli and Franchi (along with several other companies)...
When Benelli introduced the M-3 Super 90, Franchi discontinued the SPAS-12.
The Benelli M-3 Super 90 is a selectable pump-action/semi-auto that was lighter and more reliable than the SPAS-12. That was one of the reasons why Beretta had Franchi discontinue the SPAS-12, another reason was Beretta's descision to have Franchi pull of the Mil/LE shotgun market (so Benelli & Beretta could market it better) and concentrate on sporting shotguns.

Due to it being discontinued and it being used in several movies & video games, the Franchi SPAS-12 & SPAS-15 are collector's items and are priced accordingly.

You can currently get better (reliability/accuracy/handling) shotguns, than the Franchi SPAS-12, for less money.

Thanks for the info!
 
These Shotguns are quite rare, I have owned nine of them and their prices are low complete even at $1500-$1800 currently. Check out Gunbroker.com for current sales. As a smith I prefer buying parts and assembly of stripped Receivers but that is not the case with a SPAS-12. It would cost over 2k in parts even if I did all the labor today to build one.

Interesting info on it.... Their were only 5% imported out the total production from Italy into the U.S. before the Ban of 89 and the second Ban of 94. Approx 1850 SPAS-12s made it into the U.S. but who knows how many were destroyed over the years since first importing in 79. Franchi stopped production in 2000 to focus on the SPAS-15 and if I remember only around 180 of those were imported.

The SPAS-12 with a folding Stock and mag extension for 8+1 imported by the 2 digit date code ahead of the loading port being pre 1989 Special Purpose imported is the most valuable type for collectors. The folding stocks alone go for $600 on average when the owners of the 90-94 models want to have it instead of the sporting purpose stock.

Fixed Stock, Low Cap Extension 7+1 were the post 1989 ban manufactured from 1990-1994 as Sporting Purpose before the final Clinton AWB by the time the ban expired the SPAS 12 had been out of production for almost 4 years.

Their are a few SPAS-12L models that were made with the pre 1989 ban features but were only supposed to be sold to law enforcement after the 2004 AWB expiration they were sold to civilians although not too many maybe 500 came into the country as L models, they are still just as valuable as the Pre 1989 Banned models. Sorry to brag on so much but I ended up calling Franchi in Italy when I couldnt get info stateside even from the ATF as the import records were never complete because the importers requested numbers never got filled completly with the 2 different bans on these shotguns. Another question was why was the name changed from Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun to Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun, The answer was with the 1989 Importaion Ban Franchi tried to sell it still with the fixed stock and limited mag capacity as Sporting Purpose but it didnt matter once the 94 AWB initiated the shotgun was banned all together no matter how Franchi tried to sell it to the states. Hope this helps, Mac
 
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