The SPAS-12 (Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun or later known as the Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun) is a variable semi-automatic (gas-actuated) or pump-action combat shotgun chambered for 12 gauge 2 3⁄4 inch shells manufactured by Luigi Franchi S.p.A. in Italy.
Overview[]
The SPAS-12 disassembled.
The SPAS-12 can function on two settings. The first is semi-automatic — the foregrip is locked forward and a gas system serves to load the next round without further effort from the operator. In semi-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. The shotgun is primarily meant to be used in semi-automatic mode as its name suggests.
The SPAS-12 also has a magazine cut-off feature that, when activated, prevents the loading of a new round from the internal magazine when the slide is opened. This allows the operator to load a specialized round into the chamber without going through the entire magazine first. Early SPAS-12 models, like the one in the film, featured a lever-type safety, that will malfunction with a large amount of use. These models were the subject of a safety recall. Repaired models and later versions of the shotgun used a push-button safety. This shotgun fires only 2¾ inch shells, and is not made to fire 3 inch shells.
Terminator franchise[]
The Terminator[]
- "The 12 gauge auto-loader."
"That's Italian. You can go pump or auto." - -The Terminator and Pawnshop Clerk
- The Terminator
In the film The Terminator, the titular T-800 first acquires the SPAS-12 from Alamo Sport Shop by asking clerk Rob Garrett for "The 12 gauge auto-loader." As he takes the shotgun down from the shelf and puts it on the counter, Garrett informs the Terminator that it's Italian and can fire in pump-action or semi-automatic. After getting more firearms from Garrett, the T-800 picks up, cocks, and shoulders the SPAS-12, looking down the sight picture as it aims and tests it by dry firing it. After telling the clerk that he will buy all of the weapons, the Terminator loads a 12 gauge round into the shotgun. Garrett tells him that he "can't do that", but the T-800 simply replies "Wrong." and shoots the clerk in the chest.
The T-800 fires his SPAS-12.
After retrieving the shotgun from its hiding place underneath the mattress in his motel room, the T-800 later uses the SPAS-12, now with the top folding stock removed and a wrist sling attached, during the assault on the police station. Wielding the shotgun in his left hand and an AR-18 in its right, the Terminator uses the weapons to great effect, killing most, if not all, of the police officers in the building. The SPAS-12 hangs from the T-800's left wrist via the wrist sling as it gives chase out of the police station.
A SPAS-12 is also seen in the hands of a human resistance fighter in one of the "Future War" flashbacks. The human soldier using the SPAS-12 can be seen to the left of Kyle Reese after the flying Hunter-Killer hovers past before the human fighters return to the underground human survival bunker after their patrol.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day[]
In the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, photos from surveillance cameras of the T-800 attacking the police station during the events of the first film show the Terminator armed with a SPAS-12 in its left hand.
Additionally, among the plasma weaponry used during the Future War, there are several alleged plasma shotguns based on SPAS-12.
Notes[]
- The SPAS-12 shotgun at the time of filming would have been known as a "Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun". This version featured the folding stock with the hook, and an 8 round tube magazine as seen in the film. The SPAS-12 shotgun was freely available at gun stores at the time of The Terminator, where the T-800 refers to it as the 12 gauge autoloader (probably to avoid licensing by saying a brand name). The SPAS-12 was later banned from import into the US in 1989. A modified version was reintroduced in the USA in 1990. The Franchi company marketed the shotgun in the United States after 1990 as the "Sporting Purpose Automatic Shotgun" in order to adhere to the rules of the Assault Weapons Import Ban which only allowed for imported firearms for a "sporting purpose". The Sporting Purpose version of the SPAS-12 has a solid (rather than a folding) stock and has a smaller ammunition tube of only 6 rounds. The shotgun was again banned from import when the 1994 Assault Rifle Ban went into effect. The Assault Rifle Ban ended in 2004 and the shotgun can again be imported, however the SPAS-12 went out of production in 2000. Manufactured from 1979 to 2000, only about 37,000 SPAS-12 shotguns were made, and only about 1,850 (about 5%) were imported into the USA. Though marketed as a military or police shotgun, the SPAS-12 shotgun itself is no different than any other auto-loading shotgun used by skeet shooters and duck hunters.
- In the Alamo Sports shop as the T-800 shoulders and aims the SPAS-12, as we cut away to see the shop owner we hear the "click" of the shotgun dry firing as the Terminator seems to check the action. In the return shot, we see that the SPAS-12's bolt is still open as the Terminator unshoulders the shotgun, and then proceeds to load a round in the open chamber before shooting the clerk. The shotgun could not dry fire with the bolt open. This would be considered a film gaff or mistake (where the storytelling narrative that the T-800 is testing the weapon, does not match what actually happens on screen.)
- Besides the SPAS-12 that the T-800 inspects and takes from the Alamo Sports Shop, a second SPAS-12 can be seen on the rack behind the counter. At least 2 were used in the film.
- Later video releases of The Terminator mistakenly replaced some of the sound effects for the SPAS-12 with those of an automatic rifle. This is especially noticeable during the shootout in the police station.
- The exact Franchi SPAS-12 used by the T-800 in the film has serial number AB3482 includes the folding stock and has been modified to shoot blank rounds. The prop was for sale at a cost of $20,000 on the Golden Closet website [Item # P01202] in early 2022.[1]
- In the novelization of the film by Randall Frakes and W.H. Wisher, the Terminator uses the SPAS-12 in the chase scene after the shooting at Tech Noir instead of finding an Ithaca 37 in his stolen police car. In the chapter identified as "West L.A. 11:06pm", The Terminator uses the SPAS-12 to shoot out the back window of the car that Sarah and Reese are hiding in inside the parking garage.
- The shotguns used by members of the Megaforce in the unofficial film Terminator II have folding stocks attached to them to make them resemble the SPAS-12 shotgun, but these weapons are not actual SPAS-12s.
Appearances[]
Gallery[]
Quotes[]
- Terminator: The 12-gauge autoloader.
- Pawnshop Clerk: That's Italian. You can go pump or auto.
- The Terminator
References[]
- ↑ THE TERMINATOR - Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) Franchi SPAS-12 Shotgun. The Golden Closet. Retrieved on 2022-01-30.