The Franchi SPAS-15

[Slater]

I read somewhere that around 200 of these were imported into the US before the ban. I've only seen a couple (several years ago), and they did look pretty impressive although I'm not sure how practical the design was/is.

Anyone own or fire a SPAS-15? Apparently it was in a "blink and you'll miss it" scene in "Terminator 2":

http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/Terminator_2:_Judgment_Day

[jklaughrey]

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?p=685381

[TOrrock]

The shop I worked in when I was 16 (1987) had one.

I *believe* that they are now catagorized as Destructive Devices.

[JChops]

SPAS-15s are non-NFA.

They are heavy, clunky, lumbering giants that only take the SPAS-15 6-shot mags. The mags are like hen's teeth and pricey as hell.

They are really heavy duty but like the SPAS-12, overly complicated and not practical for anything besides collecting.

After tinkering with and shooting a SPAS-15 in the late 90s, all my curiosity faded almost instantly.

There's one on GunBroker right now for $6k, FYI.

[kmrtnsn]

The only thing good I can say about my SPAS-12 was that I bought it for $350.00 and sold it four years later (after the ban) for $1,200.00. If I knew that would have happened I would have bought a couple of hundred of them.

[reccerecon]

I traded my L1A1 for one back in 97, that was a mistake. They are to heavy, long, and just plain weird to use in an offencive/defincive role. To load it a little button on the side needed to be pushed in while inserting a shell, it had two safeties, one lever and one m14 style inside the trigger guard. They need to be maintaned to a point thats just stuiped, all the cls would gunk up in cold weather and it wouldnt even pump manulaly. The semi auto setting requiered the pump handel to be slide foward about three inches, I dont have that long of arms so this was even more ocward to shot. Finding replacement parts was near imposable, the rubber buffer pad on the inside broke into about 20 pieces and caused a nightmare jam. They dont like short brass light loads. The hook on the folder is just dumb. The pistol grip was bigger than the one on M249s. The only thing it has going for it is Hollywood and video games. I traded it for a M1A. It all worked out in the end.

[Chris60119]

Could you spin it with one hand to cock it, or is that all just Hollywood?
I traded my L1A1 for one back in 97, that was a mistake. They are to heavy, long, and just plain weird to use in an offencive/defincive role. To load it a little button on the side needed to be pushed in while inserting a shell, it had two safeties, one lever and one m14 style inside the trigger guard. They need to be maintaned to a point thats just stuiped, all the cls would gunk up in cold weather and it wouldnt even pump manulaly. The semi auto setting requiered the pump handel to be slide foward about three inches, I dont have that long of arms so this was even more ocward to shot. Finding replacement parts was near imposable, the rubber buffer pad on the inside broke into about 20 pieces and caused a nightmare jam. They dont like short brass light loads. The hook on the folder is just dumb. The pistol grip was bigger than the one on M249s. The only thing it has going for it is Hollywood and video games. I traded it for a M1A. It all worked out in the end.

[reccerecon]

I should have clearified, I owned a SPAS-12, not a SPAS-15. I did look at one at a gun show years ago, and they seemed just as bad as the 12.