Beretta BM 59 (Italy)

Beretta BM59 - left side view, bayonet (in sheath) and bipod attached

Same gun, right side view

Beretta BM59 Para (folding buttstock)

Beretta BM59 - civilian semi-auto version withouth gas cut-off and flash-hider / grenade launcher

Caliber: 7.62x51 mm NATO (.308 Winchester)

Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt

Overall length: 1095 mm

Barrel length: 491 mm

Weigth: 4.4 kg empty

Rate of fire: 750 rounds per minute

Magazine capacity: 20 rounds

Since the end of the World War 2, Italy adopted the US-designed M1 Garand rifle in .30-06 (7.62x63mm) and manufactured it under licence. This semi-automatic rifle proved itself wery well during WW2 but in the late 1950s it was seriously outdated and obsolete, so Italian military wanted a new rifle, chambered for the NATO-standard cartridge, 7.62x51mm. The most cost-efficient way to build a new rifle was to redesign the old good M1, and this was done by Pietro Beretta SPa. New gun, designated as Beretta BM59, was adopted in 1959 and served with Italian, Indonesian and Marocco armies. It should be noted that earliest BM59s were manufactured from available M1 parts, including rechambered barrels. In the late 1980s BM59 was rplaced in Italian service with Beretta AR70/90 assault rifles.

Basically, the BM59 can be described as re-chambered M1 Garand, with addition of the removable 20 rounds magazine and select fire trigger. Another addition was a flash-hider of NATO-standard diameter, which also served as a rifle grenade launcher. To launch grenades, one must turn on gas cut-off valve by raising grenade front sight, mounted on the gas block. If it will not be done, the excessive gas pressure will damage the rifle. BM59 is a gas operated rifle, with gas chamber and gas piston located under the barrel. Chamber locks by the rotating bolt with two massive lugs. Fire mode selector/safety switch is located at the front of the triggerguard, charging handle is attached to the gas rod and reciprocates during the fire cycyle.

BM59 was available in 4 modification:

* BM59 Mark I had a wooden stock with semi-pistol grip.

* BM59 Mark II had a wooden stock with pistol grip to achieve a better control during the full-auto fire;

* BM59 Mark III, or Ital TA, was a gun with a pistol grip and a metallick folding buttstock, and was intended for Mountain troops; BM59 Para was similar to BM59 Ital TA but had shorter barrel and shorter flash-hider, and was intended for paratroopers.

* BM59 Mark IV, had a heavier barrel and plactick stock, and was used as a light squad automatic weapon.

Beretta AR-70/223 and AR-70/90 assault rifle (Italy)

Beretta AR-70/223 assault rifle

Beretta SCS-70/223 carbine - partially cut out view

Beretta AR 70/90 assault rifle.Installation of the folding stock, shown below the rifle, will convert it into SC-70/90 carbine configuration

Beretta SCP 70/90 assault carbine.The detachable barrel adaptor is used to launch rifle grenades.

Famous Italian arms company Pietro Beretta Spa began to develop a new assault rifle, chambered for American 5.56mm cartridge in 1968. The resulting design appeared circa 1972 and after trials was adopted by the Italian Special forces,as well as by some foreign armies, like those of Jordan, Malaysia and others.The rifle was designated AR-70/223, and was available in three basic versions(standard assault rifle AR-70/223, carbine SC-70/223 with same barrel and folding butt, and a special carbine SCS-70/223 with shortened barrel and folding butt). The Squad Automatic (light machine gun) variation of the basic 70/223 design, with the heavy, quick detachable barrel also was developed but never produced in quantity.

The basic design showed some minor flaws, and when Italian army decided to replace its ageing 7.62mm Beretta BM59 automatic rifles with the new 5.56mm NATO assault rifle, Beretta entered the contest with the upgraded version of the 70/223. This upgraded version appeared in 1985, and eventually won the following trials. In 1990 it was adopted as the basic AR-70/90 assault rifle, with the available modifications of SC-70/90 (same rifle but with the folding buttstock for Special Forces) and SCP-70/90 (Airborne troops carbine with shortened barrel and folding butt). A squad automatic version with heavy, non-detachable barrel and detachable bipod is available as AS-70/90. The Beretta AR-70/90 is a general issue shoulder arm with the Italian Army, and also is offered for export. Both70/223 and 70/90 rifles are available in semi-automatic only versions, for police or civilian markets.

Technical description.

The AR-70/223 and AR-70/90 rifles are very similar in basic design, but with some differences. The description below is for AR-70/90, with differences to 70/223 noted, where appropriate.

The AR-70/90 is a gas operated, magazine fed, selective fire weapon. The receiver is made from stamped sheet steel, and consist of two halves, upper and lover, connected by two cross-pins, at the rear and at the front. For maintenance and field stripping the rear pin is pushed out and the receiver is hinged around the front pin. If required, the front pin can be removed too, so the receiver halves will be separated completely. On the AR-70/223 the upper receiver is of square cross-section, with stamped bolt guides. This design proved to be not strong enough, so the AR-70/90 features a trapezoid-shaped upper receiver cross-section, with separate bolt guides welded in place.

The gas operated action of the AR-70/90 is fairy conventional, with the longstroke gas piston, located above the barrel. The gas piston rod is linked to the bolt carrier by using a cocking handle as a lock, and the return spring is located around the gas piston, above the barrel. The gas block featured a two positions gas regulator (for normal and adverse conditions), and the gas cutoff,integral with raising grenade sight. When grenade sight is raised into the firing position, it automatically closes the gas port. The rotating bolt is somewhat similar to one, found in the Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles, and has two massive lugs, which are locked into the barrel sleeve, which is welded into the receiver. The charging handle is attached to the bolt carrier.

The barrel is fixed to the receiver using the threaded barrel nut, allowing for quick barrel replacement (for repair purposes only, not in the field), without the extensive headspace adjustments. The barrel bore is chrome-plated.

The conventional trigger / hammer mechanism allows for single shots and fullauto on the AR-70/223 rifles and for single shots, 3 rounds bursts (optional)and full auto on AR-70/90 series rifles. The safety /selector switch is ambidextrous on AR-70/90 series rifles, and is located on the right side of the receiver on the AR-70/223 series rifles.

The feeding of AR-70/90 series weapons is achieved by using STANAG (M16-type)compliant magazines, with the ambidextrous magazine release button located at the both sides of the magazine housing in the lower receiver. On the AR-70/223 rifles, feeding was from the proprietary 30 rounds magazines, with the magazine release lever located between the magazine and the trigger guard. Both AR-70/90 and AR-70/223 series rifles featured a bolt stop device, which holds the bolt open when the last round from the magazine is fired. The bolt release button is located at the left side of the receiver, above the magazine housing.

The sights of the AR-70/90 rifles consists of the hooded front blade, mounted on the top of the gas block, and the flip-up aperture rear, marked for 250 and400 meters range. The top surface of the receiver is fitted with the NATO-standard scope / accessory rail. A detachable carrying handle with thesee-through base is available for all AR-70/90 series rifles. The AR-70/90 also can be equipped with Zeiss "Orion" night-vision sight or the Aimpoint4X telescope sight (any other sights with compatible mountings also can be easily installed, if required).

The furniture on all rifles is made from plastic, with the standard rifle shaving the fixed plastic buttstocks. The SC-70/223 and SC-70/90 Special Forces carbines are different from AR rifles only by having the side-folding, skeleton type metallic buttstocks, covered with plastic. The SCP-70/90 carbine is similar to the SC-70/90 except that it has a shortened barrel which cannot be used to launch rifle grenades directly. However, a special detachable rifle grenade launcher is available for short barreled carbines, which could be easily clamped onto the muzzle of the gun. The hollow pistol grips of all AR-70/90 series rifles is used to store a cleaning kit.

A wide variety of accessories is available for AR-70/90 rifles, including knife-type bayonets, lightweight, foldable and detachable bipods, blank firing adaptors etc.

Beretta ARX-160 assault rifle (Italy)

Beretta ARX-160 assault rifle, with buttstock in unfolded, extended position

Image: Samurai

Beretta ARX-160 rifle disassembled into basic components. Note modular bolt group and removable barrel

Image: Beretta

Caliber: 5.56x45mm NATO

Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt

Overall length: 820-900 mm with 406 mm barrel and butt in ready position; 700 mm with butt folded

Barrel length: 305 mm / 12" or 406 mm / 16", quick changeable

Weight: ~ 3 kg with 406 mm barrel, w/o mag

Rate of fire: rounds per minute

Magazine capacity: 30 rounds

The Beretta ARX-160 assault rifle is, as of mid-2008, still in prototype / development stage. It is a part of the Italian Army's 'Soldato Futuro' program, and is developed by famous Italian company Beretta in close cooperation with army. The rifle is a part of a massive soldier equipment package, which, among other items, will include an advanced rifle sight witch will combine day and night time (optical, TV and IR) view / sight capabilities and laser pointer (also visible and IR). Another component of the Soldato Futuro system is an advanced 40mm single-shot grenade launcher, which will be either installed on the rifle (using Picatinny rail interface) or used as stand-alone weapon (by adding a detachable pistol grip and telescoped stock to it).

The Beretta ARX-160 assault rifle is gas operated weapon that utilizes conventional piston-operated action, with gas piston located above the barrel. Barrel locking is achieved by more or less conventional rotary bolt. Unlike most other assault rifles, the Beretta ARX-160 assault rifle features quick-detachable barrels, which can be changed by operator in the field by depressing the barrel release button (located on right side of receiver, in front of magazine housing), pulling the barrel forward and out of the gun, and then inserting another (or same) barrel back. The receiver consists of two parts, upper (which holds barrel and bolt group) and lower (which hosts magazine housing, trigger unit and pistol grip). Both halves are made from impact-resistant polymer and connected using special quick-release locks, so there are no pins to push out (and lose). Another interesting and unusual feature of the Beretta ARX-160 assault rifle is that it has selectable left / right side ejection system with dual ejection ports (on either side of the gun) and user-switchable left / right position of cocking handle. To change the direction of empty case ejection, user has to push the cross-bolt button, located above and slightly to the rear of pistol grip, by the tip of the bullet (or other pointed item). This affects dual extractor-ejector claws, installed on the bolt, forcing them to eject spent cartridge to the desired side without any further disassembly of the gun or parts change. Charging handle, which is attached to the bolt carrier, also can be installed on either side of the gun. The Beretta ARX-160 assault rifle fires from closed bolt, in single shots and full automatic mode, and has ambidextrous safety / fire mode selector switch conveniently located above pistol grip. Upper receiver is fitted with full-length Picatinny type rail, made of aluminum, which can accommodate a wide variety of sighting equipment, including iron, telescopic, red-dot or electronic sights. Standard open sights are mounted on folding bases using rail interface. Additional lengths of Picatinny rail are installed on the forend on 3-, 6- and 9- o'clock positions. Lower (6-o'clock) position rail is strong enough to host GLX 160 40mm single-shot grenade launcher. Standard buttstock is also made of plastic, and folds to the right side. The buttstock is of telescoped, user-adjustable design.