Beretta AS70/90
Beretta's open-bolt squad automatic weapon derived from the AR70/90 rifle.
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The Beretta AS70/90 was a squad automatic weapon based on the AR70/90 rifle. It shared the same gas-operated, rotating bolt action but fired from an open bolt and had a heavier fixed barrel. Beretta developed it for the Italian Army, which wanted a more compact replacement for the MG-42/59. However, the open bolt design made it prone to jamming from dirt during Alpine troop trials.
It also fed only from STANAG magazines, including the 100-round C-Mag, which the military found insufficient compared to a belt-fed weapon. The AS70/90 was rejected, and the FN MINIMI was adopted instead. Only a few examples exist, unused, with Beretta and the Italian military.
More in FN, Heckler & Koch, SIG and Mauser Firearms
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Beretta AS70/90 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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