I mean it is fairly well designed in my opinion having seen most of Ian's videos of various guns. The ability to take apart a gun w/o a tool and yet that not weakening a part of the gun seems to be a struggle for many gun designers.
Cool fact: A group of portoguese mercenaries, during the Congo wars, liberated some nuns. They were armed with this gun. LF means Luigi Franchi, and the nuns defined their liberator as Saint Luigi.
This weapon was sold in small numbers to the portuguese military in the 60's and used in the colonial wars. Among portuguese soldiers who used it it was known has São Luís (Saint Louis). A few years ago I saw one on display here in Portugal. It was an army gun, complete with pouch and mags that had been returned by it's unlawfull owner to the authorities. It had been delivered to a civilian during the post 1974 revolution period.
There is an engineering elegance to these 'low cost' smgs that I find appealing. The engineering adage "The design is finished, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.", is exemplified in these types of "pew pews". edited to add, thanks for posting Ian.
I've been watching a lot of B and C grade sci-fi movies this week, and this weapon has shown up in at least three of them. Calling it a "Sci-fi blaster" is definitely on point.
Having served in the 3rd Missile Brigade Aquileia, I have seen the LF57s I quote from Italian Wikipedia: This machine gun was adopted in 13,500 examples by the Italian Army and also distributed to the 13th "Aquileia" Target Acquisition Group (Gr.Ac.O.) of the 3rd "Aquileia" Missile Brigade of Portogruaro. This free-burst automatic-only version was modified in the 1980s by the Military Light Weapons Establishment (SMAL) of Terni to fire semi-automatic, thus obtaining the LF-57 SMAL RAF-CS version (RAF stands for burst, CS for single shot ). Other examples were assigned to the Carabinieri for the Military Police Units of the Large Army Units. In 1962 it was supplied to the Comsubin of the Italian Navy, but shortly afterwards it was replaced with the Beretta PM 12 (by the Carabinieri, the Army and the Navy) and recently also with the Heckler & Koch MP5, weapons of a new ballistic concept. 10,000 examples of the weapon were also purchased by the Portuguese Army which used it in the wars in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the years immediately following independence from Belgium. The name derives from the initials of the founder of the gun company, Luigi Franchi, and from the year of production. It was soon nicknamed "San Luigi" for the "miracles" achieved in combat, for the practicality and reliability demonstrated in all conditions. The production of this weapon continued until 1980, with a total of 30,000 examples built for the foreign market (it had not met with success in Italy). Franchi also created a version for the American market called LF-57 police model which differed from the original model due to its barrel (406 mm). At the beginning of the 2000s the weapon was re-evaluated, and is now available in the armories of some Army departments, appreciated for its simplicity and reliability.
Of all guns, I love submachine guns the most ... from an engineering point of view, because of the demanding goals they must achieve: small, light, cheap, minimal number of parts, easy enough to manufacturing (even in small shops), easy to disassembly, accurate, safe to use and reliable enough. Quite a challenge!
Same here,it never ceases to amaze me what some nations come up with especially when they are desperate for guns,have no money and little time...some designers just shine under those kind of conditions
Some submachine guns are simpler, with less parts, than others. High end SMGs are more complex and expensive to make but are made to certain standards to ensure accuracy and reliability.
I am enamored by this gun's elegance of simplicity. The stampings are beautiful and even the folding stock has an elegant aesthetic. Also mechanically impressive are the selector and safeties - brilliantly simple. I can't believe I've never heard of it.
A few ended up on the UK civilian market in the 90's. Converted to singleshot it had a habit of firing auto with light pressure on the trigger. The range warden loved it.
I had one of these semi-autos, but I bought it from a gunsmith in Leicester in 1979/80. It was marked as a Police Carbine, and if memory serves, it was also marked Mars Corporation of New York, but I could be wrong. It was built as a semi-auto, not converted from full auto. I don’t remember issues with the trigger pull but I do remember issues with different 9mm ammunition. Some makes did not generate sufficient recoil to push the very heavy bolt far enough back to engage the trigger sear, but military surplus 2z did. I would agree that the range wardens definitely reacted to it though! Sadly, we lost all our semi-auto centre-fire rifles/carbines after the Hungerford massacre in 1987.
@@jerryl3034 Sadly, we lost all our semi-auto centre-fire rifles/carbines after the Hungerford massacre in 1987. - no you lost your freedoms by not defending them, stay beta bongs
This looks like a subgun that has all the boxes ticked. Safe, well made, refined in design for serious use, cheap, easy to mass produce, and doesn't have the ergonomics of a MAC 10.
I was feeling masochistic and rewatched a childhood made for TV movie called "The Martian Chronicles" and I knew I recognized the "futuristic" guns the humans were using and that I saw it on Forgotten Weapons. Took a bit of sleuthing but finally figured out this is what they were using.
I sure appreciate your content and would be dishonesst to say otherwise. The mechanics, the history, the cool tests, brutalities, BUGs, so great and thorough.
That thing appears to have been very thoughtfully designed and well-manufactured. Nothing threatened to come flying out during disassembly, the trigger looks good, and the folding stock looks like it wouldn’t have much play in it at all. I guess it just arrived at a weird time to find a market.
@@InquisitorJack checkout the Textron/AAI NGSW-R assault rifle in the bid to replace the M-16. It has the big blocky oversized straight mag look, including the complicated inner working and caseless ammo.
Wow!! Thanks!! Simplicity just works!!! And, It looks cool!! Love how the bolt is kinda like "bullpup"! And how it just rides that guide rod! And, how guide rod and spring is stationed! And, how it pushes in, rotates slightly and back to strip it!! Im impressed!!
It looks like somebody who had seen a submachine gun once or twice was asked to draw a submachine gun, and then someone else used that drawing to design this.
Love what you do. The history of the weapons is interesting to me. My favorite one you featured was the canadian FN. I am a canadian and was in your equivalent to ROTC and a a prize for my marksmanship, I was given 3 magazines to run through the FN and it was magnificent when I was 16 I look forward to all your videos
I did find new information regarding the LF57 and it was indeed adopted by the Italian Army in 1960 (13500 produced and delivered). In 1997 they were modified to have semi-auto as well as full-auto, and they remained in service until the 2010s then scrapped.
I love the simplicity of this little thing - everything's as minimalistic as possible. With such a simplicity and the stamped sheet metal construction it is weird that it wasn't cheap enough to be adopted...
The Italian Navy adopted it, but they didn't need many of them. The Army bought it in some thousands of samples as "mobilitation weapons" (to be stored and used if needed). They had been lastly seen in Afghanistan, abroad the Mangusta helicopters.
as noted earlier, yes these were seen in the tv miniseries 'the martian chronicles'. the astronauts wore them in hip holsters and they had 'tv type' scopes/displays on top. and yes, they made the appropriate 'pew pew' noises when fired.
A cool looking gun with an air of elegant simplicity: not crude or primitive or anything of the sort, it does what it has to do and it does it well. ...to whom do I have to sell my soul to get one?
Some units from Italian Army this weapon as standard issue. Apart from Target acquisition, even Psyops units as this Franchi as side gun for "dissemination team". This solution provides a small easy to conceal and use MG with a decent fire power available, using the same cartridge of Beretta 92. Definitly a good compromise.
Ian how well did the various models of Uzi compete with more popular submachine guns for worldwide sales? From popular culture I was lead to believe they ended up in many conflicts the later half of the 20th century.
I don't think this gun was expensive, but it had to compete with the H&K MP5, the Beretta Mod. 12, and the Uzi. The countries that bought G3's also bought MP5's as part of the deal and FN had a production licence for, and could supply Uzi's for the buyers of FAL rifles. The excellent Walther MPK and MPL SMG's had the same problem.
Pulls a gun out of each pocket Paul Harrell style and we didn't have to bear with gunfire in the background or shatneresqe pauses was that awesome? YOU BE THE JUDGE
Ian: "very simple gun to take apart"
Also Ian: *literally karate chops gun in half*
He must have been watching a bunch of ThisOldTony recently...
Waiting for this reply
Easy to take apart.. if you know karate.
I mean it is fairly well designed in my opinion having seen most of Ian's videos of various guns.
The ability to take apart a gun w/o a tool and yet that not weakening a part of the gun seems to be a struggle for many gun designers.
It's stiff, it's new. I've seen a few of these and the stock came off easily on all.
Cool fact: A group of portoguese mercenaries, during the Congo wars, liberated some nuns. They were armed with this gun. LF means Luigi Franchi, and the nuns defined their liberator as Saint Luigi.
lmao that song quote this story (the nuns one, not the Saint Luigi one)
ruclips.net/video/Bwf_-b7kTbE/видео.html
Aye luigi, it sure is nice of the nuns to ask us to liberate them
@@OskarCremonesi yeah, during those months many missionaries were killed or kidnapped...
This weapon was sold in small numbers to the portuguese military in the 60's and used in the colonial wars. Among portuguese soldiers who used it it was known has São Luís (Saint Louis). A few years ago I saw one on display here in Portugal. It was an army gun, complete with pouch and mags that had been returned by it's unlawfull owner to the authorities. It had been delivered to a civilian during the post 1974 revolution period.
Got a link about this? I'd like to read more about it.
There is an engineering elegance to these 'low cost' smgs that I find appealing. The engineering adage "The design is finished, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.", is exemplified in these types of "pew pews".
edited to add, thanks for posting Ian.
if that was true then every gun following your design principles would be a pipe-gun.
@@saxandphone6440 reductio ad absurdum
God Franchi made the coolest looking guns... between this and the SPAS 12...
Italians and aesthetic design eh
@@Govanmauler i mean, have you seen all the italian car companies?
the SPAS 15 is my dream shotgun
Is that why the vent holes reminded me of the spas-12 so much?
@The Weapon Collection probably nothing more than that
Walther: yo can i copy your homework?
Franchi: yeah man just don't make it too obvious
I've been watching a lot of B and C grade sci-fi movies this week, and this weapon has shown up in at least three of them. Calling it a "Sci-fi blaster" is definitely on point.
That gun was in the movie 'Total Recall', the scene where the little woman jumps up on the bar and starts shooting at the Mars troopers
RIP Debbie Lee Carrington
Now I'm gotta look for it👍
And her name is Tumblerina!
Also in Soldier (1998).
Also in the big hit 1998 used as an under barrel for an ar
With a karate chop disassembly feature to keep your troops hand to hand combat ready.
Funky Franchi
I was hearing funky 😂👍
@@hendrixdylan13 yes... maybe third time sounded right.
😂😂😂 Yeah he said funky... 😂😂😂
Aint nobody going tango with the rango
Sounds like some gangster from The Irishman xDD
Having served in the 3rd Missile Brigade Aquileia, I have seen the LF57s
I quote from Italian Wikipedia:
This machine gun was adopted in 13,500 examples by the Italian Army and also distributed to the 13th "Aquileia" Target Acquisition Group (Gr.Ac.O.) of the 3rd "Aquileia" Missile Brigade of Portogruaro. This free-burst automatic-only version was modified in the 1980s by the Military Light Weapons Establishment (SMAL) of Terni to fire semi-automatic, thus obtaining the LF-57 SMAL RAF-CS version (RAF stands for burst, CS for single shot ). Other examples were assigned to the Carabinieri for the Military Police Units of the Large Army Units. In 1962 it was supplied to the Comsubin of the Italian Navy, but shortly afterwards it was replaced with the Beretta PM 12 (by the Carabinieri, the Army and the Navy) and recently also with the Heckler & Koch MP5, weapons of a new ballistic concept.
10,000 examples of the weapon were also purchased by the Portuguese Army which used it in the wars in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the years immediately following independence from Belgium.
The name derives from the initials of the founder of the gun company, Luigi Franchi, and from the year of production. It was soon nicknamed "San Luigi" for the "miracles" achieved in combat, for the practicality and reliability demonstrated in all conditions.
The production of this weapon continued until 1980, with a total of 30,000 examples built for the foreign market (it had not met with success in Italy). Franchi also created a version for the American market called LF-57 police model which differed from the original model due to its barrel (406 mm). At the beginning of the 2000s the weapon was re-evaluated, and is now available in the armories of some Army departments, appreciated for its simplicity and reliability.
Of all guns, I love submachine guns the most ... from an engineering point of view, because of the demanding goals they must achieve: small, light, cheap, minimal number of parts, easy enough to manufacturing (even in small shops), easy to disassembly, accurate, safe to use and reliable enough. Quite a challenge!
Same here,it never ceases to amaze me what some nations come up with especially when they are desperate for guns,have no money and little time...some designers just shine under those kind of conditions
I agree! Very versatile weapons if well designed, even in this age of assault rifles.
Some submachine guns are simpler, with less parts, than others. High end SMGs are more complex and expensive to make but are made to certain standards to ensure accuracy and reliability.
I am enamored by this gun's elegance of simplicity. The stampings are beautiful and even the folding stock has an elegant aesthetic. Also mechanically impressive are the selector and safeties - brilliantly simple. I can't believe I've never heard of it.
I would love one in all stainless steel. That would be attractive as hell
A few ended up on the UK civilian market in the 90's. Converted to singleshot it had a habit of firing auto with light pressure on the trigger. The range warden loved it.
I had one of these semi-autos, but I bought it from a gunsmith in Leicester in 1979/80. It was marked as a Police Carbine, and if memory serves, it was also marked Mars Corporation of New York, but I could be wrong. It was built as a semi-auto, not converted from full auto. I don’t remember issues with the trigger pull but I do remember issues with different 9mm ammunition. Some makes did not generate sufficient recoil to push the very heavy bolt far enough back to engage the trigger sear, but military surplus 2z did. I would agree that the range wardens definitely reacted to it though! Sadly, we lost all our semi-auto centre-fire rifles/carbines after the Hungerford massacre in 1987.
@@jerryl3034 Sadly, we lost all our semi-auto centre-fire rifles/carbines after the Hungerford massacre in 1987. - no you lost your freedoms by not defending them, stay beta bongs
This is EXTREMELY well stamped, I haven't ever seen such high detail stamping practices on a ho-hum sub machine gun.
Disassembly by Karate Chops. Obviously a real ninja weapon.
this is why special agent type folks come with Kung-Fu Grip
Italians sure do know how to design cool looking guns, I’ll give them that lol
Better known as 'San Luigi' (Saint Louis) among Italian mercenaries in Africa ...
Which year?
@@glassfireactual9207 1960 - 70s
@@glassfireactual9207 Ex foreign legion but also ex paratroopers
Ciad?
@@Frens03 katanga, yemen , and after this among the Italian soldier that used it was commonly known as the "San Luigi"
Good thing the entire thing is a cooling shroud.
This looks like a subgun that has all the boxes ticked. Safe, well made, refined in design for serious use, cheap, easy to mass produce, and doesn't have the ergonomics of a MAC 10.
great info as always
I was feeling masochistic and rewatched a childhood made for TV movie called "The Martian Chronicles" and I knew I recognized the "futuristic" guns the humans were using and that I saw it on Forgotten Weapons. Took a bit of sleuthing but finally figured out this is what they were using.
They were a perfect match with Rock Hudson's leisure suit/uniform.
I sure appreciate your content and would be dishonesst to say otherwise. The mechanics, the history, the cool tests, brutalities, BUGs, so great and thorough.
Iconic! I remember I had this SMG as a model in 1:2.5 scale when I was a kid... Happy Christmas everybody!
That thing appears to have been very thoughtfully designed and well-manufactured. Nothing threatened to come flying out during disassembly, the trigger looks good, and the folding stock looks like it wouldn’t have much play in it at all. I guess it just arrived at a weird time to find a market.
Merry Christmas Gun Jesus
When is gun jesus b day ?
Merry Gunmas!
@@garypack1709 On Dec. 24th ;)
25 is Gun Jesus birthday!
Remember last Christmas?
Kid: "Mum, can i have a Walther MPL?"
Mum: "We have a Walther MPL at home"
The walther MPL at home:
Kid: "ya know what, this is cool too"
It is one of those gun that you have heard about but no one ever actually make a video of it. Thanks Ian.
1957? But it looks so... it must have looked futuristic back then.
It looks like nineties.
Just like when the first iPhone came out
@@ricardomiles2957 Ha ha ha ha ha...
This Franchi was still in use by the Italian Army in 2006, I got my hands on one whilst attached to an Italian unit in Afghanistan.
Yeah. They were issued as emergency weapons to vehicles. Where full size rifles were too bulky. IE to A129 heli crews.
Looks like something a Warhammer Space Marine would use.
Look into the Fostech Origin 12 for the closest IRL bolter I’ve seen
@@InquisitorJack checkout the Textron/AAI NGSW-R assault rifle in the bid to replace the M-16. It has the big blocky oversized straight mag look, including the complicated inner working and caseless ammo.
If it lacked a stock, it would look like an IRL Bolter or even a Slugga.
Astartes!
Lotsa Dakka
Wow!! Thanks!! Simplicity just works!!!
And, It looks cool!! Love how the bolt is kinda like "bullpup"! And how it just rides that guide rod! And, how guide rod and spring is stationed! And, how it pushes in, rotates slightly and back to strip it!! Im impressed!!
It a "telescoping" bolt carrier, similar in concept to the Uzi.
Glad to hear these are going back in production Q2 2020
ian :"it is quite stiff since it is a new unused gun."
also ian : *proceeds to hit the gun to disassemble.
Voted “Most likely to be misidentified as an MPK on IMFDB” in its high school yearbook
Didn't Swiss schoolchildren have to take something home with them over the school hols to preserve neutrality / stop invasions?
Mamma mia Ian!
Awesome! This was on my 'bucket list' of weapons I'd been waiting for a chance to see on here. Thanks, Ian!
This gun is a prime subject for Star Warsing. Some greeblies and you're set!
5:35
Think this is how they got Mr. Krabs' walking sound
It looks like somebody who had seen a submachine gun once or twice was asked to draw a submachine gun, and then someone else used that drawing to design this.
Love what you do. The history of the weapons is interesting to me. My favorite one you featured was the canadian FN. I am a canadian and was in your equivalent to ROTC and a a prize for my marksmanship, I was given 3 magazines to run through the FN
and it was magnificent when I was 16
I look forward to all your videos
I did find new information regarding the LF57 and it was indeed adopted by the Italian Army in 1960 (13500 produced and delivered). In 1997 they were modified to have semi-auto as well as full-auto, and they remained in service until the 2010s then scrapped.
I had one of those when I was a kid, except it was a plastic toy version. Nice to see the real gun. 😁
I love the simplicity of this little thing - everything's as minimalistic as possible. With such a simplicity and the stamped sheet metal construction it is weird that it wasn't cheap enough to be adopted...
The Italian Navy adopted it, but they didn't need many of them. The Army bought it in some thousands of samples as "mobilitation weapons" (to be stored and used if needed). They had been lastly seen in Afghanistan, abroad the Mangusta helicopters.
Now that is a awesome sub gun! Thank you for showing this one!
Merry Christmas, Ian & viewers!
"Perfectly adequate" is a shining recommendation from Ian.
@5:27 Judo chop disassembly method is in the manual.
Love this Christmas episode, great cameo!
as noted earlier, yes these were seen in the tv miniseries 'the martian chronicles'. the astronauts wore them in hip holsters and they had 'tv type' scopes/displays on top. and yes, they made the appropriate 'pew pew' noises when fired.
Thank you Ian
Cod Vanguard: Ah yes a WW2 Submachine gun!
1957?!!! It looks WAY more modern than that. What an awesome thing.
A lot of comments saying that this looks like the 10 mm SMG from Fallout but the actual inspiration was a prototype german SMG from the H&K company.
Which i believe was a UMP derivative
@cody sonnet actually it was just called SMG II. And it uses a 9x19mm bullet.
@cody sonnet erm... No, but nice weapon though. ( sorry English is not my native language )
@cody sonnet thanks for the info. The second one was the inspiration. Obviously they remove the grip. I wonder why it failed ?
Thank you ian merry christmas
Looks cool. Once stripped it’s clear the gun is new! Good buy for someone!
Wow, very cool design! Thank you for sharing with us.
I feel like Ian should always be in a full American civil war outfit with that outstanding cavalry facial hair. Amazing video as always!
Now Franchi belongs to Beretta Group
I forgot about this one.
Thanks Ian.
this gun looks like an already StarWars-ified gun
Give it a scope and take away the stock and then it would be
Pretty close. The Star Wars version would probably get a coat of matte black spray, though.
Cool looking Gun. I know that one from Soldier and Ghosts of Mars
Italian Navy always buys small numbers of interesting firearms it seems, I like their style
Ha the 2000th video. Keep up the good work Ian!
Love your channel.
Pretty sure I had one of these as a kid in the 60s, but we loaded it with a roll of caps.
It's an MPL saying: "Ciao, Bella!"
For a stamped gun that thing is a certain kind of gorgeous.
this gun was used in Total Recall
A cool looking gun with an air of elegant simplicity: not crude or primitive or anything of the sort, it does what it has to do and it does it well.
...to whom do I have to sell my soul to get one?
Merry Christmas
I just love that old school typewriter sound in a gun.
Some units from Italian Army this weapon as standard issue. Apart from Target acquisition, even Psyops units as this Franchi as side gun for "dissemination team". This solution provides a small easy to conceal and use MG with a decent fire power available, using the same cartridge of Beretta 92. Definitly a good compromise.
Ian how well did the various models of Uzi compete with more popular submachine guns for worldwide sales? From popular culture I was lead to believe they ended up in many conflicts the later half of the 20th century.
What part of the german subgun's bolt was copied? Was it the telescoped design with mass ahead of the boltface?
@cody sonnet Does this thing have a name? Sounds like a whole lot of stuff that I cannot imagine being there in 1917 at all.
cody sonnet , any sources to that story of a Mauser 1917 sub machine gun?
Forgotten Weapons just did a video about the Mauser 1917 "trench carbine" ..
@cody sonnet As far as i know the Uzi is based on prototype Czech SMGS
Looks well made
I salute you gun Jesus greetings from Slovenia
Italian guns have the coolest disassembly.
Something to counter the kraut space magic.
I love these screwed barrel nuts. This one makes it look like a drill.
5:27 "The Power of Gun Jesus's karate chops compel you!"
Really has that old Star Wars kind of look to it.
I feel some MAT-49 vibes from this gun as well.
The bent tube stock is smote mightily by Gun Jesus.
If Ian finds a Franchi LF59 i'm gonna give him all my money
Or the LF58. The coolest .30 carbine ever.
@@Celebmacil hell yeah
That's a dangerous thing to say😉
@@Govanmauler It's a risk i'am willing to take . But i don't know if there are any LF58 or 59 left
@@gianlucamalvasi7007 😁
It’s interesting that that Beretta was their main competitor but they also designed the gun to use Beretta mags.
The Army had tons of them in stock.
Reminds me of the 10mm Machinegun created originally by the late Concept Artist Adam Adamowicz for Fallout 3.
Parts kits for these are out there. Rare, but not unobtainable.
Jamaica Voodoo Posse's official submachine gun
That’s a sweet little sub gun. Wouldn’t mind having one.
''...The Italian funky company....''
: )
"Safety? * extends
Pinky finger* this is my safety"
I don't think this gun was expensive, but it had to compete with the H&K MP5, the Beretta Mod. 12, and the Uzi. The countries that bought G3's also bought MP5's as part of the deal and FN had a production licence for, and could supply Uzi's for the buyers of FAL rifles. The excellent Walther MPK and MPL SMG's had the same problem.
I always thought these looked like the new Zaku machine gun. Really cool gun
Pulls a gun out of each pocket Paul Harrell style and we didn't have to bear with gunfire in the background or shatneresqe pauses was that awesome? YOU BE THE JUDGE
Very cool!
That’ll be a good base for future Star Wars blasters
🎵Won't you take me to
The Franchi town 🎵
"It can be done!" - said Doctor Franchistein
Its pretty cool looking
I saw you playing saxophone in the Blues Brothers movie. You were great.
The MP5? I'm sure that didn't go anywhere. 🤣🤣🤣