This is an Italian Franchi SPAS-12 pump-action shotgun, dating to 1979–1988. The combat shotgun was the modern equivalent of the blunderbuss, suited for short-range shooting where sheer stopping power was more important than accurate sighting.

The 12-bore Special Purpose Automatic Shotgun (SPAS) could be used either as a gas-operated semi-automatic or a pump-action weapon. The latter involved manually pumping the barrel slide back and forth to eject the spent cartridge and chamber the next. This system was faster than the bolt action (which required one hand to be taken off the trigger), while making more economical of ammunition and being less likely to malfunction than an automated action. The gun’s disadvantages were its heavy weight (4.5 kg/10 lbs) and tubular under-barrel magazine into which cartridges had to be loaded one by one.