What We Know
In spite of Italy's well-developed defense industry, prior to 1968, weapons design and manufacturing was primarily oriented towards small arms. This left Italian Armed Forces using the outdated BM-59 rifle, a clone of M1 Garand rifle, up until 1990. The BM-59 was a big, heavy battle rifle firing 7.62×51 NATO (.308WIN) ammunition, which had become obsolete in modern warfare due mostly to it being virtually impossible to control in full-auto. In 1968, Beretta started developing the AR-70/223, an assault rifle chambered for the new 5.56x45mm NATO round. Since it was among the first rifles that used this ammunition, it garnered outstanding export success; in addition to the Italian Special Forces, it was used by armed forces of Jordan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries. While the rest of the Western world shifted completely to the 5.56 NATO round, the Italians started developing other designs around this fast and powerful cartridge. It was soon discovered that AR-70/223 had serious shortcomings; it was unable to use standard M-16 magazines, it had weak bolt return springs, and using it with an optical sight was close to impossible. In 1985, Beretta started developing an improved version of the AR-70/223, later called the AR-70/90. Similar to the AK-47, the new AR70/90 design used a proven long stroke piston gas operation and a rotary bolt with two locking lugs. Beretta's manufacturing process of the AR70/90 was also typical for the Cold War period — stamped stainless steel sheets with spot welded components (and a limited use of polymer materials) made the rifle cheaper and more suitable for mass production.
Features
The Beretta AR70/90 is a gas operated, selective fire weapon designed in 1985 to meet Italian Government requirement for a new assault rifle and was adopted by Italian armed forced in 1990 as a standard issue infantry weapon. It is used in service to this day and has been exported to a number of countries. The ambidextrous fire mode selector of the AR70/90 has three positions: "safe", "semi-auto", and "full-auto". The baseline AR70/90 has a solid polymer buttstock, 250/400m iron sights, a standard NATO scope rail, a detachable carrying handle, and a trigger guard can be folded in order to shoot while wearing winter gloves. The AR70/90 can be fitted with red dot, night vision, or telescope sights as well as a knife-bayonet, detachable bipod, and underbarrel grenade launcher.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Pietro Beretta Gun Factory
Model: AR70/90
Condition: Military Surplus
Caliber: 5.56x45mm NATO / .223 Remington
Action: Semi-Auto
Feed System: Accepts all 30 round standard NATO magazines and 100-round drum magazines
