Garand Mk-2
"Garand Mk-2", a.k.a. "BM59-E2", this meaning that it is a prototype. It is currently sold by ADLER (also known as ARMI JAEGER), but unknown by WHO it was made. After the end of WW-2, while Germany and Japan were forced to wait some time before re-arming, Italy was IMMEDIATELY allowed to re-arm, because in the "Yalta Logic" it had to act as a "buffer State" between the Western Europe and the ComBloc. The Italian Armed Forces found themselves IMMEDIATELY armed with a brand new rifle, this being the Garand. It was NOT imported by the USA, those two companies, BERETTA and ADLER, manufactured it with American machineries. More than 10 years after, it was felt that the Garand was already long in the tooth. Furthermore, the entire NATO was reverting to .7'62x51mm, and a new rifle was needed for Italy. Now, there were several options,: adopting the french MAS M49-56 in .7'62x51mm-NATO, as it was later manufactured for Portugal, or the CETME 58 / HECKLER&KOCH G3, or the FN FAL, or the SPRINGFIELD ARMOURY M14 rifle. But, obviously, those were the options for the NATO INFLUENCE. The patriot Italians wanted a NATIONAL-MADE rifle. Re-equipping the factories with new machineries would have been hard. WHO would have sold them to us? And, at one time... "Hey, wait, look: we have plentiful of machineries to produce the GARAND and the .7'62x51mm-NATO bullets along with the fact that BERETTA produces the German-engineered MG-42/59. Why we just don't save money and re-engineer the Garand to make it full-auto and fire the .7'62mm ammo?". The gun you see in the pic is one of the first prototypes. Unclear if it was made by BERETTA or ADLER, it is still available in both .30-06 and .7'62x51mm-NATO, feeding from detacheable 10-rounds box magazines, and is semi-auto, thus pretty avaliable for civilians. It is still a pretty early version, the final BM59 was selective-fire, feeding from 20-rounders, and SHORTER than the Garand.
Photo and information from: Pierangelo Tendas
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