P7000 Pistol
--- "Penna" P7000 pistol, by Q.S. PROGETTO MECCANICA, S.a.S. --- Passion for firearms is notably an incurable disease, and often leads to unpredictable outcomes. That's the case of LEONARDO PENNA, young engineer and owner of the manufacturing company known as "Q.S. PROGETTO MECCANICA, S.a.S.", since longtime into the business of special industrial machineries, and located in CIBRONE DI NIBIONNO, province of LECCE, Region of PUGLIA, Italy. Sure, he has a great passion for his job, but, even more, he has a great passion for FIREARMS, and from those two elements new, innovative ideas were born. As everybody knows, the growth of simple "ideas" into commercially viable and successful products in the firearms market is often slow and painful, and in most cases is made out of little steps forward rather than of great revolutions. The firearms world lives out of little constant contributions which, all toegether, lead to the innovation of this very conservative sector. One of those contributions is the .7mmPenna (or simply "7penna") cartridge system, and the pistol it was engineered to be fired from, the Q.S. PROGETTO MECCANICA "P7000". - An ammunitions system - The gun obviously lives out of its own proprietary cartridge, the "7penna", .7x23mm-Rimless in metric, a centerfire bullet which is undergoig CIP evaluation trials for inscription in the ammunitions catalogue, so it's pretty difficult to compare it with something already existing. This cartridge is based on a 23 Millimeters long case, with an 8 Millimeters case bottom diameter; the total lenght of the cartridge is approximately 32 Millimeters. The "7penna" cartridge can be loaded with a lead alloy, Round Nose type, 77 grains bullet, or with a speculiar but lighter (46 grains) brass bullet which, according to Eng. LEONARDO PENNA, can reach a muzzle velocity of 530 Meters per Second, with a 43 Kgm kinetic energy, and all of this obtained with a 2500 Bar pressure... .30 - Super-Auto levels, let's say, the "7penna" can be considered a "live but not hysteric" round. By now, all the bullet cases for this caliber are obtained by turning, and its surfaces result in being 0,35 Millimeters thick, close to the case neck, a pretty HIGH thickness, if you compare it with the 0,15/0,20 Millimeters of other "commercial" cartridges such as the .9x21mm-IMI or the .7'65x21'5mm-Parabellum (.7'65mm-Parabellum, known in the USA as the .30-LUGER); Eng. LEONARDO PENNA wishes the public to rest assured that this extreme thickness will remain even in the future commercially manufactured cases, which obviously will be made of stampings. This means that this new-born cartridge will give us a new standard of reliability and safety, even more if you think that the gun it will be used by employs a mass-locking system. The "7penna" cartridge (.7x23mm-Rimless) will be used ONLY in the P7000 pistol, but it's not purpoted to "remain alone". The "7penna" is in fact a NEW AMMUNITIONS SYSTEM, which will also feature other bullets, such as the "7penna-L" (.7x28mm, destinated to be used in bolt-action and semi-auto carbines), the "7penna-R" (.7x28mm-Rimmed, which will be mainly suitable for employ in revolvers, rumors say that the Italian THEMA "Rhino" prototype revolver will be commercially manufactured to fire this cartridge), the "7penna-E" (.7x36mm, for carbines again) and the "7penna-MG" (7x42mm, for selective-fire military weapons). - Mass locking - Now, let's talk about the P7000 pistol. The "news" about this gun are mainly actually about its AMMUNITION, but the gun by itself isn't a "conventional" modified M1911-style HAND-CANNON neither. Wisely, the John Moses Browning's engineered tried-and-true frame, firing pin release and safety mechanisms used even in the most strange weapons from all over the world. The P7000 frame is manufactured in Italy, and destinated to accept a single-stack column magazine for the "7penna" cartridge, with a 12 rounds capacity. The Q.S. PROGETTO MECCANICA "P7000" is a recoil-gas operated semiautomatic pistol, with a mass locking system: to work, this system uses the weight of the slide and the force the recoil and hammer springs. Even thought the POWER of the cartridge, this locking system seems to be appropriated for the safety and the regular working of the gun. The barrel is fixed to the frame with a groove slot and also thanks to the hold-open lever pivot, which blocks it thightly. It's also interesting to note that the barrel muzzle features a funnel-shaped cavity which protects the integrity of the muzzle and channels through forward the blasting gases. The barrel of the P7000 pistol is realized by ADLER of Italy, and it's a pretty fine piece. - Three-pieces slide - The "masterpiece" in the workmanship of this gun is however the SLIDE, a real "must", fine manufactured piece, made using a particularily resistant steel and featuring a nice looking and original design. It's an OPEN BREECH slide, this option was chosen in order to reduce the mass respect to the one of a standard M1911-style slide, and a simply look at it gives you the feel that this created a BEAUTIFUL and characteristic part of this gun. But is also interesting to note that this slide is made out of THREE PIECES: the main part, a small locking tube which closes the front of the main part, and a blocking pivot for this small tube. The locking tube finds its place on the sliding rails on the frame, while the blocking pivot is placed vertically; this "totality" constitutes a master mechanical construction which task is to allow the gun to be field-stripped by slipping the slide off the BACK SIDE of the frame; to do this, you just need to unscrew the front side of the recoil spring rod, pull the locking pivot off, and that's it: using this procedure, the barrel remains still on the frame, blocked by the pivot of the hold-open lever. It's also possible, however, to dismantle the P7000 in another way: all you need to do is to slip the hold-open lever away by pulling slightly back the slide; in this way, EVERYTHING comes out of the gun from the front side of the frame: slide, recoil spring and rod, barrel, all in one block. However, field-stripping the gun in this way, separate the barrel from the other part. The hook-shaped extractor is of the EXTERNAL TYPE, unlike the M1911 pistols one, and its dimensions are remarkable. The slide also features both back and front adjustable sight, made by the firm of LPA, located in GARDONE VAL TROMPIA, province of BRESCIA, region of LOMBARDIA, Italy; the front sight has been engineered in order not to accidentally hook on dresses or the holster should the need of a quick drawing arise, this makes it pretty suitable for self-defense purposes; all in all, the target acquisition speed with this kind of sights is pretty good. - End notes - The Q.S. PROGETTO MECCANICA "P7000" semi-automatic pistol is undergoing the trial tests with the NATIONAL FIREARMS TESTING GROUND of Italy so that it can be as soon as possible inserted in the NATIONAL FIREARMS CATALOGUE and thus be available to civilians in Italy, with a suggested retail price of 1800 Euros. The contracts have already been set to manufacture the cartridge, the maker will be FIOCCHI, but LEE has already prepared a complete reloading kit. The firearm/cartridge union is undoubtably appealing: it has undeniable advantages, such as the good kinetic energy, the scarce weight difference between the weapon unloaded and the weapon with full 12-rounder magazine (+78 grams, approx., with brass bullets), and the not excessive noise. Obviously one could obtain better better ballistic performances with barr bullets, however even a normal, conventionally loaded full metal jacket cartridge and lead core should result in interesting outcomes. We can of course declare that the "7penna" is to be considered a "special purposes cartridge", so, should it find its niche in the market since the very beginning of its life, it would really be a success, in such a conservative sector as the firearms market world is. ---- TECHNICAL SPECS: CALIBER: "7penna" centerfire cartridge (.7x23mm-Rimless) CAPACITY: 12+1 rounds BARREL: One, cylindric, 6 Grooves RH, 1 pitch in 254mm BARREL LENGTH: 120 Millimeters TOTAL LENGHT: 218 Millimeters +2/5, depending from the back safety lever configuration TOTAL WEIGHT, UNLOADED: 1050 Grams ±20g., depending from the configuration WORKING SYSTEM: Semi-automatic, single-action, gas-recoil operated SIGHTS: Fixed or adjustable SAFETIES: Back safety, slide safety MATERIALS: Steel EXTERNAL FINISHINGS: Lucid or dark blueing, tortoise-style decoration, lucid or dark chrome or nickel, blue anodization. PURPOSES: Sport shooting, personal defense, home defense. See Q.S. PROGETTO MECCANICA S.a.S at http://www.qsarmi.biz
Photo and information from: PIERANGELO TENDAS
Website by:
E-Image Agency
