THE COSMI SHOTGUN – A VERY RARE BIRD
And a very strange one, too! At first sight, it appears to be an ordinary semi-auto shotgun with a rather long action and a long, slender fore-end. But firstly, you notice the absence of a magazine tube under the barrel and the lack of a cocking handle, and examining the tight fit of the junction of action and barrel and the lack of any visible main spring would have you believe that you are holding a gas-operated semi-auto. Then you notice the intricacies of the action breech and floor, and operating the top lever causes the action to break open like any single-barrel, single-shot shotgun. Finally, it dawns upon you that you are holding a unique gun – a break-open semiautomatic with a tubular magazine in the butt!
BEGINNINGS
Rodolfo Cosmi was born in Montefeltro in Italy in 1873, and in about 1890 commenced making firearms. From 1905, he concentrated upon inventing, developing and producing a semi-auto shotgun. In 1925, a prototype holding eight rounds in a magazine tube in the
