Galesi Arms was an Italian gun manufacturer formally named ''Industria Armi Galesi'' which was founded in 1910. It was based in

Collebeato Collebeato (Brescian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy. It is located on the right bank of the river Mella, north of Brescia. Geography Collebeato, in the northern hinterland of Brescia, is enclosed bet ...

, on the northern outskirts of

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

History

The company was founded by Galesi Giuseppe Nicola, and was initially named Galesi F.lli, (Galesi Brothers), though it later became known as Armi Galesi (AG) or Industria Armi Galesi (IAG). The company manufactured patented automatic pistols, rifles and revolvers, but was most well-known for their small semi-automatics. They began to produce their pistols in 1914, following Italy's entry into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Galesi Arms moved production from Trento to Collebeato, located in Brescia, beginning in the year 1921. In 1924, it had 25 workmen and a hydro-electric machine that had the power of 25 to 30 horses. The majority of their pistols were manufactured from 1960 to 1970, and the company went out of business in 1991, though similar pistols were produced by the company "Rigarmi", which was opened by Guerrino, one of the sons of the company's founder. Rigarmi is still in operation today.http://www.littlegun.info/arme%20italienne/a%20galesi%20503%20504%20gb.htm

Products

The first design was a 6.35mm blow-back design based on the Browning 1906. This was the Brevetto 5 (Italian for "Model" or "Patent" number 5). Galesi Arms would continue to do more designs including the Brevetto 9 (a longer version of the Brevetto 5) and the 500 series, which included 14 designs ranging from Brevetto 503 to Brevetto 517. These were various other small, inexpensive semi-auto blowback pistols in calibers varying from

.22 Short .22 Short is a variety of .22 caliber (5.6 mm) rimfire ammunition. Developed in 1857 for the first Smith & Wesson revolver, the .22 rimfire was the first American metallic cartridge. The original loading was a bullet and of black powd ...

.22 Long 22 Long is a variety of 22 caliber (5.6 mm) rimfire ammunition. The 22 Long is the second-oldest of the surviving rimfire cartridges, dating back to 1871, when it was loaded with a 29 grain (1.9 g) bullet and 5 grains (0.32 g) of black po ...

.22 LR The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smooth ...

.25acp and

.32 ACP .32 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol, also known as .32 Automatic) is a centerfire pistol cartridge. It is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled cartridge developed by firearms designer John Browning, initially for use in the FN M1900 semi-automatic pi ...

. These show up occasionally in various auction houses and sell for $100–400 depending on condition.

Model list

*5: Copy of the Baby Browning *9: A Model 5 with a longer slide and barrel. *503/A: calibers .25 ACP, .22 Short, .22 Long. Overall length was 114mm, bronzed with black plates of stick *503/B: Bronzed white plates *504: chrome, white plates *505/B: chrome, engraved, white plates *505/EL: engraved, plated gold, plates out of mother-of-pearl, case out of leather *506/A: Slightly larger, cal 22 LR - overall length 132mm, bronzed with black plates of stick *506/B: Bronzed white plates *507: chrome, white plates *508/B: chrome, engraved, white plates *508/EL: engraved, plated gold, plates out of mother-of-pearl, case out of leather *512/A: cal 7.65 – overall length 155mm, bronzed with black plates of stick *512/B: Bronzed white plates *513: chrome, white plates *514/B: chrome, engraved, white plates *514/EL: engraved, plated gold, plates out of mother-of-pearl, case out of leather *515/A: cal 7.65 - overall length 180mm, bronzed with black plates of stick *515/B: Bronzed white plates *516: chrome, white plates *517/B: chrome, engraved, white plates *517/EL: engraved, plated gold, plates out of mother-of-pearl, case out of leather

References

.25 ACP semi-automatic pistols .22 LR pistols Semi-automatic pistols of Italy {{Firearm-manufacturer-stub