Tecnostudio Engineering's Bullpup Pistol TSE at IWA 2018
The Italian Tecnostudio Engineering R&D company announced that IWA 2018 will mark the first public apparence of prototypes of their Bullpup Pistol TSE: are the company's design one step closer to production?
Tecnostudio Engineering's Bullpup Pistol TSE
The Tecnostudio Engineering's Bullpup Pistol TSE with a fixed buttstock
GUNSweek.com recently covered the activities of the Tecnostudio Engineering company, an industrial and technical design studio and official supplier of the Leonardo Defence Systems holding headquartered in northern Italy. In the past years, the company focused on the engineering and rapid prototyping of ingenious, and in many ways revolutionary, firearm designs for civilian, law enforcement, and military applications.
This week the company announced that one of their prototypes, the Bullpup Pistol TSE – more specifically a variant of their bullpup pistol design we wrote about a few weeks ago – will be showcased next year in Germany at IWA 2018.
The prototype will be hosted by a "well-known and internationally-recognized firearm manufacturing company", whose name has not been disclosed so far.
The Tecnostudio Engineering's Bullpup Pistol TSE with a folding stock, closed
The Tecnostudio Engineering's Bullpup Pistol TSE with a folding stock, open
According to the company, the prototype will be a small-sized centerfire, select-fire weapon based on a self-contained, easily removed bolt carrier group and a peculiar, patent-pending gas-keeping system.
Other featured and patent-pending quick-stripping components are the striker-fired trigger group and a standard 8.½-inch barrel – easily replaced with a longer, 10.½" barrel for increased range and accuracy.
The double-stack magazine – located on top of the firearm and featuring a rotating feeding system, pretty much P90-style – will offer an overall capacity of 27 rounds plus one in chamber to keep the gun lightweight and easily concealable.
Finally, the prototype will also feature a "Pick-And-Place" proprietary quick-attach/quick-detach sound suppressor. The company states that the designing activity has resulted in a particularly safe, reliable and simple to maintain firearm.
The Bullpup Pistol TSE with a collapsible stock
The Bullpup Pistol TSE with a collapsible stock and snap-on suppressor
The Bullpup Pistol TSE with a collapsible stock, snap-on suppressor and optics rail mount
The Tecnostudio Engineering company is keeping pretty much silent about any further details, but as we stated before, the project has potential. Even more so, even if just experimental, this and other designs from the company definitely represent a breath of fresh air for the otherwise traditionally conservative gun industry – an industrial sector whose push for innovation is no longer what it used to be, and whose main players nowadays mostly live on indulging in nostalgia for the glorious days of the past.
So let's wait until next March 2018, to have a closer look at the design and tell you more about it.