Italy is known for its many makers of fine-quality shotguns, but what many might not known is that Italy is also home to one of the industry’s top manufacturers of shotshells for hunting and sporting use: Baschieri & Pellagri. Watch our “American Rifleman Television” feature above to hear the history of Baschieri & Pellagri and learn what makes the company’s shotshells stand out from the rest.
“So B&P was founded in 1885 in Bologna. Bologna is located in Emilia-Romagna, where there are famous names like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ducati,” said Federica Gozza, head of marketing and communication, Baschieri & Pellagri. “Everything started with two passionate men, Settimio Baschieri and Guido Pellagri, so a passionate hunter and a chemist that basically launched on the market [one of] the first smokeless gunpowder[s].”
For decades, the company was known for its special powder formulations, and it contributed to Italy’s domestic manufacture of ammunition for both military and commercial purposes throughout the early 20th century and through both world wars.
“Basically, in the ’40s, ’50s, the company, the brand, started investing in clay shooting as well. It was very famous for this, a sort of pioneer,” Gozza said. “Then in the ’50s and ’60s, it started all the investment in the production of plastic components, so the tube, plastic wads, and I would say the company, the B&P brand, invested a lot in designing and manufacturing these little components that, at the end of the day, makes the difference in the results of the shotshells.”
In the 1970s, B&P devised a new style of shotshell it trademarked as the “Gordon System,” which included a unique internal cartridge base along with a new shotgun wad designed to absorb recoil when firing, thereby softening the recoil impulse for the shooter.
“It is our most famous innovation in the world of shotshells,” said Francesco Scaramuzzi, head of technical office, Baschieri & Pellagri. “This is a unique feature of a double-spring system that [softens recoil] during shooting. So every component is made by us, starting from the tubes and the Gordon-base wads inside our plant in the B&P facility.”
More recently, B&P worked to develop an environmentally friendly, biodegradeable shotshell wad that held up during long-term storage while also eliminating any introduction of microplastics into forest and fields where the company’s ammunition is put to use.
“It was a joint project between B&P and the University of Bologna in terms of trying to create a biodegradeable, compostable wad, one that, more importantly, didn’t create microplastics,” said Christian Hogg, director of marketing, Baschieri & Pellagri. “It’s not photo-degenerative, so we don’t have to worry about sunlight or that type of deal or moisture.”
Today, the company produces a complete line of shotshells for competition and hunting use, with options for 12 gauge, 20 gauge, 28 gauge and .410 bore shotguns.
“For B&P, making the best job is the mission, the best job, that means to make the best products,” Gozza said. “For the user, for the people that are outside and using our products to live and experience. Because this is the point, and this is also the point that we try to share every day [with] all other employees that work here. This is a daily commitment for us here in Bologna.”
To watch complete segments of past episodes of American Rifleman TV, go to americanrifleman.org/videos/artv. For all-new episodes of ARTV, tune in Wednesday nights to Outdoor Channel 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. EST.
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