Welcome to today’s program photo of the Day! Here we have a unique thing coming out of Italy in the 1980s. This is the Sights Specter HC, a semi-auto pistol version of the Specter M4 submachine gun manufactured in Turin. The Full-Auto Original was built for close range work, VIP protection, counter-terrorism, jobs where you want a lot of bullets in a small package.
Specter’s claim to fame is two things. First of all, that magazine. It is a four-barreled “coffin” magazine that holds approximately 50 rounds in the length of a typical 30-round stick, the idea borrowed from the old Finnish Suomi guns. Second, and this is the wild part, the Specter was the world’s only mass-produced submachine gun to eliminate the manual safety entirely and run a double-action trigger with a decocker like the DA revolver. You can take it hot and just pull it.
HC SITS was an attempt by SITS to sell a civilian-legal pistol version here in the states, with the stock and foregrip removed. This did not last. The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban specifically named Sights Specter, eliminating it from the US market, and Sights were discontinued in 1997.
Most of our POTDs use images of our friends Rock Island Auction CompanyMajor firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse them current auction – Who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!
“Sights/American Arms Inc. Specter HC Semi-Automatic Pistol.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5032/1224/sitesamerican-arms-inc-spectre-hc-smediautomatic-pistol. Accessed 25 June 2026.
