Armi San Paolo, DGG and Euroarms
The Armi San Paolo, DGG and Euroarms Connection
The origin of Armi San Paolo can actually be be traced back to 1957 when two young Americans asked Luciano Amadi to reproduce the original 1851 Colt Navy revolver. Val Forgett, Sr., a businessman in the firearms field, and William B. Edwards, the technical editor of Guns magazine, were in Europe as part of an American gun tour, and in search of a manufacturer for black powder reproductions and replicas. At that time, Luciano Amadi was employed at Beretta, and assisted a group of Indonesian military officers who resided in Gardone VT, Italy, for three years to follow up a commitment of 55,000 M1 Garands for their government. He was also one of the few people at the plant who could speak English at the time. During dinner with Forgett and Edwards while in Gardone, plans were made to go ahead with the project.
It took Mr. Amadi many months to import an original Colt 1851 Navy, and even more time to find an Italian manufacturer willing to accept this new manufacturing proposal. Vittorio Gregorelli, who owned a parts supply company making components for Beretta firearms in Brescia, was not licensed to manufacture guns at the time, and finally believed in the project when Mr. Amadi presented him with an initial order for 250 Colt 1851 Navy revolvers. A $500 check started the tooling process!
During this same time period, Aldo Uberti, also a previous Beretta employee, began manufacturing black powder reproductions in Gardone, next to Brescia. Uberti records indicate that the first Uberti model was returned from the Italian proof house on Oct. 14th, 1959. By 1959, the black powder reproduction and replica industry was already off to a good start in Italy, and Gregorelli was followed by Davide Pedersoli, who started producing muzzle loading replicas in 1960-1961, when Amadi presented him with a Kentucky pistol to replicate.
In the early 1960s Giacomo Grassi, Giuseppe Doninelli, along with Silvano Gazzola, (DGG) were involved in a company manufacturing small caliber semi-auto pistols called Gradoga. In 1971, when Gradoga closed, Giacomo Grassi and Giuseppe Doninelli joined Luciano Amadi (who already had a small gun trading company) to form Armi San Paolo in a small town 25 Km south of Brescia called San Paolo. Armi San Paolo grew to employ approx. 60 people, and Euroarms of America Inc. was formed in Winchester, VA, to distribute all Armi San Paolo products. In 1987, the replica market shrank, and Armi San Paolo started the move from San Paolo, Italy to Concesio, Italy with the move being completed during 1990. The revolvers they manufactured during this time period were marked with their initials, DGG.
Located in Concesio, Italy, Armi San Paolo changed its name to Euroarms Italia S.r.l. in January 2002. Euroarms Italia S.r.l. (formerly Armi San Paolo) also owned Euroarms of America and Euroarms of America was located in Winchester, VA. They sold reproductions to Dixie Gun Works, Inc. located in Union City, TN and Navy Arms Co. located in Ridgefield, NJ. Their reproductions were previously imported by Kendall International located in Paris, KY, and Muzzle Loaders, Inc. located in Burke, VA. They were available through other dealers and catalog houses.
The mark "EUROARMS" is often also struck in full on the barrel either with "BRESCIA ITALY" or "OF AMERICA", or "BRESCIA - MADE IN ITALY". In 2011, Euroarms sold all of their black powder parts and tooling to Pedersoli who in turn sold all the parts off to various dealers around the world. Today Euroarms Italia and Euroarms of America are strictly importers.
