Breda M1D 308 sniper

[Rob Ski]

It seems that in May 2019, the Italian Army sold about 400 Garand T2 TS. They wentto Austria and then half of them to the US. Some were missing some accessories, some also the optic.
Some have BM59 bolts, like this one (it seems).
Others may very well have been completed by the dealer.
All in all, mostly original.

Hi Ovidio, by any chance, do you have any pictures you could share of Italian snipers using those rifles?

[Ovidio]

Unfortunately not.
I’ll look for info, but I guess that we never really used those rifles.
When I was in the army, we had quite a few of those rifles in the armory, but we didn’t have any marksmen or snipers in the normal outfits.
Shortly before the end of my servive, somewhere around late spring ‘95, we were asked to select a few privates for marksman/sniper course.
But they were never trained.
Maybe after that, but I would bet they were issued more modern weapons.

[Rob Ski]

Unfortunately not.
I’ll look for info, but I guess that we never really used those rifles.
When I was in the army, we had quite a few of those rifles in the armory, but we didn’t have any marksmen or snipers in the normal outfits.
Shortly before the end of my servive, somewhere around late spring ‘95, we were asked to select a few privates for marksman/sniper course.
But they were never trained.
Maybe after that, but I would bet they were issued more modern weapons.

Thank you for replying! Now you have my even bigger attention, ha! By any chance do you know how sniper school / training was looking like at that time? Sorry for all the questions...

[Ovidio]

Don’t worry. You got me curious too now.
I hope my range buddy, LTCol. in the Bersaglieri, will be able to tell me.

[Ovidio]

I got some info.
He confirmed that the marksmen/sniper program started in late ‘94, which makes sense also with my memories, because in October we had terrible floods in Piedmont and all training was stopped to help the polulation of the struck areas. In November, until January, we made lots of exercise for Strong Resolve ‘95, which was in February. Our soldiers ended their year and we got a fully new crew in early March. I bet that somewhere between April and May we got that info about the course, but then we went to “summer camp” and then to Calabria on a mission against mafia.
So we never started that program that year.
He confirmed that the Garands TS were in fact used at the beginning, to train the soldiers in the use of the optics and for creating the shooting tables. But they were very limited at the time, so they were very quickly retired from sevice and substituted with Mc Millans and Iver Johnson’s. Then, after a short while came the Sako and Accuracy International. But in my friends regiment, when they went to Iraq and fought the battle for the Nasiriya bridges, they had self acquired Steyr SSGs (2 of them) and high-end reloading equipment (also self acquired).
He’s trying to find out if some of his mates still have some older magazines, where this new marksmen/sniper program was covered at the time.

[pickax]

Thank you Ovidio for this useful knowledge!
My breda import Typo 2 with scope is mostly 100 percent new condition and packed well.
However the muzzle wear is at 2.5 on a gauge, so has been shot some. Maybe earlier training as you stated.
I Like the the info you have provided, and look forward to more from the mates who were involved.

[twh]

Received my rifle sans scope the other day. The transit case is ok but the joints are a little loose and the paint is flaking but generally sound. the rifle looks fresh from rebuild with no scope plate and while the stock is completely serviceable it has clearly been through a rebuild.

[Rob Ski]

I got some info.
He confirmed that the marksmen/sniper program started in late ‘94, which makes sense also with my memories, because in October we had terrible floods in Piedmont and all training was stopped to help the polulation of the struck areas. In November, until January, we made lots of exercise for Strong Resolve ‘95, which was in February. Our soldiers ended their year and we got a fully new crew in early March. I bet that somewhere between April and May we got that info about the course, but then we went to “summer camp” and then to Calabria on a mission against mafia.
So we never started that program that year.
He confirmed that the Garands TS were in fact used at the beginning, to train the soldiers in the use of the optics and for creating the shooting tables. But they were very limited at the time, so they were very quickly retired from sevice and substituted with Mc Millans and Iver Johnson’s. Then, after a short while came the Sako and Accuracy International. But in my friends regiment, when they went to Iraq and fought the battle for the Nasiriya bridges, they had self acquired Steyr SSGs (2 of them) and high-end reloading equipment (also self acquired).
He’s trying to find out if some of his mates still have some older magazines, where this new marksmen/sniper program was covered at the time.

Thank you Ovidio!

[Ovidio]

It is a pleasure to be helpful. My knowledge is very limited, since I’m more of a shooter than a collector, but like a broken clock, every day I’m right twice

[Ovidio]

I just got some more info from a friend of mine, from my same Officer's Course.
In his free time, he develops war games with a group of international nerds (joke) like him, and he bumped into information about the use of the Garand in the Italian sniper version, the TS.
They were issued to the border guards until the 1970ies, and were used.
I joked about it saying that in my opinion, they were used more for poaching in uniform than for guarding the borders, but still... I think that can fit here as info.

Interestingly enough, in the mid-90ies we still had the same "wooden" boots, the same sweater, the same canvas belt (was changed during my service to another one), the same leggings over the boots (never used)...
Also the Norwegian hat is the same.