Long before B&P shotshells were winning Olympic medals, Baschieri & Pellagri was grinding out gunpowder on an olive oil press in 1885 Bologna. From that improvised start in Italy came one of the first commercial smokeless powder sold to consumers. This ARTV segment traces the company’s history and takes viewers inside its shotshell and powder production.
ABOUT B&P
Bologna, 1885. Two men in a city steeped in chemical research want to clear the smoke from the field.
Settimio Baschieri is a dedicated hunter, Guido Pellagri a trained chemist. Gunfire in the 19th century left a gray cloud of black powder hanging in the air, hiding the target and giving away the shooter. They set out to make a powder that burns clean.
Baschieri and Pellagri’s experiments pay off in 1886 with Acapnia, Greek for “smokeless,” the first white gunpowder. Powder stays at the center of the business for generations, as the company keeps studying its raw materials, its chemistry and how it’s made, always chasing better ballistics.
In the 1920s, the partners build a test bench for powders and shotshells, an unusual investment for a private company at the time.
Shotshells of B&P’s own making arrive in the 1930s and 1940s. Years of research and testing produce two that last: MB Tigre and MB Tricolor, their initials a nod to Maria Baschieri in keeping with the company’s tradition of naming powders after family members. Both are still around today.
Clay-target competition takes the company’s attention in the 1950s and 1960s. B&P sponsors some of the era’s best shooters, and its name travels with them to ranges far beyond Italy. Industrial loading begins, and B&P grows into one of the country’s leading manufacturers. Its athletes shoot loads built for them and bring home Olympic wins. Back in the workshop, engineers are developing the plastic wad, a small part that will change a great deal.
Much of the appeal for competitors is the powder itself, which holds steady through swings in climate, humidity and temperature. And, because B&P makes its shotshell components in-house, shooters also know what they’re getting from one box to the next.
The 1970s and 1980s are a period of specialization, with the company putting decades of know-how into sophisticated, niche products. Out of that work comes the Gordon System. Until then, a shotshell case had only ever held things. Gordon gives it a job, reducing felt recoil at the moment of ignition. B&P calls it the only real revolution in the history of the shotshell case. The shells see Olympic success at the Munich 1972 and Moscow 1980 Games during the same stretch.
Through the 1990s, Gordon moves from development to full-scale loading and becomes part of the company’s identity. Research keeps going, too, and after careful testing B&P introduces a line of “Steel” wads made for steel shot.
Long-term partnerships with major international companies mark the 2000s. B&P develops new wads in more gauges and materials, steps up its work on alternatives to lead and builds premium shotshells, including a full line for the American market. Its shooters keep winning at the Olympics, including the Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games.
B&P TODAY
After years of working together, another big name in Italian shotshells, Fiocchi Munizioni, acquires Baschieri & Pellagri in the 2020s and folds it into the Fiocchi Group, where the two brands share ideas and resources. B&P launches Green Core around the same time. A new production process for shot wads and base wads yields what B&P bills as the first completely biodegradable wad, one that performs as well as conventional plastic and sometimes even better.
Today, B&P is a premium brand within the Fiocchi Group, which in turn belongs to the industrial and technology group CSG. CSG counts more than 100 manufacturing, development and trading companies across Europe and the United States, with more than 14,000 employees and about 6 billion euros in revenue.
CSG’s ammunition holdings grew again in 2024, when it bought the former Vista Outdoor Sporting Products segment and rebranded it The Kinetic Group. Federal, Remington, CCI, Speer and HEVI-Shot now sit in CSG’s Ammo+ division, putting a 19th-century Bologna powder maker under the same corporate roof as some of the best-known names in American ammunition.
Through all of it, the goal hasn’t moved much. B&P says it wants to help shooters and hunters of every level shoot better and trust what’s in their gun, whether they’re competing, hunting or out with friends and family on a weekend. B&P’s shotshells—built around soft recoil and consistency, with in-house powders, vetted components and precise loading—remain a favorite for scattergun fans.
Nearly a century and a half after two men in Bologna went looking for a powder that wouldn’t cloud the air, the work goes on at Baschieri & Pellagri.
Check out more segments from past “American Rifleman TV” episodes at americanrifleman.org. For new episodes, watch the Outdoor Channel on Wednesday nights, 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Eastern.
