Beretta

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This article is about a firearm manufacturer; for the car, see Chevrolet Beretta. For the TV series, see Baretta.
Fabbrica D' Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A.
Type Private
Founded 1526
Headquarters Brescia, Italy
Industry Firearms
Products Firearms, weapons
Website www.Beretta.com

Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta is a major Italian firearm manufacturing company. Its firearms are used world-wide by civilians, police, and armies. Beretta is one of the world's oldest corporations,[1] it has been owned by the same family for some five hundred years. The Beretta company was established in 1526, when gunsmith Mastro Bartolomeo Beretta, of Gardone Val Trompia (Brescia, Lombardy, Italy), was paid 296 ducats in payment for 185 arquebus barrels by the Arsenal of Venice.[2] The bills of sale for that firearms order are in the firm's archives.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1918, the Beretta Model 1918 was the second submachinegun the Italian army fielded. Beretta manufactured rifles and pistols for the Italian military until the 1943 Armistice between Italy and the Allied forces during World War II. With the Wehrmacht's control of northern Italy, the Germans seized Beretta and continued producing arms until the 1945 German surrender in Italy. In that time, the exterior finish of the weapons was much inferior to both the pre-war and mid-war weapons, but their operation remained excellent.

In 1938, Imperial Japanese Navy officers of the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces went to Italy to buy arms. Japanese small-arms production then was almost exclusively for the Japanese Army. Beretta was one of three Italian arms makers who produced 60,000 to 120,000 rifles for the Special Landing Forces. The rifle, denominated the "Type "I" rifle by the Japanese, was a Carcano action rifle set in a two-piece Japanese-style wood stock, and was chambered for the 6.5mm x 50mm Japanese rifle cartridge. Per Beretta International's web site, the last shipment of Type I rifles left Venice for Japan in a U-boat in 1942.

After World War II, Beretta was actively involved in repairing the American M1 Garand rifles given to Italy by the U.S. Beretta modified the M1 into the Beretta BM-59 rifle, which is similar to the M14 battle rifle; armourers consider the BM-59 rifle superior to the M14 rifle, because it is more accurate.

[edit] Overview

Today, the company is owned by Ugo Gussalli Beretta, a direct descendant of Bartolomeo, and is run by him and his sons, Franco and Pietro. (The traditional father-to-son Beretta dynasty was interrupted when Ugo Gussalli Beretta assumed the firm's control; uncles Carlo and Giuseppe Beretta were childless; Carlo adopted Ugo, son of sister Giuseppina Gussalli, and named him a Beretta.)

Beretta is known for its broad range of fire arms: side-by-side shotguns, over-and-under shotguns, self-loading shotguns, hunting rifles, express rifles, assault rifles, submachine guns, lever bolt-action rifles, single-action revolvers, double-action revolvers, and semi-automatic pistols. The parent company, Beretta Holding, also owns Beretta USA, Benelli, Franchi, SAKO, Stoeger, Tikka, Uberti, and a twenty per cent interest of the Browning arms company.

This pistol is the official sidearm of several first world armies. The 92FS model is the official sidearm of the United States military, designated the M9 Pistol.

In 1985, Beretta was chosen after a controversial competition to produce the M9 9mm Parabellum sidearm for the U.S. military, winning a contract for 500,000 pistols. A condition of the original agreement was domestic fabrication of the M9 military pistol. The Beretta USA factory, in Accokeek, Maryland, manufactures military, police, and civilian pistols.

[edit] Beretta arms

[edit] Beretta pistols

[edit] Beretta shotguns

Beretta is also well-known in hunting circles for their shotguns.

[edit] Beretta rifles and carbines

[edit] Beretta submachine guns

[edit] Beretta machine guns

[edit] Beretta revolvers

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Fabbrica D' Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A. at FundingUniverse.com
  2. ^ The Beretta Story at the official website
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[edit] External links