Beretta
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|
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Firearms |
| Founded | 1526 |
| Headquarters | Brescia, Italy |
| Products | Firearms, weapons |
| Website | www.berettausa.com (USA) |
Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta is an Italian firearms manufacturer. Their firearms are used worldwide for a variety of civilian, law enforcement, and military purposes. It is also known for manufacturing shooting clothes and accessories. Beretta is the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the world.
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[edit] History
Beretta has been owned by the same family for some five hundred years. The Beretta company was established in 1526,[1] when gunsmith Maestro Bartolomeo Beretta[2] of Gardone Val Trompia (Brescia, Lombardy, Italy) was paid 296 ducats for 185 arquebus barrels by the Arsenal of Venice.[3] The bills of sale for the order of those firearms are in the firm's archives.
In 1918, the Beretta Model 1918 was the second submachine gun 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.[4] 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 Garands 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 to be superior, in some ways, to the M14 rifle, because it is more accurate under certain conditions.[5]
After the war, Beretta continued to develop firearms for Italian army and police and for civilian market.
In the eighties, Beretta enjoyed a renewal of popularity in North America after its Beretta 92 pistol was selected as service handgun for the United States Army under the designation "M9 pistol".
Beretta acquired several domestic competitors (notably Benelli and Franchi) and some foreign companies (notably in Finland) in the late eighties.
[edit] Overview
Today, the company is owned and is run by Ugo Gussalli Beretta (a direct descendant of Bartolomeo) 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, hunting rifles, express rifles, assault rifles, submachine guns, lever and bolt-action rifles, single and double action revolvers and semi-automatic pistols. The parent company; Beretta Holding, also owns Beretta USA, Benelli, Franchi, SAKO, Stoeger, Tikka, Uberti, and the Burris Optics company. The model Beretta 92FS is the primary side arm of the United States Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force, designated the M9 pistol. In 1985, Beretta was chosen after a controversial competition to produce the M9, winning a contract for 500,000 pistols. A condition of the original agreement was domestic fabrication of the M9. The Beretta USA factory, in Accokeek, Maryland, manufactures military, police, and civilian pistols.
[edit] Product lines
[edit] Semi-automatic pistols
- Beretta M1915
- Beretta M 1934 / Beretta M 1935
- Beretta M 1951
- Beretta M-100
- Beretta 70 series (Jaguar)
- Beretta Cheetah
- Beretta 8000 Cougar
- Beretta 90
- Beretta 9000
- Beretta 92
- Beretta 96A1
- Beretta Px4 Storm
- Beretta U22 Neos
- Beretta 418
- Beretta 21 Bobcat
- Beretta 3032 Tomcat
- Beretta 950 Jetfire
- Beretta Nano
[edit] Revolvers
[edit] Shotguns
- Beretta 1201FP
- Beretta DT-10
- Beretta Silver Pigeon
- Beretta AL391 Urika and Teknys
- Beretta SO4, SO5 and SO6
- Beretta Xtrema
- Beretta Xtrema 2
- Beretta Model A series
- Beretta UGB25 Xcel
- Beretta Urika
- Beretta Urika 2
- Beretta RS 202-M2
- Beretta LTLX7000
- Beretta Extrema2
- Beretta Tx4
- Beretta A400
- Beretta A 300
[edit] Rifles and carbines
- Beretta BM-59
- Beretta Cx4 Storm
- Beretta Rx4 Storm
- Beretta 501 (sporting rifle)
[edit] Assault rifles
[edit] Submachine guns
- Beretta Model 1918
- Beretta Model 38
- Beretta Model 3 – a postwar modification of the 38/42
- Beretta M12 series
[edit] Subsidiaries
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.beretta.com/index.aspx?m=53&did=1501
- ^ "Bartolomeo Beretta" Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ The Beretta Story at the official website.
- ^ "Beretta International". Beretta.com. http://www.beretta.com. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
- ^ http://www.gunsmagazine.com/bm59/GCA0283.pdf
- ^ http://www.tikka.fi/
