Beretta
File:Beretta-logo.png | |
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Firearms |
Founded | 1526 |
Headquarters | Brescia, Italy |
Products | Firearms, weapons |
Website | www.beretta.com |
Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta is an Italian manufacturer of firearms. Its firearms are used worldwide by civilians, police, and armies. It is also known for manufacturing shooting clothes and accessories.
History
Beretta is one of the world's oldest corporations,[1] and it has been owned by the same family for some five hundred years. The Beretta company was established in 1526,[2] when gunsmith Maestro Bartolomeo Beretta[3] of Gardone Val Trompia (Brescia, Lombardy, Italy) was paid 296 ducats in payment for 185 arquebus barrels by the Arsenal of Venice.[4] 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.[5] 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 superior to the M14 rifle, because it is more accurate.[6]
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".
Commercial success allowed Beretta to acquire several domestic competitors (Benelli, Franchi) and some foreign companies (notably in Finland) in the end of the eighties.
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, the Burris Optics company and a twenty per cent interest of the Browning arms 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.
Product lines
Pistols
- Beretta M1915
- Beretta M 1934 / Beretta M 1935
- Beretta M 1951
- Beretta M-100
- Beretta 21 Bobcat
- Beretta 3032 Tomcat
- Beretta 70 series (Jaguar)
- Beretta 80 series (Cheetah)
- Beretta 8000
- Beretta 8000 Cougar
- Beretta 90
- Beretta 9000
- Beretta 92
- M9 pistol
- Beretta Px4 Storm
- Beretta 90two
- Beretta 93R
- Beretta 950 Jetfire
- Beretta U22 Neos
- Beretta 418
- Beretta 84 F
Revolvers
Shotguns
- Beretta 1201FP
- Beretta DT-10
- Beretta 682
- Beretta 686
- Beretta Silver Pigeon
- Beretta AL391 Urika and Teknys
- Beretta SO4, SO5 and SO6
- Beretta Xtrema
- Beretta Xtrema 2
- Beretta 687
- Beretta Model A series
- Beretta UGB25 Xcel
- Beretta Urika
- Beretta Urika 2
- Beretta RS 202-M2
- Beretta LTLX7000
Rifles and carbines
Submachine guns
- Beretta Model 1918
- Beretta Model 38/42
- Beretta Model 3 – a postwar modification of the 38/42
- Beretta Model 12 series
Subsidiaries
See also
Notes
- ^ Fabbrica D' Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A. at FundingUniverse.com
- ^ 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. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
- ^ http://www.gunsmagazine.com/bm59/GCA0283.pdf
- ^ http://www.tikka.fi/