Berreta

Beretta

Beretta Armi is the oldest continuously operating firearm manufacturer in the world, having received its first recorded order, from the Arsenal of Venice, in 1526.

                                       Beretta produces 1500 firearms per day

Beretta M9

Most popular pistol for the US Military

In the early 1980s, the US Armed Forces set out to acquire a new handgun to replace the venerable 1911 that had been in service for seven decades. Competition from Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson, Heckler & Koch, Steyr, Fabrique Nationale, and Walther was fierce, but only the Sig Sauer P226 and Beretta 92F satisfactorily passed all of the rigorous testing during the XM9 handgun trials in 1984.

Because Beretta was able to produce the 92F for a lower cost than the P226, Beretta was awarded the contract, and has supplied all branches of the US military with sidearms since. It is interesting to note that the Model 92 won not only the 1984 XM9 trial, but also a previous trial, the Joint Service Small Arms Program, held by the Air Force in 1979, and the XM10 trial, held in 1989. This last trial was held as a result of Congressional intervention after reports of early Beretta M9 failures caused alarm.

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