Beretta

Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta ("Pietro Beretta Weapons Factory") is a privately held Italian firearms manufacturing company operating in several countries. Its firearms are used worldwide for civilian, law enforcement, and military purposes. Sporting arms account for three-quarters of sales. Beretta also sells shooting clothes and accessories. Founded no later than 1526, Beretta is the oldest active firearm manufacturer and one of the oldest continuously operating companies in the world.[1][2] Its inaugural product was the arquebus barrel; by all accounts Beretta-made barrels equipped the Venetian fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Beretta has supplied weapons for every major European war since 1650.

History

Val Trompia, a northern Italian river valley in the Province of Brescia, Lombardy, has been mined for iron ore since the time of the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages, Val Trompia was known for its ironworks. After the Renaissance, it was a center for the manufacture of weapons. By the mid-16th century, Val Trompia had forty ironworks, supplied by fifty mines and eight smelters. The birthplace of Beretta is in the village of Gardone, located on the banks of the Mella river in the middle of Val Trompia, between the upper and lower valley.

The Beretta forge was in operation from about 1500. The first documented transaction is a contract dated 3 October 1526, for 185 arquebus barrels, for which the Republic of Venice was to pay 296 ducats to Maestro di Canne (master gun-barrel maker) Bartolomeo Beretta. The original account document for the order of those barrels is now stored in the State Archives of Venice. By the end of the 17th century, Beretta was the second largest gun barrel maker in Gardone.

Under the guild system, the knowledge of gun barrel fabrication that had been bequeathed to Jacopo (1520/25 – ...) by his father Bartolomeo (1490 – 1565/68) was passed down to Jacopo's son, Giovannino (1550 – post-1577), and then to his grandson Giovan Antonio (1577 – post-1649). It continued to be passed down in this manner until guilds were abolished by Napoleon, after his conquest of the Venetian Republic in 1797.

The same family has owned Beretta for almost five hundred years. Beretta is a founding member of Les Henokiens, an association of bicentenary companies that are family-owned and operated.

In 1918, the Beretta Model 1918, one of the first submachine guns in the world, was fielded by the Italian army. Beretta manufactured rifles and pistols for the Italian military until the 1943 Armistice between Italy and the Allied forces during World War II. Once the Wehrmacht controlled northern Italy, the Germans seized Beretta and continued using it to produce arms until the 1945 German surrender in Italy. During that time, the quality of the exterior finish of the weapons diminished. Late-war specimens were much inferior to both the pre-war and mid-war weapons but remained effective. The last shipment of Type I Rifles left Venice for Japan in a U-boat in 1942.

After World War II, Beretta repaired the American M1 Garands that the U.S. had given Italy. 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 to the M14 rifle in some ways because it is more accurate under certain conditions.

After the war, Beretta continued to develop firearms for the Italian army and police force, as well as the civilian market.

In the 1970s, Beretta started a manufacturing plant in São Paulo, Brazil. A contract between Beretta and the Brazilian government was signed, under which Beretta produced Beretta 92s for the Brazilian army until 1980. Later this plant was sold to Taurus, who continues to manufacture the Beretta 92 under the name of PT92 using the same tools and labour that Beretta used, without the need for a license from Beretta, since the design is based on the original Beretta 92, for which the patents have expired.

In the late 1980s, Beretta acquired several domestic competitors, notably Benelli and Franchi, and some foreign companies, notably in Finland.

Also in the 1980s, Beretta enjoyed a renewal of popularity in North America after its Beretta 92 pistol was selected as the service handgun for the United States Army, as the "M9 pistol". In 1993, a Beretta USA executive revealed that it had been the company's strategy since 1980 "to use the military contract to make Beretta a household name in the United States", and then to expand into more prominent law enforcement and commercial markets.[3]

Overview

Since 2015, the President and CEO of Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta (Beretta S.p.A.) has been Franco Gussalli Beretta.[4]

The traditional father-to-son Beretta dynasty was interrupted when Ugo Gussalli Beretta assumed control. Uncles Carlo and Giuseppe Beretta were childless. Ugo married into the Beretta family and adopted the last name Beretta. His sons are now direct descendants through their mother's side of the family.

Beretta is known for its broad range of firearms: side-by-side shotguns, over-and-under shotguns, semi-automatic 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, owns Beretta USA, Benelli, Franchi, SAKO, Stoeger, Tikka, Uberti, the Burris Optics company, and SwissP Defence.[5][6]

The model Beretta 92FS was the primary side arm of the United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy 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 manufacture of the M9. In 2017, the 9mm version of the SIG Sauer P320 was selected to replace the M9 throughout the U.S. Armed Forces.

Product lines

See also

• Beretta Holding
• List of modern armament manufacturers
• List of oldest companies

Further reading

External links