In 1526, Bartolomeo Beretta received an order from the Venice Arsenal for 185 harquebus barrels, for which he was paid 296 ducats (around $45,992 in today’s money). That original bill of sale is still on film in the company’s archives. Almost 500 years later, Beretta is one of the oldest manufacturing companies in the world,. The storied gunmaker’s getting ready to celebrate its twenty-fifth Anniversary as the U.S. Armed Forces supplier of the M9 Combat Pistol. Today, the company is still owned and operated with a Beretta at the helm.
This is an outward impressions article about a civilian version of the Beretta M9A1 pistol, used by the Marines since the mid-2000s. My article on the parent M9 pistol can be found on the Handgun Information - Reviews index page. In many ways, this piece provides a more modern counterpoint to the 96G Vertec pistol I have also reviewed. (Also on the Handgun Information - Reviews index page.)
I wanted to post some info on this gun after getting some time behind it. As of today I'm at 770 and have some subjective thoughts and objective shooting data: