Beretta was prescient as to the role pistols would play in the short-term future of military conflict. Wilson quotes the brochures that originally accompanied the Model 951 pistols in the early 1950s. “The experience of the recent (Korean) war proved that an individual defense weapon of high ballistic qualities is still required, the more so against the dangers of enemy raids and partisan warfare met with (by) the supply and contact service, and which demands a ready reaction based upon efficient weapons of outstanding offensive power. Modern warfare, in fact, created the phenomena of (guerrilla) warfare which takes place at the flanks of the operational army units, and the use of pistols and light machine guns, despite the development of new weapons possessing a very high destructive power, cannot yet be considered as obsolete even in modern theatres of war.” (3)
As this book is written, that lesson is being proven in Iraq and Afghanistan. While not universally issued to all personnel, the Beretta M9 pistol is dramatically present, strapped to the bodies of a greater percentage of American combat troops than in any conflict in collective modern memory.
The Model 951 did not set the pistol world on fire. It lacked what a marketing specialist might call “the hook,” a distinguishing feature to set it apart from the competition. There was not something it could do that the others couldn’t. It didn’t have the double-column, high-capacity magazine that had been seen as a desirable feature since the Browning High Power of 1935. It didn’t have the double-action of the Walther P-38. It didn’t have the raw, crushing power of the American Colt .45 automatic. Nor did it have the exquisite target pistol accuracy of the SIGs built at Neuhausen, Switzerland. There was, however, a target-model Beretta 51 that would be made for the Egyptian army called the Berhama, which would later be put into Beretta’s regular line as the 952 Special.
Experts of the time, military and civilian, saw the gun as functional but boring and undistinguished. One of the leading handgun experts during the 951’s heyday was Henry M. Stebbins, who wrote, “The Model 1951 or 951 Brigadier is a business Beretta: 9mm Luger caliber, 4½inch barrel (not bad for this caliber), locked-breech action, exposed hammer. There is a cross-bolt safety at the top rear of the frame, a poor location; but the gun has a hammer, too, which most servicemen in any country, right now, probably would say is a good thing on a pistol. Eight-or ten-shot mags are available, and a butt spur for the shooter’s little finger. After the last shot the slide stays open as we should expect with a military handgun. Perhaps the Brigadier has the ambition to become just that: a military sidearm officially adopted by one, two, or how many countries? A lot of them once used the Luger, but now it costs too much to make Lugers, at least as standard items.” (4)
Tepid words, but at the time the Beretta 9mm was not seen as a hot gun. Stebbins had a point about the safety catch design, at least as seen by those of us accustomed to more conventional placement of that component. Not all agreed, however. One who took a warmer view of that feature in particular, and of the 1951 Beretta in general, was a later expert, Timothy J. Mullin, author of Training the Gunfighter and The 100 Greatest Combat Pistols. In the latter book, Mullin said of the Model 951, “… this is actually quite a good weapon. The design is similar to that of the Beretta M92 and has shown itself to be quite reliable. Of course, the M1951 Beretta uses a single-column magazine, which features a single-action trigger style, but that configuration has some advantages. It has a straight-line feed, thus increasing its feeding reliability. The single-column magazine avoids grip bulk, and the single-action trigger makes it easy to shoot.
“The magazine release is located on the butt, and that is always slow. It also requires two hands to use and has a tendency to get pushed off by car seats. The front sight is narrow and low, and the rear sight is small and shallow, thus indexing is slow. Painted white, they would show up much better. The sights and the gritty trigger on the Egyptian example tested combined to yield a 3
“The safety on the M1951 is a cross-bolt variety. This is unlike that found on most other combat handguns, and when you first see it, you will probably view it as awkward and slow. But you will be mistaken. The safety is one of the pistol’s best features. It reminds me of the safety found on the Star Z-63 SMG, and I found that on both the Star and the M1951 you could flip the safety off and on rapidly without shifting your hand at all. In fact, it was faster to operate than a Colt Government Model. All you need to do is take up your normal firing position, with your right thumb (assuming a right-hand grip) resting with the knuckle on the button. Merely extending the thumb slightly will bump the safety off. To reengage, merely straighten the trigger finger out, flex the finger straight out, hitting the button with the inside of your knuckle, and it will flip on. In actual practice, I found it fast and easy. For left-handers, the procedure is reversed, but it is equally simple. You have no need for an ambidextrous safety, extended safety, or external safety, and since the pistol grips are flush with the safety, you avoid the problems associated with flipping the safety off while in the holster. I really like this safety system.” (5) (Note that when Mullen refers to the “knuckle” of the thumb, he is describing the median joint, not the proximal joint.)
Long before the U.S. adopted the Beretta 92, it had been fitted with an ambidextrous safety/decocking lever as standard. It is a very southpaw-friendly pistol.
The Model 1951 proved that Beretta could build a rugged, reliable 9mm Parabellum service pistol. The foundation had been laid for the Model 92.
Genesis Of The Model 92
In 1970, perceiving the double-action 9mm to be the pistol of the future, the Beretta company began work on such a gun. It would be Beretta’s first double-action 9mm, and its first pistol with a double-stack, high-capacity magazine. Giusseppe Mazzetti and Vittorio Valle, reporting directly to Carlo Beretta, led the design team, which reportedly at one point had some 15 designers working on the double-action mechanism alone. Much of that development would ultimately transfer to the forthcoming Series 81 pistols, medium-framed autos in calibers .22, .32, and .380.
The first prototypes, reports Larry Wilson, were complete by 1975. This original incarnation of the Beretta Model 92 had the open slide and “oval” burr hammer, and unique magazine release, of the 1951. The shooter operated a frame-mounted safety, pivoting on a pin, the same as a 1911 or a Browning. The trigger guard was rounded.
Its first major contest to become a national military firearm took place in Brazil. Beretta won handily with the Model 92, building the Brazilian military Berettas at a factory it would later turn over to Forjas Taurus. But a much bigger contract was in the wind: after talking about adopting a 9mm pistol since the end of World War II, it appeared that the US Government was finally going to go ahead and do it. Reports Wilson, “ … in 1978 the House Appropriations Committee of the U.S. Congress issued a directive recommending to the Department of Defense that the time had come for a new service handgun.” He quoted Jeff Reh of Beretta, who would be deeply involved in the process, “The idea to purchase a new military sidearm was initiated by the House Appropriations Committee, where Chairman Joseph Addabbo’s staff conducted a study which verified that an unnecessary proliferation of different types of weapons and ammunition existed in the military stockpile. Addabbo’s staff recommended a reduction of the number of weapons in the inventory to ease maintenance burdens and eventually the recommendation was made that a new service sidearm be considered to replaced the venerable Colt Model 1911 .45 pistol.” (6)
On the prize table was a contract for probably half a million guns. It was the most lucrative single prospect that anyone still living could remember ever having been placed in front of the handgun industry. It triggered one of the bitterest battles that the industry had ever experienced. In the end, some of the guns fell by the wayside, and some evolved of necessity into better pistols than they had been. The Beretta Model 92 was among the latter.
Stainless