Beretta 92

Beretta 92 originated for the Italian army and police, the Model 92 pistols earned most of their fame (both good and bad) as the standard sidearm of the US military. The Beretta 92 first appeared in 1976 and was designed by Carlo Beretta, Giuseppe Mazzetti and Vittorio Valle, all experienced firearms designers on the Beretta design team.

Later model 92F employs U.S. Military in designation of M9.
The 92F would have to be revised to 92F/S standard after US servicemembers were injured by defective slides from Berretta. Winning a military contract is usually a lucrative enterprise and every leading handgun manufacturer is looking forward to participate. The trials and the whole adoption process caused much controversy, due to the exclusion of some manufacturers and the numerous trials, as well as the nature of price bids. The M9 was intended to replace the M1911A1 and .38 caliber revolvers and pistols. Over 500,000 M9 pistols were made and adopted; the switch-over was largely achieved. However, some branches and groups continued to use the former pistols or adopted different designs, but they were not a part of the program in the first place).

Beretta 92 pistols are short-recoil operated, locked-breech weapons with an aluminium frame. The locking system is of the Walther type, with a vertically-tilting locking piece located below the breech area of the barrel. The trigger is double-action, with an exposed hammer. Original Model 92 pistols had a frame-mounted safety which was applied only when hammer was cocked all subsequent pistols (except for some limited production civilian-only sporting models) either had a slide-mounted safety lever or no safety lever at all.

Specifications: Calibre: 9х19 mm (9 mm Luger)
Magazine capacity, rounds: 15
Barrel length: 125 mm
Overall dimensions: 217x140x38 mm
Weight, unloaded: 0,97 kg (with empty magazine)
Trigger mechanism: SA/DA

Other calibre: 9x21(Beretta 98) , .40 S&W (Beretta 96)


Source: Berreta Italy, WaffenHQ