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Beretta M1951 |
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| The M 1951 is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, developed during the late 1940s and early 1950s by Pietro Beretta S.p.A. of Italy. The pistol was produced strictly for military use and was introduced into service with the Italian Army and security forces as the Modello 1951 (M 1951), replacing the 9 mm Modello 1934 pistol, chambered for the 9x17mm Short (.380 ACP) cartridge.[1] The pistol was Beretta's first locked breech design on the market, (previous semi-automatic pistols were all blowback-operated) and was in limited production circa 1953 and in full-scale production in 1956 until 1980. Several changes were incorporated into the pistol’s design after an initial production batch, these included: replacing the lightweight alloy frame with a steel frame, lengthening the slide and moving the magazine release lever from the heel of the pistol grip to the right side of the grip. Serial production was then initiated in 1955. The M 1951 is no longer produced in Italy, and was never adopted by the Italian Army, which kept the .380 ACP Beretta M 1934 in service until the adoption of the 9 mm Beretta 92 in the early 1970s; the M 1951 was instead adopted by the Italian Navy, the Carabinieri and the Italian national Traffic Police; it has been dismissed from all service in the 1970s. Other military forces to have adopted the M 1951 include Egypt (where it has been produced by the local firm Maadi as the “Helwan”), Israel, Iraq (license-built as the "Tariq"), Nigeria and Tunisia; in most of these Countries, the pistol is now out of service. The pistol is known as the M951 “Brigadier” on the civilian market. After 1968, in the United States, it was briefly referred to as the 104 in promotional literature. |
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