Читать книгу Gun Digest Book of Beretta Pistols. Function | Accuracy | Performance онлайн

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I say “like it or not” advisedly, because with the arguable exception of the Glock, no other pistol has been the subject of such controversy in modern times, if ever.

The great are envied. The great are resented. Therefore, the great are attacked. It is human nature. When you get elected president, some people will want to tear you down. When you win the richest single contract anyone in your industry can remember, the same thing will happen. As soon as it became apparent that the Beretta Model 92 was a great pistol, and that its maker was going to be richly rewarded for it, the envy, resentment, and attacks reached epic proportions.

The defining shape of the Beretta pistol today: the 9mm Model 92FS.

It became the standard military service pistol of the United States, replacing an iconic piece of ordnance that was one of the most beloved guns in history, the 1911A1 .45 automatic. The American police, half a million strong, were switching from revolvers to semiautomatic pistols and the Beretta 92 was the sales leader in that market. The American public had historically based many firearms purchases on what their nation’s police and military were carrying. Accordingly, by 1997, Beretta would sell 2 million of these pistols.