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

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You may have read that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence/counter-intelligence agency, was long quite partial to the Beretta .22 pistol. This is the gun. Its flatness made it carry very comfortably and discreetly when concealed, and its excellent pointing qualities lent themselves to the Israeli doctrine of point-shooting with pistols. Since Israeli handgun doctrine also required that the pistol be carried off-safe with the chamber empty, and a round jacked into the spout when it was drawn for serious purposes, the odd cross-bolt safety proved no problem at all.

All these Berettas, indeed all Beretta semiautomatics, had been single-action pistols. Their first double-action in this caliber was the Model 90, introduced in late 1968 and produced through early 1982. Writes Wilson, “The medium-frame Model 90 was the first Beretta automatic pistol with a double-action trigger system, barrel of stainless steel, enclosed slide with ejection port on the right side, and the magazine release located by the rear of the trigger guard. The frame was of aluminum alloy; the hammer was exposed; the slide remained opened after the last shot was fired. Although the pistol did not prove a success, the future of the double-action system was assured.” ⁽²⁾ Only some 22,000 were produced.