No company on earth has been making guns longer than Beretta. The family firm in the Italian Alps has been turning out barrels since 1526 — that is not a typo — and along the way it built the 92 that became America’s M9 service pistol, the 686 over/under that rules the clays range, the fast-handling 1301 Tactical shotgun, and the A300 and A400 semi-autos that fill duck blinds every fall. In 2026 the company turns 500 years old. Here is who they are, what they make, and what is worth buying.
Who Beretta is
Beretta is the world’s oldest gunmaker, founded in 1526 in Gardone Val Trompia, Italy and still run by the Beretta family fifteen generations later. It built the 92 that became the U.S. military’s M9 service pistol and the 686 over/under that rules the clays range.
Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta was founded in Gardone Val Trompia, a gun-making valley in the mountains north of Brescia, Italy. We can date it precisely because of a single surviving document: in 1526, a master barrel-maker named Bartolomeo Beretta was paid 296 ducats by the Arsenal of Venice for 185 arquebus barrels. That invoice makes Beretta the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the world and one of the oldest companies of any kind still in business — and it has stayed in the same family for roughly fifteen generations, all the way to today.
Beretta barrels reportedly armed the Venetian fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, and the company has supplied arms through five centuries of European history. In the modern era its defining moment came in 1985, when the U.S. military adopted the Beretta 92 as the M9, retiring the 1911 after 74 years and putting an Italian pistol on the hip of American soldiers for the next three decades.
Beretta sits at the premium end of the market, and it has the pedigree to charge for it. It is also the parent of an entire empire of gun brands: through Beretta Holding it owns Benelli, Sako, Tikka, Stoeger, Franchi, Uberti, and the optics makers Burris and Steiner. When you buy across that family, you are usually buying Beretta.
What Beretta makes
The 92 and the pistols
The 92 — and its current 92X and 92XI versions — is the icon: a full-size, all-metal, hammer-fired 9mm with an open-top slide that almost never stovepipes and a smooth double-action first shot. Alongside it sit the rotating-barrel PX4 Storm, the striker-fired APX, the retro 80X Cheetah in .380, and the tiny Tomcat and Pico pocket guns.
Sporting shotguns
This is arguably where Beretta is at its very best. The 686 Silver Pigeon over/under is one of the most respected field and clays guns in the world, and the A300 Ultima and A400 gas semi-autos are mainstays for waterfowl, sporting clays, and 3-gun. For serious money, the company’s premium and Premium-grade SO shotguns are hand-finished works of art.
Tactical and defensive guns
The 1301 Tactical is a cult-favorite semi-auto defensive shotgun, prized for how fast it cycles, and the A300 Patrol brings that idea to a lower price. The ARX and the new BRX1 straight-pull round out the long-gun line.
Parts and accessories
Because the 92 and the PX4 have served militaries and police forces worldwide, factory magazines, sights, and small parts are easy to find. Optics-ready models take red dots, and the shotguns use a deep catalog of chokes and stocks. Keeping a Beretta running is rarely a problem — the company has been supporting its guns for, quite literally, centuries.
Build quality and where it is made
Beretta’s reputation rests on metallurgy and machining honed over 500 years in Gardone. The guns are known for tight tolerances, durable finishes, and a quality of fit that justifies the price. U.S.-market Berettas are built at the company’s facility in Gallatin, Tennessee, which opened in 2016 after Beretta moved all American manufacturing out of Maryland in response to that state’s 2013 gun-control law — the same kind of relocation Smith & Wesson would later make. The honest trade-off is cost and size: a Beretta usually costs more than a comparable striker pistol, and the all-metal 92 is a big, heavy gun with a wide grip that does not fit every hand.
How Beretta compares
The 92’s natural rivals are the SIG P226 and the old Glock guard. Against the Glock, the 92 trades capacity and weight for a superb double/single-action trigger and that reliable open slide; against the P226 it is a close, personal-preference call between two excellent metal-frame service pistols. In shotguns, the comparison is Benelli (which Beretta owns) and Browning: Benelli’s inertia semi-autos run cleaner and lighter, while Beretta’s gas guns are softer-shooting, and the 686 goes toe to toe with Browning’s Citori as the benchmark mid-priced over/under.
Who should buy what
- The pistol traditionalist: a 92X or 92XI — a hammer-fired metal classic.
- The clays or field shooter: a 686 Silver Pigeon over/under.
- The waterfowler or 3-gunner: an A400 or A300 semi-auto.
- The home-defense buyer: a 1301 Tactical.
- The concealed carrier: a PX4 Storm Compact or an 80X Cheetah.
If you want the lightest, cheapest, highest-capacity carry gun, a polymer striker will serve you better. Beretta is the right call when you want craftsmanship, a great trigger, and a name with five centuries behind it.
The Beretta philosophy
Beretta’s whole identity is continuity: the same family, the same valley, the same obsession with the barrel and the action, refined across generations rather than reinvented every few years. That is why a Beretta feels finished in a way budget guns do not, and why the company can build both a $1,000 working over/under and a $50,000 hand-engraved best gun in the same factory. The throughline is quality earned slowly and protected fiercely.
How to choose your Beretta setup
Start with the platform. If you want a handgun, decide between the metal hammer-fired 92 (the classic), the PX4 (lighter, rotating barrel), and the APX (striker, modern). If you want a shotgun, decide between an over/under for clays and upland (the 686) and a semi-auto for volume shooting and defense (the A300/A400, or the 1301 Tactical). Buy a few spare factory magazines or the right chokes for your gun, add an optic if the model is cut for one, and you are set — Beretta builds guns you grow into and keep, not ones you replace.
Five hundred years in one valley
Think about what Beretta has lived through. The company was making gun barrels before the Mayflower sailed, before the Thirty Years’ War, before the United States existed. Fifteen generations of one family have run it from the same corner of the Italian Alps, supplying doges and kings and, eventually, the United States Army. It survived the rise and fall of empires and never lost the thread — barrels, then guns, then a worldwide family of brands — without ever leaving Gardone Val Trompia. In 2026 it celebrates its 500th anniversary, still privately held, still run by Berettas. The magazines and accessories on this page are how you keep your small piece of that unbroken history shooting.
What Beretta owners upgrade
The 92 is the Beretta most people modify, and the upgrades are well-worn. A lighter hammer spring, often called the D-spring, and a competition hammer smooth out the long double-action pull, while a stainless steel guide rod adds a little muzzle weight to settle the gun in recoil. Skeletonized triggers, extended magazine releases and slide stops speed the pistol up for competition. Many owners swap the factory plastic grips for thinner aluminum or G10 panels, and replace the sights with a tritium night set or an optics-ready arrangement. Wilson Combat, which builds the high-end Brigadier Tactical and other custom 92s, is a major source of these parts.
On the shotguns, A300 and A400 owners add extended magazine tubes, oversized bolt handles and bolt-release buttons, better recoil pads, and aftermarket choke tubes tuned for clays or waterfowl. As with most Beretta work, the goal is usually to refine a gun that already runs well rather than to fix it.
Because Beretta has built the 92 in such huge numbers for so long, parts availability is excellent and most upgrades are simple bench jobs. That deep parts ecosystem, listed in the carousels below, is a big part of why the 92 remains such a satisfying pistol to own and personalize.
Shop Beretta Parts & Prices
Live Beretta products and current prices, organized by department and updated automatically.
Magazines
Red Dots
Iron Sights
IWB Holsters
Pistol Cases
Eye Protection
Cleaning Kits
Where Beretta Fits in Our Buying Guides
- The Best Beretta Pistols
- Beretta 92FS Review
- Beretta 92FS vs Glock 17
- The Best Full-Size 9mm Pistols
- The Best Over/Under Shotguns
- The Best Shotguns for Clay Shooting
Beretta FAQ
How old is Beretta really?
The first record dates to 1526, when Bartolomeo Beretta sold 185 arquebus barrels to the Arsenal of Venice. That makes Beretta the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the world; it turns 500 in 2026.
Where are Berettas made?
In Gardone Val Trompia, Italy, and for the U.S. market at Beretta USA in Gallatin, Tennessee, which opened in 2016.
Was the Beretta 92 the U.S. military pistol?
Yes. The military adopted the 92 as the M9 in 1985, replacing the 1911, and it served as the standard sidearm until the SIG-based M17/M18 began replacing it in 2017.
What other gun brands does Beretta own?
Through Beretta Holding it owns Benelli, Sako, Tikka, Stoeger, Franchi, and Uberti, plus the optics makers Burris and Steiner, among others.
Why does the Beretta 92 have an open slide?
The open-top slide design ejects empties cleanly and is famously resistant to stovepipe jams. It is one of the 92’s signature reliability features.
Is a Beretta 686 a good first over/under?
It is one of the best. The 686 Silver Pigeon is a benchmark mid-priced over/under for clays and the field, known for balance and longevity.
Which Beretta should I buy first?
For most buyers the 92 or its compact variants make a proven first centerfire pistol, the A300 is the value semi-auto shotgun, and the 686 is the over/under to grow into for clays and upland birds.
What tier is Beretta?
Premium: higher-priced, finely made Italian pistols and shotguns with five centuries of metallurgy behind them, and the parent of a whole family of gun brands.
Related Firearm Manufacturers Brands
- Remington Parts
- Wilson Combat Parts
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- Sig Sauer Parts
- Glock Parts
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