U.S. ARMY ACQUIRES ADDITIONAL BERETTA M9 9mm PISTOLS

Editor’s Note: Rumors of the M9’s demise appear to be untrue. This is my shocked face.

Accokeek, MD (July 28th, 2014) – Beretta Defense Technologies announced today the purchase by the U.S. Army of a quarter million dollars worth of additional M9 pistols from Beretta U.S.A. Corp. The Army acquired the additional pistols by issuing the 6th delivery order to date against a contract for up to 100,000 pistols awarded by the Army to Beretta U.S.A. Corp. in September 2012.

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The Beretta M9 is a 9x19mm caliber pistol adopted by the United States Armed Forces in 1985. The M9, which has been in U.S. production since 1987, is manufactured at the Beretta U.S.A. facility located in Accokeek, Maryland. To date, Beretta has delivered over 600,000 M9 pistols, with 18,000 already scheduled for delivery under the new 5 year contract.

In addition to receiving the delivery order for additional M9 9mm pistols, Beretta U.S.A. has been fulfilling U.S. military orders for M9 parts during the past year. “Throughout 2014 Beretta U.S.A. has been performing First Article Testing on new M9 parts and has begun the delivery of thousands of these components to U.S. military depots,” commented Gabriele de Plano, Beretta U.S.A.’s Vice President of Military Marketing & Sales. “We are, as always, honored and pleased to be able to serve our U.S. Armed Forces by providing our service men and women with a reliable and accurate pistol that has been proven in combat time and time again.”

“Beretta has set an unprecedented records for reliability with the M9 pistol,” added de Plano. “The average reliability of all M9 pistols tested at Beretta U.S.A. is 17,500 rounds without a stoppage. During one test of twelve pistols, fired at Beretta U.S.A. under Army supervision, Beretta-made M9 pistols shot 168,000 rounds without a single malfunction. The average durability of Beretta M9 slides is over 35,000 rounds, the point at which U.S. Army testing ceases. The average durability of M9 frames is over 30,000 rounds and the average durability of M9 locking blocks is 22,000 rounds.”

About Beretta Defense Technologies
Beretta Defense Technologies (BDT) is the strategic alliance of five Beretta Holding defense companies (including Beretta, Benelli, Laser Devices, Sako and Steiner) that provide products and services to enable superior performance in the Defense and Law Enforcement communities. State-of-the-art machinery, extensive research and development capabilities, and long-standing worldwide experiences allow BDT products to respond to the ever-changing needs of defense and security personnel. These Beretta companies employ nearly 600 individuals within the United States with locations in California, Colorado, Maryland, New York, Texas, and Virginia.

9 Comments

  1. That equates to about 650 pistols……
    Not exactly a robust business model.
    Sayanora M9.

    1. Your math isn’t so good. The M9 is currently on a 100,000 unit contract with the Army, of which 600,000 have been delivered already. 18,000 are scheduled for delivery over the next five years, with another 300ish thousand after that. But sure, somehow that totally equals 650 guns.

      Next!

      1. The article was titled as being about the ADDITIONAL order of pistols. That ADDITION is referenced in the first line of the article: “Beretta Defense Technologies announced today the purchase by the U.S. Army of a quarter million dollars worth of ADDITIONAL M9 pistols from Beretta U.S.A. Corp.” (capitalization emphasis mine)

        $250,000 worth of pistols buying 650 pistols (as a rough estimate) would be $384.62 per pistol. I don’t know the exacts of what the military pays per pistol, but that seems like it’s actually a pretty good rough estimate for one going after ballpark numbers. I’m betting they get them a tad cheaper than that, so maybe a bit more than 650, but it gives an idea.

  2. Despite almost three decades of moaning and wailing by gun guys, the M9 works fine for general issue in the real world. My Guard infantry battalion took many dozens of them to Afghanistan and they worked well — not that they were used much, since pistols are inconsequential weapons of war for 99% of soldiers. Handgun training in the military outside special operations is absolutely horrible, so a pistol with a safety lever and a heavy DA trigger makes perfect sense in terms of soldiers not negligently shooting themselves or each other. As well, I’d rather give the typical poorly-trained soldier sixteen light-kicking 9mm chances to hit a bad guy than seven or eight .45 chances.

    Anyway, gun enthusiasts have been gleefully predicting the demise of the M9 since about a week after its adoption in 1985 and haven’t given up yet. Yet it soldiers on, working fine and even occasionally killing a bad guy.

  3. The real problem with the M9 is all of the myth and legend surrounding the M1911. Regardless of real world anecdotes (Langdon telling of a friend emptying a magazine of Hydra-Shoks into a BG’s chest and Sergeant Gramins’ very bad day), claims of the 45 as an instant Terminator stopper persist.

    Know what the difference between 45 ball and 9MM ball is? 45 is 0.1 inch larger in diameter. 9MM penetrates better.

    Post script: Nearly every country’s military uses the 9MM. Very few grouse about it, but then again, they don’t have the 45 cult that we do.

  4. I grouse about the thing and I carried one every day for nine months on two separate occasions, Using it twice on my first deployment.

    I can not follow the cult of the .45 but still dislike the Beretta as a gun, which I do.Just my opinion.

    I was insanely jealous of the Canadians I worked with and their Sigs,

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