Beretta M1915

Beretta Model 1923
Left side view of the Beretta M1923
Type	Semi-automatic pistol
Place of origin	Kingdom of Italy
Service history
In service	1923–1945
Used by	Italy
Production history
Designer	Giovanni Beretta
Manufacturer	Fabrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A.
Specifications
Weight	800 grams (1.8 lb)
Length	177 millimetres (7.0 in)
Barrel length	87 millimetres (3.4 in)
Cartridge	9mm Glisenti
Caliber	9 mm
Action	Blowback/single
Muzzle velocity	305 m/s (1,000.6 fps)
Effective firing range	50 metres (55 yd)

The Beretta Model 1923 pistol was a service pistol used by the Italian Army from 1923 until 1945. The M1923 was designed to consolidate the improvements of the 1915/19 model and to use the 9mm Glisenti round. However, due to the vast amount of handguns available after the end of World War I only 3000 samples, of about 10000 produced, were purchased by the Italian Army.

The Glisenti Model 1910 was the first Italian produced semi auto pistol adopted by the Italian military. Designed by Bethel Revelli it was originally chambered for a bottlenecked 7.65 mm round, which was similar to the 7.65×21mm Parabellum. Later, having the Italian Army judged the 7.65 round to be too light for military use, and having launched a competition for 9mm handguns instead, the Metallurgica Bresciana Tampini, owner of the design, adapted the Glisenti pistol to fire a 9mm round, obtained enlarging the original one (eliminating the bottleneck) without changing the load. Therefore, although being the cartridge dimensionally identical to the 9mm luger (that was obtained in the same way from the 7.65×21mm Parabellum, but increasing the load) the 9mm Glisenti cartridge has a load that's about 1/4 lighter than the original military load of the 9mm luger. The Glisenti Model 1910 suffered however from a lack of robustness due to its weak frame design. The bolt assembly in the receiver is supported only on one side. This lack of structural integrity led all of the stresses of firing to be taken up by just one side rail.

When Italy entered World War I, the need for more military pistols increased dramatically. In 1915, Tullio Marengoni from Beretta completed his design of a simple blowback action pistol that could fire the same 9mm Glisenti cartridge. This pistol was adopted by the Italian Army as the M1915. The M1915 is unusual in the fact that it used 2 manual safeties. One is a slide stop safety on the left side of the frame. The other is a small lever on the rear of the frame. If either safety is set, the pistol will not fire. Also manufactured by Beretta and adopted by the Italian military was a scaled-down version of this pistol in 7.65mm. In addition to being smaller, it did not have the manual safety at the rear of the frame.