Beretta, the 500-Year Gunmaker Still Arming Modern Militaries
Beretta is the oldest firearms manufacturer on earth, a family-owned Italian gunmaker founded in 1526 that still supplies pistols, rifles and shotguns to militaries and police forces in dozens of countries. Run by the same family for fifteen generations from Gardone Val Trompia in northern Italy, the company sits at the center of Beretta Holding, a group whose brands now stretch from Benelli shotguns to Sako sniper rifles.
Beretta at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta S.p.A. |
| Headquarters | Gardone Val Trompia, Brescia, Italy |
| Founded | 1526; oldest active firearms maker in the world |
| Ownership | Beretta family, through Beretta Holding S.A. |
| Group revenue | Beretta Holding reports revenue of roughly 1.5 billion euros a year across all brands |
| Key defense products | 92/M9 and APX pistols, ARX160 rifle family, PMX submachine gun, 1301 Tactical shotgun |
| Group brands | Beretta, Benelli, Franchi, Sako, Tikka, Steiner, Burris, Holland & Holland and others |
Beretta the gun factory should not be confused with Beretta Holding, the Luxembourg-registered family group above it. The holding consolidates more than a dozen firearms, optics and ammunition brands, employs thousands of people across Europe and the United States, and gives the family a portfolio that spans hunting, sport shooting and defense. The defense share is the minority of group sales, but it is the part that carries the name into military armories worldwide.
Who owns Beretta
The company has never left family hands since Bartolomeo Beretta sold arquebus barrels to the Republic of Venice in 1526. Today Franco Gussalli Beretta leads the firm, the fifteenth generation of direct family stewardship, an ownership record no other defense manufacturer can match. That continuity shapes strategy: Beretta grows by acquiring complementary brands, as it did with Finland’s Sako, Germany’s Steiner optics and Britain’s Holland & Holland, rather than by chasing outside capital.
What does Beretta make for militaries
| Product | Type | Notable users |
|---|---|---|
| 92FS / M9 family | 9x19mm service pistol | US forces 1985-2017 era, Italy, many export customers |
| APX A1 | Striker-fired 9x19mm pistol | Marketed for military and police contracts worldwide |
| ARX160 / ARX200 | 5.56mm and 7.62mm assault and battle rifles | Italian Army standard rifle, Albania, export users |
| PMX | 9mm submachine gun | Italian Carabinieri and police units |
| 1301 Tactical | Semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun | Police and military units in Europe and the US |
| Sako M23 (group) | Sniper and designated marksman rifles | Sweden and Finland joint procurement |
The ARX160 gave Italy a fully domestic service rifle as part of the Soldato Futuro soldier modernization program, and the design picked up export users in Europe, Latin America and Central Asia. The pistol line remains the commercial heart of the defense business, with the 92 series still in production four decades after its US triumph and the polymer APX competing for the contracts the 92 once won. Small-arms peers such as Turkey’s MKE have pushed hard into the same export markets, which keeps pricing competitive.
The M9 era and how it ended
Beretta’s defining defense win came in 1985, when the 92F beat the world’s pistol makers in the US XM9 trials and became the M9, the standard American sidearm for more than 30 years. Roughly 600,000 pistols were delivered, built largely at Beretta USA in Maryland and later Tennessee. The era closed in 2017 when the Army’s Modular Handgun System competition selected SIG Sauer’s P320 instead of Beretta’s APX, ending one of the longest single-vendor small-arms relationships in US history. Beretta kept its US manufacturing base and pivoted the APX toward police and international tenders.
Beretta Defence Technologies and exports
For government customers the group markets through Beretta Defence Technologies, an alliance that bundles Beretta small arms with Benelli shotguns, Sako precision rifles and Steiner optics into single offers. The approach has paid off in northern Europe, where Sweden and Finland jointly adopted the Sako M23 rifle family, and it mirrors how larger Italian champions such as Leonardo package systems for export. Ammunition ties across Europe, including Nordic suppliers like Nammo, round out the ecosystem a small-arms bid now requires.
Beretta frequently asked questions
How old is Beretta?
The company dates to 1526, when Bartolomeo Beretta was paid for arquebus barrels by the Republic of Venice, making it the world’s oldest firearms maker.
Who owns Beretta today?
The Beretta family, now in its fifteenth generation, controls the company through Beretta Holding, which also owns Benelli, Sako, Tikka, Franchi and Steiner.
Does the US military still use Beretta pistols?
The M9 was replaced by SIG Sauer’s M17 and M18 from 2017, though M9s lingered in some units for years afterward.
What rifle does the Italian Army use?
The Beretta ARX160, adopted under the Soldato Futuro program as Italy’s standard-issue assault rifle.
Is Beretta publicly traded?
No. Beretta and its parent holding are privately held by the family, which is why detailed financial figures are scarce.
- Beretta and Beretta Holding corporate publications
- Wikipedia – Beretta and Beretta M9 (accessed October 2026)
- Public reporting on the Sako M23 and US Modular Handgun System programs
- Defence & Tech reporting on the European small-arms market
