"Beretta Celebrates 475 Years of Gunmaking," 
by Dick Metcalf, Technical Editor.  
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It is astonishing that a company should be in business for 475 years, but 
further more impressive that it is still owned by the original Italian family 
which began the company in 1526 A.D. 

When we analyze it carefully, we must recognize that 50% of all new 
businesses fail within the first year, and 80% within the first five years. 
Beretta on the other hand has endured and survived five centuries of local, 
regional, and world wide economic downturns, not to mention the tumultuous 
upheavals of regional and world wars, and is still vibrant and profitable 
today.   

Perhaps Mr. Metcalf summed it up rather succinctly when he said, "The Beretta 
family has been making guns for nearly five centuries, a history unequaled by 
any other manufacturing company of any kind in the world."  

The company began during the time when "Michelangelo takes a well-deserved 
break between the completion of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and beginning the 
work on "The Last Judgment" by designing fortifications for the Medicis' 
Kingdom of Florence.  In the small village of Gardone Val Trompia, in the 
northern provinces near Milan, one Bartolomeo Beretta, maestro de canne, on 
October 3rd receives a commission of 296 ducats from the Senate of the 
Republic of Venice for the manufacturing of 185 arquebus barrels.  'Maestro 
de canne' -- master gun maker." 

"Thus did history first take official notice of the surname Beretta, the 
greatest family of armsmakers the world has ever known.  Though local records 
from that period are scant, we know that Bartolomeo was born before 1498 and 
was independently established as a maker of cannon barrels by 1520.  
Bartolomeo's son Jacomo followed him into the family business.  As did 
Jacomo's sons Lodovico and Giovannino.  Lodovico set up a separate branch of 
the family enterprise in nearby Brescia, manufacturing gun locks, while 
Giovannino established his own barrel-making works in Gardone parish."  

"The Venetian Republic chose Beretta products in 1526 after a review of 
competing samples (perhaps very much like the process that would result in 
Beretta's selection as the official U.S. military sidearm half a millennium 
later).  And as the Beretta name became synonymous with uncompromising 
quality, design, materials, construction, and performance, word spread beyond 
the Italian borders, establishing a tradition that has carried down through 
15 generations of the family."

"The history of the Beretta family and company would fill volumes -- or at 
least a book as weighty as the 385-page WORLD OF BERETTA:  AN INTERNATIONAL 
LEGEND written by distinguished firearms historian Larry Wilson and published 
by Random House to commemorate the company's 475th year.  Filled with Beretta 
facts and folklore, lavishly illustrated with many never-before-published 
photos from the company and family archives, it is available ($65 retail) 
through any bookstore."

The article by Metcalf goes on to sing the praises of the workman/womanship 
and craftsman/womanship of the Beretta firearms.  A small example of such 
fine workman/womanship is illustrated when Metcalf writes:  "During the 
durability test of 12 randomly selected Model 92FS pistols fired at the 
Beretta USA plant under Army supervision, the guns went 168,000 rounds 
without a malfunction.  This makes the Beretta 92 the most thoroughly tested 
handgun in history, and the customer-confidence factor engendered by these 
reliability statistics is reflected by the growing number of local police, 
state police, and sheriff's departments across the U.S. that have adopted the 
basic Beretta Model 92 design.  In 1995 the Beretta Model 96 Brigadier D was 
developed to meet the special needs of the U.S Border Patrol and is now being 
offered to the consumer market.  In the past two years, Beretta USA was 
awarded two follow-on military contracts to the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army 
Reserve and National Guard."  

"New and innovative handgun products like the 21st-century Model 9000S and 
the brand-new ultramodern .22 rimfire U22 Neos pictured on the cover and 
discussed in the accompanying interview with Beretta design engineer Roy 
Melcher show no indication that the company's energies have in any way 
flagged after all its recent expansion.  Beretta today offers the broadest 
range of products of any of the world's gunmakers -- from the smallest 
personal-defense pocket pistols to Olympic, gold-medal-winning, high-tech, 
work-of-art shotguns that have won more Olympic Games and World Championships 
than any other brand.  Anybody want to lay odds that Beretta won't go on for 
a thousand years?"