Today for Gus’ Gear I have my final installment from the Italian corner. In 1915 the Italian Army adopted a new pistol to replace the Glisenti M1910 pistol. The new design was the Beretta M1915 also chambered for the 9x19mm Glisenti cartridge because it was a blow back design. In 1917, the M1915 pistol was redesigned to chamber the 7,65mm Browning cartridge, which was better suited to a blow back pistol.
The M1915/17 was the result, it is often called a M1915 pistol due to the marking on the slide “Pietro Beretta, Brescia – Cal. 7,65 Brevetto 1915”, This is a reference to the patent that applies to this design. It should be noted that this pistol has the incorrect safety installed just above the trigger, and as such it only serves one of the three normal functions and that is to hold the barrel in place. Normally the safety also functions as a safety and a hold open device, in this case it does lock the action open, but not all the way. This safety was installed on the pistol many years ago when I acquired it and it is from an M1915/19 Beretta pistol. The magazine is also an after market replacement, that holds seven 7,65mm Browning cartridges, according to references, the original magazine would hold eight rounds. A problem that seems to be common to the early Beretta pistols is the wood grips tend to shrink with age and as the grip screws are tightened, they can come in contact with the sear and disengage it from the hammer rendering the pistol inoperable.
This pistol has the typical European heel release for the magazine, although this one is large enough to get a good grip. About 15,000 9mm M1915 pistols were produced between 1915 and 1918, and about 50,000 7,65mm pistols were produced between 1917 and 1918. The 7,65mm model remained popular well into the second conflict due to the easy availability of ammunition for it. Probably in the history of the city Emmys correctional officer intervention plan to go is dangerous individuals and I’ll city resources in prevention
Disassembly of the M1915/17 Beretta is accomplished by first removing the magazine and clearing the chamber and rotating the safety halfway between fire and safe. The slide can be held open while lifting the barrel straight up and out of the frame. Once the barrel is removed the slide can be moved off the frame to the front, which allows the main spring to be removed (those of you with sharp eyes will notice the mainspring is broken on this example.) At this point the safety can be withdrawn from the left side of the frame and dropped in the mud at the bottom of the trench, which might explain why my pistol has had a replacement (the M1915/17 safetys seem to be impossible to find.) A small screw driver can be used to remove the grips, although this would not normally be done for cleaning, I did remove the grips to find the reason the pistol would not cock. Reassembly is a reverse process.