Beretta Turns 500: Inside the World's Oldest Gunmaker

A receipt in Renaissance handwriting

Somewhere in the archives of Venice sits a scrap of paper that most companies would kill for. It's dated October 3, 1526. It records that the Arsenal of the Republic of Venice paid 296 ducats to Bartolomeo Beretta, a master barrel maker from Gardone Val Trompia, for 185 arquebus barrels. That works out to about 1.6 ducats a barrel.

That receipt is the oldest known document in Beretta's history. It's why 2026 is Beretta's 500th year, and why American Rifleman describes Beretta as the longest-standing company in the history of firearm manufacturing.

It's worth sitting with that for a moment. When Bartolomeo signed for those ducats, the arquebus (a forerunner of the musket) was cutting-edge military technology, Henry VIII was still on his first wife, and the Spanish had only recently reached the Aztec capital. The company that grew from his forge now builds the A400 shotgun, the APX pistol, and, as of this month, owns a bigger slice of Ruger.

Iron, a valley and a guild

The Beretta family didn't appear from nowhere in 1526. Athlon Outdoors' history says they had been working iron ore in Gardone Val Trompia, in the hills north of Brescia, since the 1400s, and Wikipedia notes the forge was reportedly operating from about 1500. The valley had iron, water power and a long tradition of metalworking. Venice, one of the great naval powers of the age, had money and a constant need for weapons.

For centuries, barrel making was a guild trade. Knowledge passed from father to son: Bartolomeo (born around 1490), then Jacopo, Giovannino and Giovan Antonio, who lived past 1649. Beretta barrels reportedly armed the Venetian fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The guild system lasted until Napoleon conquered the Venetian Republic in 1797 and abolished the guilds.

In the 1800s, under Giuseppe Beretta, the company expanded across Europe and shifted from making barrels and parts for others to making complete firearms for the commercial sporting market, per Athlon. That's the moment the barrel maker became a gunmaker.

Wars, submachine guns and an occupation

The 20th century made Beretta a military name.

• World War I: The Model 1915 pistol was adopted one month after Italy entered the war.
• 1918: The Beretta Model 1918, with its top-feed magazine, is credited by Athlon as the world's first submachine gun.
• 1934: The Model 1934 in 9mm Corto (.380 ACP) became an Italian military sidearm.
• 1935: Beretta introduced its first over/under shotgun, the start of a line that still defines the brand for clay shooters.
• 1943–1945: After the Italian Armistice, German forces seized the factory until their surrender in Italy in 1945.

After the war, Beretta repaired American M1 Garands and reworked the design into the BM-59 rifle. It was a sign of things to come: Beretta and the US military would become closely linked.

The pistol that made Beretta American

In the 1970s Beretta opened a plant in São Paulo, Brazil, where it built 92-series pistols for the Brazilian army until 1980. That year, the Brazilian maker Taurus bought the São Paulo factory with its tooling, drawings and workforce, which is why the Taurus PT92 looks so familiar.

Back home, the 92 was headed for a bigger stage. In 1985 Beretta won the contract to supply 500,000 M9 pistols to the US military. The 92 served as the US military's issue sidearm for 35 years, Athlon says, until the SIG Sauer P320 was selected as its replacement in 2017. For an entire generation of American soldiers, sailors and airmen, "the pistol" meant a Beretta. Its Hollywood career, from action films to cop shows, made it famous with everyone else.

If you're shopping for a 92 or Beretta's polymer APX line today, compare current models in the handgun category by filtering for Beretta.

Shotguns: the other half of the empire

Ask a sporting clays shooter about Beretta and you won't hear about the M9. You'll hear about the 682 over/under, or the gas-operated semi-autos that run from the AL390 and AL391 to today's A300 and A400 families. Beretta shotguns are as familiar on clays fields as Glocks are on duty belts.

The A400 is the current flagship gas gun, offered in versions for clays, waterfowl and upland. We broke down one competition version in our A400 Xcel review.

For a more value-oriented entry to the brand, the A300 Ultima sits lower in the line.

A family, a holding company and a lot of brands

Here's the part many buyers don't realize: a lot of guns that don't say "Beretta" on them are Beretta family guns. In the late 1980s Beretta bought Benelli and Franchi. Today Beretta Holding's companies include Beretta USA, Benelli, Franchi, Sako, Tikka, Stoeger, Uberti, Burris Optics and SwissP Defence (the former RUAG Ammotec, acquired in 2022).

So when you compare a Benelli inertia gun with a Beretta gas gun, or a Tikka with a Sako, you're often comparing siblings.

Then there's Ruger. Beretta Holding already held about 10 percent of Sturm, Ruger & Co. In September 2026 it launched a cash tender offer for up to 2,400,184 shares, described as taking its stake to about 25 percent with the right to appoint two independent directors. The offer closed on October 15, 2026, and was oversubscribed, according to preliminary results reported by the Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore, which called it Beretta's first investment in a listed company.

At the top, it's still a family business. Pietro Gussalli Beretta is president and CEO of Beretta Holding, Franco Gussalli Beretta runs Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta, and Carlo Gussalli Beretta represents the 16th generation. Even the three-arrow logo has a story: all4shooters credits it to artist Guido Marussig, at the suggestion of the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.

How do you celebrate 500 years?

With guns, mostly. Beretta said it would mark the year with 10 one-off pieces, 7 limited and special editions, new platforms, apparel and collaborations. Among the pieces covered by all4shooters and Shooting Sports USA in 2026:

• 92FS Ducato: a limited run of 296 pistols, one for each ducat in the 1526 payment. Each has oak grips with gold ducat reproductions and comes with an authentic 16th-century Venetian ducat in the case.
• 92FS Diamond: a one-off gold and diamond anniversary pistol.
• A400 Solo: a crossover semi-auto shotgun.
• 1526 Parallelo: a one-off pair of side-by-side shotguns.
• SO10 Kronos: a one-of-a-kind over/under.

On September 23, 2026, Beretta held a celebration with government officials, employees and the Val Trompia community.

What 500 years means for you at the counter

A long history doesn't make any single gun better. But it does tell you a few useful things:

• Parts and service support are deep. Beretta's core models have been made for decades, and the company has a large US presence through Beretta USA.
• Resale tends to hold. Respected shotgun and pistol lines with long production runs are easy to sell later.
• Family brands share know-how. If you like a Beretta, you may like its siblings at Benelli, Franchi, Tikka or Sako, and vice versa.

Browse the semi-automatic shotgun category if you want to see the current A400 range.

Bartolomeo Beretta made barrels for a navy. His descendants make guns for hunters, sport shooters, police and soldiers worldwide. Whatever you buy, the basics haven't changed in five centuries: handle it safely, store it locked and unloaded, and know the law where you live.

Editorial note: This is an independent editorial overview built from manufacturer specifications, retailer listings and published sources. We have not performed hands-on testing of the products discussed, and nothing here is a performance guarantee. Verify specifications, compatibility and the law where you live.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links to Ammunition Depot. We may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial choices are not influenced by commissions. Check current price, stock and specifications directly with the retailer.