Beretta M9

The US military's iconic 9mm service pistol from 1985 to 2017 — a double-action hammer-fired design that defined the NATO sidearm era and remains in wide legacy and allied service.

Overview

The Beretta M9 is a semi-automatic, double-action/single-action (DA/SA) service pistol chambered in 9×19mm NATO. Adopted by the US armed forces in 1985 as the standard sidearm, it is the military variant of the commercial Beretta 92FS. The M9 served through the Gulf War, the interventions in Somalia and the Balkans, and the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, before being formally superseded as the US standard by the modular SIG Sauer M17/M18 from 2017. Although no longer the US front-line issue pistol, the M9 family remains in secondary and reserve service, and the 92FS continues to be produced for commercial and law enforcement markets worldwide. The design’s aluminum-alloy frame, open-top slide, and falling-locking-block action made it a benchmark NATO 9mm DA/SA handgun, with millions of the 92-series produced.

Development

The M9 traces its lineage to the Beretta 92 series, introduced in the mid-1970s. The 92FS, which won the US XM9 pistol trials, incorporated an enlarged hammer pin that prevented the slide from separating from the frame in the event of rear-end failure. The US formally adopted the M9 after a 1985 selection that broke a decades-long reliance on the .45-caliber M1911A1, making it the standard issue sidearm across all military branches. Beretta USA manufactured the bulk of the US-market pistols, with peak contract inventory reaching approximately 350,000–380,000 guns. The adoption process and detailed service history are documented in the Wikipedia entry and the broader Beretta 92 family overview.

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