With the Brazil pistol, since there is no 'Z' after the serial number and no proof marks, it can be assumed it was made in the Brazil factory using all Brazil parts.

It then would be fully proof tested and marked, then marked as MADE IN ITALY, shipped to their USA importer which would then add their import rollmark. If the frame was assembled into a pistol in Italy, the serial number would have a letter ahead of the digits with no letter afterwards, as in Lxxxxxx. It too would be marked as MADE IN USA and then sold. If the frame was USA made the serial number would be BERxxxxxx. It would be stamped MADE IN USA and obviously have no import markings. The serial numbered frame would then be assembled into the full pistol in the USA and as such would have a serial number of BERxxxxxxZ. For the US as an example, the bare frame gets the serial number for the USA on it with the 'Z' after the numbers indicating the frame was from Italy. Here is a site that describes the evolution of the Beretta 92 series of pistols:īeretta Web - 92FS 15 years of evolution and successĪ complete firearm from Italy has to be proofed but Beretta ships the bare frames to be then constructed in other countries.

I am not sure what a straight-slide Beretta 92 would fetch. The 'step-slide' Beretta 92s are quite rare and I believe they command a premium price.

That factory was later sold to Taurus in 1980 after the contract expired and was used to manufacture Taurus PT92s, as well as other models based on the Beretta design. A factory was set up in Sao Paulo, Brazil to produce Beretta 92s to fulfill a large contract for the Brazilian Army that had been placed in 1974. The Brazilian Army was the first large organization to test the Beretta 92 prototype and adopted the 92 for its military. The last 45,000 were of the straight slide design, like yours. The first 7,000 or so produced were of the 'step slide' design in which the slide made a distinct step-down in thickness right around the front end of the trigger guard. Per Wikipedia, the Beretta 92 was introduced in May 1976 and production ceased in Feb 1983, although I believe the Beretta 92 was actually first unveiled in 1975.

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