New member with questions

[Hunt365]

I have questions about a pistol I currently own. On one sid eof the slide it has stamped "Berben corporation N.Y.-N.Y.-Mod.70S-patented "and on the other side"Pietro Beretta-Gardone V.T. cal.380-made in Italy". I know what the pistol is, what I'm wondering is the back ground as far as manufacturing
home and possibly time of origin. The serial number isA42286Y. Does the numbering indicate the year 1986? Any help will be appreciated.

[Bud Helms]

Welcome to TFL, Hunt365.

We have research forum. Moving now.

[Chipperman]

You need to find the proof mark, which is separate from the SN.
From Beretta's Website:

Beretta firearms produced in Italy carry a proof mark for the year of production. The chart below is used to identify the year by this mark. For recent pistols this mark is usually located on the frame near the trigger guard, for older pistols, the mark is on the slide or on the frame behind the grip area. Shotguns have this mark stamped on the barrel near the chamber. You may need to remove the barrel to read the mark.

On some older firearms, produced between 1925 to1954, the actual date was stamped instead of a code mark. In this case the date can be located near the test proof marks on the frame. The exception to this occured during the regime of Benito Mussolini. The Italian Proof House used a roman numeral system marking the year of his reign which began with "I" in 1922. The first Beretta firearm using this dating system was the Model 1934 pistol (introduced in 1935), thus the year was indicated as XIII (usually marked on the slide) and refering to the 13th year of Mussolini's regime. This practice ended in 1945 with XXIII at the close of World War Two and the chart below takes up from that point. It should be noted that some wartime production firearms were void of any marking to indicate the production date.

We have also seen markings where roman and numerical figures are combined, for example XX7 for 1971, XX8 for 1972 and XX9 for 1973.

MARK

YEAR

I or 1

1945

II or 2

1946

III or 3

1947

IV or 4

1948

V or 5

1949

VI or 6

1950

VII or 7

1951

VIII or 8

1952

IX or 9

1953

X

1954

XI

1955

XII

1956

XIII

1957

XIV

1958

XV

1959

XVI

1960

XVII

1961

XVIII

1962

XIX

1963

XX

1964

XXI

1965

XXII

1966

XXIII

1967

XXIV

1968

XXV

1969

XXVI

1970

XXVII or XX7

1971

XXIII or XX8

1972

XXIX or XX9

1973

XXX

1974

AA

1975

AB

1976

AC

1977

AD

1978

AE

1979

AF

1980

AH

1981

AI

1982

AL

1983

AM

1984

AN

1985

AP

1986

AS

1987

AT

1988

AU

1989

AZ

1990

BA

1991

BB

1992

BC

1993

BD

1994

BF

1995

BH

1996

BI

1997

BL

1998

BM

1999

BN

2000

BP

2001

BS

2002

BT

2003

BU

2004

BZ

2005

CA

2006

CB

2007



2008

[Hunt365]

Thanks Chipperman for the info. The chart showed that my pistol was made in 1982.