Beretta manufacture date

[nollenfwn]

I'm relatively new to the shotgun world and am looking at purchasing a used Beretta shotgun. The serial number for the gun I'm looking at is 885XXB and I'm trying to determine when it was manufactured. Any help would be appriciated.

[oneounceload]

Here's a list from an old post showing from 1945 through 2001. They were using Roman numerals for a while and then alpha characters.

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=180

What type of gun is it?

Here's a better one with a better explanation:
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=73492