Beretta M1918

The Beretta Model 1918 was a submachine gun that entered service in 1918 with the Italian armed forces. Designed initially as a semi-automatic rifle, the weapon came with an overhead inserted magazine, an unconventional design based on the simplicity of allowing a spent round to be replaced using assistance from gravity. The gun was made from half of a Villar-Perosa aircraft submachine gun,[1] and as such it can be considered the first submachine gun issued to and used by the Italian armed forces, and is possibly the first SMG used as a general-issue combat weapon. Certain sources say that it saw service a few weeks before the German MP 18; the exact date remains disputed.[1]

Beretta Model 1918
Beretta Model 1918
TypeSubmachine gun
Place of originKingdom of Italy
Service history
Used bySee Users
WarsWorld War I
Second Italo-Ethiopian War
World War II
Production history
ManufacturerBeretta
VariantsModel 1918
Model 1918/30
Hafdasa C-1
Specifications
Mass7 lb 3 oz (3.3 kg)
Length43 in (1092 mm)
Barrel length12 in (305 mm)
Cartridge9mm Glisenti
.22LR
Caliber9mm
.22 calibre
ActionBlowback, automatic only
Rate of fire900 round/min cyclic
Muzzle velocity1,275 ft/s (389 m/s)
Feed system25 round detachable box

Another variant was the semiautomatic Model 1918/30 with the magazine inserted underneath and came with a bayonet.[2] The Model 1918/30 was also manufactured in Argentina by Hafdasa as the C-1, which formed the basis of the Ballester-Riguard submachine gun.

Design
  • Barrel rifling: 6 grooves with a right hand twist (6-right)
  • Automatic carbine, cal. 9mm, having a barrel length of 12.5" and a magazine capacity of 25 rounds.

Users

See also
  • Hafdasa C-4, an Argentine derivative of the Beretta Model 1918.
  • OVP 1918, another Italian submachine gun made from half of a Villar-Perosa that was produced at the same time as the Beretta Model 1918 by Officine di Villar Perosa.
  • Italian submachine guns

References
  1. Ian McCollum (23 October 2015). "Beretta M1918 SMG Photos". Forgotten Weapons. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  2. http://s3.postimage.org/yi28hz9rr/DSCF1198.jpg Archived 2012-03-18 at the Wayback Machine


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