laststandonzombieisland

From time to time in your gun buying travels, it’s likely that you’ll come across a pistol that looks like an old Beretta 92 (or M9 depending on if you have served with Uncle Sam) but on further inspection is nothing of the sort.  A single-stack magazine pistol with a funny release and oddball markings, this gun still bears an uncanny resemblance to the more common double-stack 92 of today.  So what’s the story? Well my boy, meet the Beretta M51, its clones, and its offspring.

Developed in the late 1940s by the Italian military to replace the old .32 and .380 caliber Beretta pistols used during World War 2, the Modello 1951 was the company’s most successful handgun until the 1970s. It brought a number of improvements to the table and evolved during its design phase from a typically understated European pistol to one whose features stand side by side with the best combat pistols of today.

Read the rest in my column at GUNs.com