Beretta's features attract attention, clinch sales

Shooting Industry, March, 2005 by Massad Ayoob

The Beretta 9mm is "the pistol that defends the nation." Historically, the pistol of the United States military sells well to the citizens of our country, and the Beretta has proven to be no exception. Moreover, the company has a broad line of defensive firearms that covers a wide array of needs.

The U.S. military adopted the Beretta 92FS as its primary sidearm in 1985. That significantly popularized the pistol.

"The best-selling handgun in my shop has, for years now, been the Beretta 92FS in 9mm. I think part of the reason is the military connection," said Jeff Boss, owner of Lundy's Sporting Goods in Live Oak, Fla. "We have a substantial National Guard unit here, and people like to buy guns they've used in training and qualification. Our state highway patrol also uses the Beretta, and has had good results with the brand for years. That helps to sell the brand around here, too."

Boss says, in addition to the military and law enforcement connection, he's very comfortable in recommending the Berettas for another reason.

"In all these years, with all the 92s and other models I've sold, I've never had to send a Beretta back to the factory," Boss said. "The only other brand I can say that about is Ruger."

Boss makes Berettas his best-selling pistols by touting the line's well-established reliability. Then he goes into features, detail by detail.

"I only carry the F-series, unless a customer wants to special order a G- or D-series," Boss said. "The manual safety is a selling point, particularly in a home-defense gun."

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On the F-series, the slide-mounted lever functions as both a manual safety and a decocking lever. On the G-series, the lever is only a decocker, not a manual safety. The D-models, being double-action only, have no lever on the slide.

No pistol of this design has a quicker, easier-to-operate safety on its slide than an F-series Beretta. It is lightly spring-loaded, and if the shooter hits it with any force, the lever pops up from the "safe" to "fire" position. This ease of operation has sold a number of Berettas.

Similarly, the very presence of the safety catch--a device correctly perceived as making it more difficult for a criminal who snatches the gun to quickly make it operate--has helped sell these guns. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has issued the Beretta 92FS for many years, and has documented multiple cases where bad guys who managed to wrest the guns from deputies couldn't fire the pistols because they were on "safe."

The 92FS is also made as a 12-shot .40 S & W, known as the Model 96F. Both models are available with a shorter barrel (Centurion), heavier slide (Brigadier), narrower grip frame and flashlight rail (Vertec) and in the Elite series. The Elite models sport a fancy finish, G-style decocking lever and handworked actions with fabulous trigger pulls in double and single action.

The Beretta 92FS is also the best-selling pistol for Barry Soskins of Gun World in Bensenville, Ill.

"It's an excellent home-defense gun. A lot of people appreciate all the testing that went into it for military adoption, and figure if the armed forces can trust it, so can they," Soskins said.

The lesson: Features sell, but reputation sells, too.