| Beretta Model 1918 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Carbine |
| Place of origin | Kingdom of Italy |
| Service history | |
| Used by | See Users |
| Wars | World War I[citation needed] Second Italo-Ethiopian War World War II |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Beretta |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 7 lb 3 oz (3.3 kg) |
| Length | 43 in (1092 mm) |
| Barrel length | 12 in (305 mm) |
| Cartridge | Glisenti M.915 Per Mitragliatrici 9mm Parabellum |
| Caliber | 9mm |
| Action | Blowback, semiautomatic only. |
| Muzzle velocity | 1,275 ft/s (389 m/s) |
| Feed system | 25 round detachable box. 12 or 25 round detachable box magazine (1918/30) |
The Moschetto Automatico Revelli-Beretta Mod. 1915[1] (Commonly known as the Beretta Model 1918) was a self-loading carbine that entered service in 1918 with the Italian Armed Forces. Designed as a semi-automatic carbine, 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.[2]
Like all weapons of the Villar Perosa family, including the O.V.P. submachine gun it was originally intended to fire a variant of the 9mm Glisenti cartridge, known as Glisenti M.915 "Per Mitragliatrici" ("For Machine-Guns"). This was a higher-velocity version of the standard Glisenti cartridge with an over-powder wad, designed to improve the penetration abilities of the weak base cartridge.[3]