Beretta M1918

Article
Talk
Read
Edit
View history

Tools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beretta Model 1918

Beretta Model 1918

Type Carbine, Submachine gun (MIDA prototype)
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
.22LR
9mm Parabellum
Caliber 9mm
.22 calibre
Action Blowback, automatic and semiautomatic (MIDA prototype). 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]

Design
Barrel rifling: 6 grooves with a right hand twist (6-right)
Semiautomatic carbine, cal. 9mm, having a barrel length of 12.5" and a magazine
capacity of 25 rounds.
Variants
Mod.1918/30
In the 1930s the semiautomatic[4] Mod.1918/30 model was developed; It completely
revamped the action of the gun, replacing the delayed-blowback Villar Perosa action
with a new closed-bolt system with a loose firing pin that was cocked by a guided
rod protruding from the rear of the receiver, with a ring-shaped cocking piece.
This earned the gun the nickname "Il Siringone" ("The Syringe"). The magazine feed
was also revamped, now taking straight box magazines from the underside of the
receiver. The folding bayonet was retained on most models. Few examples of the
Model 1918 survive, since the Mod.1918/30 was produced by converting existing
Mod.1918s.[5]

MIDA
While the standard Revelli-Beretta carbine was a semi-automatic weapon only,
several experimental variants were developed with selective-fire capability. Most
of these were not made at Beretta, but at Manifattura Italianad'Armi (MIDA) in
Brescia, and may have been designed by Alfredo Scotti. These included twin-trigger
"bigrillo" models which gave automatic fire on their rear triggers and single fire
from their forward triggers. This type of trigger group became standard on later
Beretta submachine guns, including the well-known Model 38 series. Apart from the
trigger system, the MIDA variants also differed from the standard Beretta in most
of their components, with different stocks, sights, magazine release catches,
ejection chutes, and bayonet mounts that took the detachable Carcano TS bayonet
rather than the folding cavalry bayonet. One MIDA-made experimental model also
incorporated a right-canted magazine feed; the reason for this is unknown. Although
a small lot of twin-trigger MIDA submachine guns are known to have been produced,
they were probably never taken into service. The exact reason for the development
of the MIDA submachine gun is still not entirely known but it was probably for a
special military contract from some unit that desired a variant of the Revelli-
Beretta carbine with automatic fire capability.[1][6]

Users
Italy
Albania[citation needed]
Argentina:Beretta 1918/30 in 9mm Parabellum[5] adopted in 1933 by the Federal
Police,[5] and Buenos Aires Provincial Police
Ethiopia Surplus mod.1915 and mod.1918/30 were bought from Italy and issued to the
Kebur Zabagna,[7][5] possibly some were also shipped to Eritrea and captured by the
Ethiopians[1]
Saudi Arabia:Purchased surplus Carbines,[7] possibly around 1938[4]
Non-state entities
La Cagoule:A number of Mod.1918/30 carbines were smuggled by OVRA in exchange for
favours to the Italian government.[1]
See also
Hafdasa C-4, an Argentine derivative of the Beretta Model 1918/30.
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
Owen gun, an Australian submachine gun also using a toploading design.
References
"Beretta Model 1918 automatic carbine". firearms.96.lt. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
Ian McCollum (23 October 2015). "Beretta M1918 SMG Photos". Forgotten Weapons.
Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
"Revelli OVP submachine gun". firearms.96.lt. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
"Beretta 1918/30". Forgotten Weapons. 2010-10-28. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
"Beretta 1918/30". firearms.96.lt. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
"MIDA submachine gun". firearms.96.lt. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
"The Revelli-Beretta Model 1918 Automatic Carbine - Small Arms Review". 2022-09-
20. Archived from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-10-06.