Beretta Model 38A

History

The Italian submachine gun was born from the original 1915 Fiat-Revelli Modello 1915 "Villar-Perosa" gun, used in the First World War (1914-1918). It was the first time a "submachine gun"-style weapon was used in a theater, but due to its unorthodox double-barreled design, the product had little useful form. It was originally issued to Italian Alpine troops and was generally used in a light machine gun role rather than a shock attack role against enemy infantry. The post-war Beretta Model 1918 brought the weapon more in line with the idea of ??a traditional submachine gun by encapsulating the metal parts of the Villar-Perosa (single-barreled) weapon in an active rifle stock.

Combined with this was the Beretta trigger mechanism, and the Italians had a serviceable submachine gun on hand.

Before WWII (1939-1945), this work resulted in a newer line of Beretta submachine guns - the main product became the "Type 38A". This submachine gun is loaded on the ubiquitous German 9x19mm Parabellum pistol cartridge and is fired via a simple recoil system. The type was officially accepted by the Italian Army (and elsewhere) and proved to be a well-made, very durable battlefield system that was in circulation throughout World War II, before production ceased in the 1950s.

Its use during the war extended beyond Italy, as the Germans and Romanians were known to use this weapon in large numbers during conflicts.

The

Type 38A departed from its original Villar-Perosa roots to form a more Beretta-centric end product. The rifle stock retains the full shoulder rest, pistol grip and forearm under the barrel. The trigger group slides under the gun mount in the usual way, and the magazine advances in front of the area. Aiming is through front and rear placements that support long-range fire.

A perforated jacket surrounds the barrel with inherent air cooling properties. Of note is the weapon's unique "dual trigger" mechanism, which features a pair of trigger assemblies - the front mount allows instant semi-automatic fire, while the rear trigger allows quick access to full-auto fire - the decision is left to the operator, not looking at one Fumbling for the selector lever. The muzzle compensator helps to some extent against "barrel rise".

For close combat, provisions for a forward bayonet were included in early production batches - a rare quality for a submachine gun given its intended use on short- and medium-range battlefields, but a World War I The trench warfare mentality was still there on the way to World War II.

The overall length of the gun is 37.5 inches and the barrel is 12.5 inches long. Curb weight is in the 4.20kg range. The weapon can be fed from a detachable magazine with 10, 20, 30 or even 40 rounds and a cyclic rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute.

The muzzle velocity was reported to be 1,370 feet per second.

These well-made submachine guns suffer from the pain of most interwar designs - they are premium weapons, and therefore difficult to use and expensive to manufacture. This has the beneficial effect of making the weapon very robust against misuse of war service, which has always been a popular feature of any infantry service weapon.

In the early days, expensive and time-consuming machined steel was used in the manufacturing process.

After Italy was involved in World War II, the Type 38A was widely used and became the standard submachine gun of the Italian Army. However, its expensive nature soon led to improvements to the system by 1941, abandoning the muzzle compensator and bayonet mount and incorporating steel sheet into the manufacturing. Around this time a new 9mm cartridge appeared, called the "9mm Cartuccia Pallottola Modello 38A", which promised increased muzzle velocity.

In response, the weapon's sights were regraded to compensate for the newfound power.

Despite attempts to reduce the cost of production of the Type 38A, the line underwent a major overhaul with the introduction of the wartime Type 38/42 in 1942. The mold removed the barrel jacket common to the original model and used steel plate in the receiver manufacturing process from the start. Several other changes were introduced into the design to achieve a more cost-effective end product.

The 38/43 and 38/44 were continuations of the original Beretta Model 1938A series, while the 38/49 became a post-war variant.

Specification

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Changes