“Tag: Beretta M9A3”

Beretta, the maker of the standard-issue "U.S. Pistol, M9" for 30 years, has received word back from the U.S. Army that its Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) to the contract signed in 2012 for up to 120,000 pistols has been formally rejected.

Beretta has announced it is now shipping its M9A3 pistol to dealers nationwide.

When the Army decided not to include the Beretta M9A3 in its search for a new official sidearm, the company made it available for civilian enthusiasts and Gabrielle de Plano, Beretta vice president of Defense Marketing and Operations, provided some interesting tidbits on the handgun recently.

Originally designed to compete in the U.S. Army's Modular Handgun System trails as an upgrade from the original M9, the Beretta M9A3 was passed over by the military and became commercially available in December 2014.