The firing pin was controlled by the lever, which pushed pin forward, toward the primer, only when bolt was going into the battery. Original version employed a small diameter return spring, concealed into steel tube which telescoped into the rear of the bolt. It continued to prove successful in the post-war period, with Beretta continuing manufacture until the 1970s, and was used by military and police forces around the world.īeretta Model 1938 submachine gun is blowback operated, select-fire weapon which fires from open bolt. It earned a reputation as one of the best military-issue submachine guns of World War II.

The M1938 was a very reliable and well-built weapon, and it was more accurate than most submachine guns of the time. In addition, captured M1938As were commonly used by CLN partisans. The M1938A remained in use by the monarchist Royal Italian Army, who were now sided with the Allies. In 1943, when Italy was invaded by Germany, Beretta was forced to continue production of the M1938 for the Wehrmacht and the collaborationist Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI) government. These cheaper variants were commonly issued to Italian forces in place of the M1938A after 1942.

Several variants were developed that removed some of the features that were deemed inessential. Wartime production of the M1938A proved very costly, so Beretta took several steps to reduce production cost. This became the standard model that was issued in large numbers to the Italian Army in 1941. At the end of 1938, the production run of the M1938A was modified to negate the bayonet feature and replace the existing compensator with a four-slotted version. Early batches were ordered by the Polizia dell'Africa Italiana (Italian colonial police) and the Carabinieri. Later that year, Beretta began producing a variant called the Model 1938A, which was exactly the same as the regular model but with circular perforations in the barrel jacket and an additional safety mechanism that blocked the rear trigger. Initial prototypes of the M1938 had finned barrels, but the first production models of the gun had barrel jackets with rectangular perforations and large compensators. It was developed from the Model 1935, which was a semi-automatic carbine designed for police forces. The Model 1938 was designed by Tullio Marengoni, the chief designer at Beretta.

Moschetto mod. 1938