Army M9 Beretta Lives, Upgraded for Close-Quarter Combat

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

The Army’s M9 Beretta pistol has been operating with the US Army for many years and continues to arm soldiers today, yet despite it longevity, the service ultimately decided to acquire a new Modular Handgun System instead of again upgrading the Beretta. 

The Beretta’s combat performance, however, has been highly praised by US Army soldiers and the Army has purchased more than 600,000 M9s. 

The M9 has for years been well-liked the US Army and is defined by multiple sources as a “short recoil, semi-automatic, single action/double-action pistol that uses a 15-round staggered box magazine with a reversible magazine release button.”

While still in service today, the Beretta first emerged in the mid-80s and has matured into a more modern variant called M9A3 Beretta. The details of enhancements built into the Beretta M9A3 are described in great detail in an essay by Kyle Mizokami in Warrior Maven, The National Interest and Popular Mechanics from 2019.

“The A3’s barrel is still partially visible along the top of the frame, and the barrel has been increased slightly, to five inches. The barrel tip is threaded for use with a suppressor, and in the absence of a suppressor, a knurled knob can be screwed on to protect the barrel threads. The A3 also features tritium sights for low light shooting, and a three point Picatinny rail underneath the barrel for aiming lasers and flashlights,” Mizokami writes.

Most recently, the Army has worked with Beretta to produce the new M9A4 Beretta which incorporates even more upgrade such as an 18-round magazine, red-dot optic compatible slide, dovetailed tritium night sights, enhanced short reset Xtreme Trigger System and texturized Vertec-style thin grips, according to data from Beretta.

The success of the Beretta and its many upgrades has evolved in recent years into the the Army’s new Modular Handgun Program, resulting in the service’s choice to acquire the XM17 and XM18. The Army is now acquiring thousands of full-size XM17 and compact XM18 versions of the new 9mm pistol. The XM17 fires 147 grain jacketed hollow point ammunition.