# Info on Beretta- Gardone



## jschmidt (Feb 24, 2019)

I have come to own a Pietro Beretta-Gardone VT - Cal 9 corto. Im looking for info on this firearm. It has a stamp IXX.
What ammo can I use. How do I clean and maintain. I have no manual.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Your pistol uses .380 ACP ammunition.
I believe that the "IXX" stamp means that it was made during the time of the Mussolini government, just before, or during, WW2. I believe that it is a sort of date stamp. This is worth researching.

Look online for disassembly instructions for the Beretta M.1934 pistol.
Maybe see: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=beretta+m.1934+disassembly
Or, click on: https://www.gunvaluesboard.com/how-to-disassemble-or-breakdown-beretta-model-1934-and-1935-1933.html


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## pblanc (Mar 3, 2015)

Pietro Beretta is the gun maker obviously, but Gardone V.T. simply stands for Gardone Val Trompia. Val Trompia is a river valley in the Italian province of Brescia and Gardone is a town in that valley. So Gardone VT is sort of like the Beretta Accokeek, MD roll marks on US made Berettas, until they moved to Tennessee recently. It tells us where the gun was made, but not the model or anything else.

As Steve said, 9 corto is one of the many names for .380 Auto caliber ammunition, so you at least know what to shoot. All Italian-made pistols assembled in Italy after 1923 had to be test fired at the Italian National Proof House in Gardone Val Trompia and should bear either a Gardone or Brescia proof mark. Pistols proofed after 1945 should also have a date stamp. From 1945 to 1987 the date stamp was a Roman numeral beginning with I and ending with XXX. From 1988 to present, the date stamp as been a two letter code. I could tell you what year your pistol was proofed if the date stamp was IX, XI, XII, XIX, or XXI, but IXX is not a Roman numeral.

If you post some photos of both sides of your pistol including a good view of the proof mark and date stamps, I'm sure someone here could tell you the model and date of manufacture. Another good source of info on all things Beretta is the berettaforum dot net.

You can also find out a good deal of info on the web by doing some searches for "beretta proof marks", "Italian proof marks and date stamps", and the like.


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## jschmidt (Feb 24, 2019)

pblanc said:


> Pietro Beretta is the gun maker obviously, but Gardone V.T. simply stands for Gardone Val Trompia. Val Trompia is a river valley in the Italian province of Brescia and Gardone is a town in that valley. So Gardone VT is sort of like the Beretta Accokeek, MD roll marks on US made Berettas, until they moved to Tennessee recently. It tells us where the gun was made, but not the model or anything else.
> 
> As Steve said, 9 corto is one of the many names for .380 Auto caliber ammunition, so you at least know what to shoot. All Italian-made pistols assembled in Italy after 1923 had to be test fired at the Italian National Proof House in Gardone Val Trompia and should bear either a Gardone or Brescia proof mark. Pistols proofed after 1945 should also have a date stamp. From 1945 to 1987 the date stamp was a Roman numeral beginning with I and ending with XXX. From 1988 to present, the date stamp as been a two letter code. I could tell you what year your pistol was proofed if the date stamp was IX, XI, XII, XIX, or XXI, but IXX is not a Roman numeral.
> 
> ...


date stamp would probably be XXI depends on position of the gun when looking at the stamp. Thanks for your help.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

According to Ed Buffaloe's site, _The Unblinking Eye_, the Italian date stamp "XXI" indicates manufacture in 1965. Not WW2, after all.


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## pblanc (Mar 3, 2015)

I suspect Steve is correct and you have a model M 1934 Beretta. There were not that many Beretta pistols chambered in .380 Auto prior to the Beretta 70S and Beretta 83-86, and they did not come along until the 1970s. The M1934 was made from 1934 to 1991. You can find lots of photos of M 1934 pistols on the web to see if your pistol matches.

If the date stamp is XXI the date of manufacture is almost certainly 1965. But Italian pistols were marked with Roman numeral dates during the Fascist Era. But the pistols usually had a Julian year date as well as a Roman numeral indicating the "Fascist year" and I believe both the Julian date and Roman numeral date were marked on the slides. The Fascist era began October 1922 and very abruptly ended in July of 1943 so a Roman numeral XXI indicating a Fascist year date would indicate a pistol made in 1942 or 1943. So a M 1934 pistol made during those years could have a "1942 XXI" or a "1943 XXI" roll mark on the left hand of the slide.


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