Beretta 92 - Copies

Copies

The Beretta 92 was designed for sports and law enforcement use and, due to its reliability, was accepted by military users in South America and other countries all over the world.

A large contract for the Beretta 92 was with the Brazilian army, for which Beretta set up a factory in Brazil. This factory was later sold to the Brazilian gunmaker Taurus (Forjas Taurus S/A ). Taurus makes these pistols (called the PT92) without the need for a license from Beretta since their design is based on the original Beretta 92, whose patents have since expired.

The PT92 can be distinguished from its modern Beretta counterpart primarily by having the safety mounted on the frame as opposed to on the slide like the Beretta. Though mechanically similar to the original, the PT92s differ from the early 92s by having a trigger guard similar to the modern 92s (the originals were rounded) and a magazine release in the same place as the modern 92s (the originals were at the bottom of the grip.)

The Turkish company MKEK - Makina ve Kimya Endustrisi Kurumuhas - has been manufacturing a copy of the Beretta 92F as the Regard MC. There has been speculation that these were being made under contract from Beretta. Some of these pistols were imported into the United States by the company American Tactical Imports as the American Tactical 92 or AT-92.

France has made licensed copies of Beretta 92FS as the PAMAS G1 and the French-M92 is now in use in the Armies and law enforcement agencies, only to be replaced by the SIG SP2022 in the national police. Taiwan had made Beretta-like pistols namely the T75 while South Africa had produced the Beretta under license since 1992 as the Vektor Z88, and the batches are used by the South African Police.

Llama company of Spain has made unlicensed copies of pistol as the Llama M82 whereas Egypt had produced the Beretta under license as the Helwan 92, and Chile also made copies of the Brazilian PT-92 for its army use.