Beretta Serialization & Date Codes For Italian Made Guns 1945 - 2007

I was curious to find out when my newly acquired Beretta Model 84B was manufactured and conducted a web search to that effect. I was a pleasantly surprised to discover that Beretta has a serial number look-up page. I was also quite dismayed to discover that it did not work for the serial number of my Beretta 84B and I followed their instructions and dropped the Y at the end of the serial number (I also tried with the Y). Instead of giving me any info about my pistol, I was presented with a page directing me to call "1-800-BERETTA ext. 2003 between 9 AM and 5 PM EST Monday through Friday.".  Since my phone rarely works in my apartment, I decided to continue the web search. I should note, the Beretta app did work to look up the date of manufacture for my 950BS, it was made in 1990 - no month shown. The app also worked for my two 92FS pistols both manufactured in 1997; that was no surprise as they have consecutive serial numbers but I was surprised to see they are both listed as "Pol. Special" which I imagine means police special. Never knew they had such a designation for the 92FS. So, it seemed to work for my American made Beretta pistols but not for those of mine made in Italy.

The next thing I came up with was the page at this link: https://www.answers.com/Q/What_year_was_the_Beretta_84F_made_-_serial_number_E542xxY. Usually when I wind up on an Answers.com page, the info there seems to me to be quite lacking; however, this time I am pleased to say I found some useful and what I think was amazingly coincidental information about the date codes for those of my Beretta pistols manufactured in Italy. Those pistols include my Beretta 70S, 84B and 92SB. When I checked the Model 84B I saw it had the date code AI. According to the page at the above link, that indicates the 84B was manufactured in 1982. Being the curious type, at least about my own firearms, I decided to check my other Beretta pistols that had been manufactured in Italy. I was quite surprised at what I saw next - the other two of my Berettas that were manufactured in Italy both also have the same date code as the 84B, meaning they were all produced in 1982.  I got the 92SB in or about August or September 1982 (as a replacement for one I bought in June 1982 but that had issues and was replaced under warranty) and the 70S in July 1983 (also a replacement but because I sent in the original to have a longer barrel fitted for it by Beretta and when they sent it back UPS left it on the doorstep and it was stolen, so Beretta replaced it). What an amazing coincidence it is that the 84B was made in the same year as the other two considering I bought the 84B in February 2020 some 36.5 years after I got the second of the other two.

Not one to usually copy and past all the info I find on such a page, I will make an exception now and paste it below (only because I did not see, anywhere on the page, that the info supplied on answers.com page nor their web page were copyrighted). So, here it is (note the answers.com info was posted in 2010 and the info provided was good from 1945 up until 2007 for manufacture dates):

"Beretta firearms produced in Italy carry a proof mark for the year of production. The chart below is used to identify the year by this mark. For recent pistols this mark is usually located on the frame near the trigger guard, for older pistols, the mark is on the slide or on the frame behind the grip area. Shotguns have this mark stamped on the barrel near the chamber. You may need to remove the barrel to read the mark.

In some cases the actual date was stamped instead of these marks, this is normally seen on older pistols.

We have also seen markings where roman and numerical figures are combined, for example XX 8 instead of the listed XXVIII for year 1972.

 I - 1945; II - 1946; III - 1947; IV - 1948; V - 1949; VI - 1950; VII - 1951; VIII - 1952; IX - 1953; X - 1954; XI - 1955; XII - 1956; XIII - 1957; XIV - 1958; XV - 1959; XVI - 1960; XVII - 1961; XVIII - 1962; XIX - 1963; XX - 1964; XXI - 1965; XXII - 1966; XXIII - 1967; XXIV - 1968; XXV - 1969; XXVI - 1970; XXVII - 1971; XXIII - 1972; XXIX - 1973; XXX - 1974; AA - 1975; AB - 1976; AC - 1977; AD - 1978; AE - 1979; AF - 1980; AH - 1981; AI - 1982; AL - 1983; AM - 1984; AN - 1985; AO - 1986; AS - 1987; AT - 1988; AU - 1989; AZ - 1990; BA - 1991; BB - 1992; BC - 1993; BD - 1994; BF - 1995; BH - 1996; BI - 1997; BL - 1998; BM - 1999; BN - 2000; BP - 2001; BS - 2002; BT - 2003; BU - 2004; BZ - 2005; CA - 2006; CB - 2007;"

That is a very good resource if all the date code info is correct and I can say without a doubt that according to other sources the 84B was produced between 1980 and 1985 so 1982 is right in there. In addition, I know for a fact that both the 70S and the 92SB were also being produced in that year. My guess is the info is good as gold.

All the best,

Glenn B