The Beretta BU 9 Nano is a semi-automatic, striker fired, micro compact

pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

line that was manufactured by Beretta USA in the United States at its

Gallatin, Tennessee Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 30,278 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census and 44,431 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Named for United States Secre ...

facility. Until 2016, it was manufactured at Beretta USA's main headquarters in

Accokeek, Maryland Accokeek (), "at the edge of the hill" in Algonquin, is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The CDP is located on the Potomac River, borders Charles County and is approximately 17 miles ...

. The Nano was introduced in October of 2011 and was chambered in

9mm Luger This is a list of firearm cartridges that have bullets in the to caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviate ...

History

The Nano was discontinued in 2019, when Beretta introduced the APX Carry (which is largely a cosmetic refresh of the Nano). The Nano is not available for retail sale in the state of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, as it does not meet handgun roster requirements.

Design

The Beretta Nano is a compact

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

developed for

concealed carry Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pre ...

. It has a fiberglass infused "technopolymer" frame and a Pronox finished slide. Pronox is a form of

ferritic nitrocarburizing Ferritic nitrocarburizing or FNC, also known by the proprietary names "Tenifer", "Tufftride", Melonite, and "Arcor",Other trade names include Tuffride/ Tuffrider, QPQ, Sulfinuz, Sursulf, Meli 1, and Nitride, among others is a range of proprietar ...

finish similar to Tenifer (as used on for example

Glock Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

pistols) and Melonite (as used on for example

Springfield Armory XD The Springfield Armory XD is a series of semi-automatic pistols produced by Springfield Armory, Inc., along with follow-on variants: XD-M, XD-S, and XD-E. Polymer-framed and predominantly striker-fired, the series is manufactured by HS Produkt ...

and

Smith & Wesson M&P The Smith & Wesson M&P (Military and Police) is a polymer-Receiver (firearms), framed, short recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistol introduced in the summer of 2005 by the American company Smith & Wesson. Most variants use a Recoil ...

pistols). The sights on the Nano are low-profile 3-dot sights. The

9mm This is a list of firearm cartridges that have bullets in the to caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviate ...

version of the Nano holds 6 rounds of

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

in a single-column box

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

, for a total capacity of 7 if the pistol is chambered and the magazine is fully loaded. A .40 S&W version of the pistol was in development, but was never produced. The Nano was designed with a removable serial-numbered chassis separate from the frame, an unusual feature notably also found in the

SIG Sauer P250 The SIG Sauer P250 is a semi-automatic pistol made by Sigarms (now known as Sig Sauer Inc. of Exeter, New Hampshire). History The P250 chambered in 9mm was introduced to the North American market on November 7, 2007, followed by the .45 ACP ...

-series pistols. This allows the owner to customize their grips with multi-colored frames without replacing the component that legally constitutes a firearm. Designed to be used as a concealed carry

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of Force (law), ...

weapon, the Nano has no external slide lock or release. Additionally, the Nano has no external safety. The absence of these protruding controls reduces the likelihood of the weapon snagging on clothing during an occasion where a quick and clean draw is required. The slide locks in a rear position after the magazine has been emptied. A loaded magazine must then be installed, or the empty magazine withdrawn, and the slide must be pulled rearward, in order to cycle the slide completely. Early owners of the Nano voiced concern about an intermittent failure to eject (FTE) while using lower quality ammunition with 115 grain bullets. Some users of the Nano counter that 115 grain ammunition would seldom, if ever, see service in the Nano as it is employed to its intended purpose of a concealed carry defensive weapon, although 115 grain ammunition is frequently used in training and range shooting. Many add that the Nano is rated for 9mm +P ammunition, and as such requires ammunition heavier than 115 grains to function as designed, although Beretta did not mention this in the owner's manual or in any of its marketing materials. Most Nano owners agree that the pistol functions best on ammunition with bullets of 124 grains or heavier, and this opinion is seconded by many representatives of Beretta USA.

Legacy

Beretta also used the modular/removable fire control unit concept for the

Pico Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribe ...

pistol and

APX In computational complexity theory, the class APX (an abbreviation of "approximable") is the set of NP optimization problems that allow polynomial-time approximation algorithms with approximation ratio bounded by a constant (or constant-factor a ...

platform.

Users

* :

Indonesian Navy The Indonesian Navy (, TNI-AL) is the Navy, naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol Indonesia's lengthy coastline, to enforce and patrol the territorial waters and Exclus ...

. * :

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA, ; Filipino: ''Ahensiya ng Pilipinas sa Pagpapatupad ng Batas Laban sa Bawal na Gamot'') is the lead anti-drug law enforcement agency, responsible for preventing, investigating and combating any d ...

with 40 Beretta Nanos delivered in 2013.

History

Design

Legacy

Users

References

Further reading