VEKTOR Z-88

Bamavol

This is a 9m Beretta 92f clone made in South Africa. Are they quality?

beantownshootah

Its not a "clone" per se (in the sense of an unauthorized copy), but rather a licensed copy of the Beretta 92, built in South Africa when the country was still under embargo. Manufacture started in '88, hence the name.

I've never tried one, but I'd imagine its probably comparable to the real McCoy.




Edit: These sources claim the gun is a licensed copy of the Beretta 92 manufactured in South Africa:

http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1300/1320.htm

http://www.economy-point.org/v/vector-weapon-manufacturer.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Army#Weapons

I don't want to turn this into a discussion about the merits, efficacy or lack thereof of the embargo against arms sales to South Africa or apartheid. So far as I know, the embargo was on importation of weapons, not manufacturing equipment, expertise, nor technical specs.

For reasons that should seem obvious, Beretta, which is actually the world's oldest continually operating company and still privately held, might not want to publically disclose any relationship it had with apartheid-era South African arms makers. But historically, Beretta has made guns in many different places including Brazil, USA, Turkey, etc.

Along the same lines, the South African R4 rifle was manufactured domestically (and I think still is), yet bears a "striking" similarity to the Israeli Galil rifle. Again, by all accounts the R4 is in effect a licensed copy originally built in South Africa to get around the embargo:

DRP-AZ

No license. They were under embargo for the "horrible injustice" known as Apartheid...which, BTW, worked.

DRP-AZ

I think Israel was one of the few countries to openly do biz with the RSA during the 80s when Leftists were squawking about how horrible Apartheid was.

They know what it's like to be hated, no matter what.