Italy's biggest firearms manufacturer turned the 2017 edition of the HIT Show – which took place on 2/11 thru 2/13 in the northern Italian town of Vicenza – into a high-profile international event by announching the official launch of the Beretta APX semi-automatic pistol on the international civilian market.

First showcased in its prototype stage at a defence-oriented trade show a couple of years ago, the now production-grade APX pistol is Beretta's latest sidearm design – a striker-fired polymer frame pistol conceived to satisfy the needs and preferences of modern civilian gun owners, sport shooters, private security operators, law enforcement officials and military personnel.

In the past year, the Beretta APX was submitted to many potential military, law enforcement and government customers for testing and evaluation. Its presentation at the 2017 edition of the HIT Show is the APX's first appearance at a purely civilian-oriented event; in March and April, the Beretta APX is also scheduled to be showcased at the 2017 IWA OutdoorClassics in Nuremberg (Germany), and at the 146th NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Atlanta (Georgia, U.S.A.).

The Beretta APX is scheduled to hit the shelves in southern Europe starting in March. Three calibers have been announced so far: 9x19mm (9mm Luger), 9x21mm IMI (the so-called "Italian Nine") and .40 Smith & Wesson. All versions will feed from a double-stack metal magazine with a polymer bottom pad and follower, offering fifteen rounds of capacity in all the three calibers.

The Beretta APX is not your average clone of "that" polymer frame, striker-fired pistol. It does indeed feature a tilting-barrel, modified Browning-type locking system, but the APX also sports a plethora of innovations that don't stop at the outer look and design.

All the controls of the Beretta APX are ambidextrous – exception made for the magazine release button, which is reversible. This makes the Beretta APX immediately fit for left-handed shooters, right out of the box, with only minimal adjustments required.

The serial number on the Beretta APX is not located on the polymer, railed frame, but on the removable metal chassis inside it – which hosts the trigger group.

This makes the polymer frame an optional part, which can be swapped at the user's will. Four frame colors will be available: black, olive drab green, desert tan, and urban gray. All feature interchangeable grip backstraps, allowing the Beretta APX to be adapted to any hand size.

Among the safety features of the Beretta APX are a trigger safety and an automatic firing pin safety that is very different from those seen on other striker-fired pistols. An ambidextrous, frame-mounted manual safety is available as an optional feature.

The sear design sports many innovations that make it quite different from those found on other striker-fired handguns, but we will cover it more extensively in an upcoming article.

The light double action trigger weighs in at just 2,8 kilograms (6.17 lbs) and offers a crisp release, a short travel, and a 3 mm / 0.11" reset.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price for the Beretta APX in its homeland Italy has been set at 710.00 euro; pricing and availability details for the international markets will be made public in the months to come.

Stay tuned on GUNSweek.com pages to find out more about the handgun that will mark a change in Beretta's history.