The worst handgun I ever shot and can't believe it was ever used by a military but it was for a while, Beretta 1934. Slide stays open last shot on the magazine but when you remove the magazine the slide slams forward, and the trigger is gawd aweful heavy trigger pull poundage. Was my grand dad's so now I have it.
View attachment 1042242
You make an excellent argument as to why this is not a premium self defense pistol.
Except you didn't mention the rather puny cartridge, the rudimentary sights and the two-handed safety.
You are correct in it was adopted by a modern era army. The nation of Italy under Mussolini. The model 1934 (9mm Short - Corto -or .380 ACP to most of us) was the Army version and a year later, the Air Force adopted the same design but in 7.65mm Browning or .32 ACP, designated it as the model 1935.
What you did not mention is handguns are not considered a serious implement of war by military and civilian heads of military forces. When the handgun was adopted, Wars were fought with rifles, machineguns, mortars to some extent, cannons and aircraft on land and mostly cannons, some machineguns and aircraft on the sea. Handguns have never been considered important from a strategic or even tactical standpoint, save for some very specialized uses like the 'Tunnel Rats' of Vietnam.
The pistol was designed in the early 1930s. The design was continued until the 1970s, used by the Italian police and bought for personal use in many nations (including the U. S.) It seems to have lasted in design longer than the Duesenberg automobile. It was a normal pistol of the time.
By the way. I do accept the fact your grandfather owned it, but the grips and slide markings show it to be post war built. Likely in the 1950s and later, sold in the U. S.
Are later pistols built better - that is with more useful features? Yes. The industry - as do all - has learned from earlier non-effectiveness of various types of all things. However, the underpowered Beretta pistols were reliable. They fired when called upon.