An interesting thing to notice, is that yours Mr Cartwright (I'm a big fan of Bonanza btw
) does not have a Roman numeral behind the production year 1944. This is because this figure indicates the year of Fascism. Above you see a 1939 XVII(17) while Antonios is 1941 XIX(19). If you count back, you seee that it started in 1922.
I have just handeled one of these Berettas, is it common that the slide is a bit stiff to pull back?