Beretta 71, Finally!

HarryB

HarryB

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Dec 25, 2002
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Valley of the Sun
Some years ago I got to shoot a Beretta 70 and loved it. Alas he wouldn't part with it. For years I have looked for a good specimen. I looked at the surplus guns with the fake suppressors and they all looked the worst for wear.

One popped up on my radar and my credit card popped out of my wallet. I overpaid, but this was on my most wanted list. The light is harsh, but she shows little wear since she was born in 1959. Super smooth and tight lockup. Great trigger. Sucky sights. Just one mag and no box. But I'm a shooter, not a collector. ApexGunparts has Beretta mags so I ordered a pair.

She'll be a nice companion for my 85BB 71l.jpg 71r.jpg
 
Those are great little guns! Congratulations for picking one up of the "Most Wanted" list!
 
HarryB
Some years ago I got to shoot a Beretta 70 and loved it.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean; once you've picked one up it's hard to put it back down!
fbAgtTf.jpg


Enjoy your new found Beretta!
 
HarryB
Dude, I saw your chromed beauty from time to time here and that just intensified my desire to find one. That’s a beautiful piece!
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Glad to have been of some assistance in this matter.
 
I had one. Probably the only pistol I regret selling. I made a review on THR here:

New purchase: a Beretta 71

Last week I was at my LGS and the armourer showed me this .22L.R. Beretta 71 with the short barrel. It appeared to be in pretty good conditions, some little rust spots here and there (nothing a good gun oil could not cure), but it was basically unfired with no signs of internal wear whatsoever...
www.thehighroad.org
Beretta 71 01.JPG Beretta 71 02.JPG
IMG_20240501_193011.jpg
 
5-SHOTS said:
I had one. Probably the only pistol I regret selling. I made a review on THR here:

New purchase: a Beretta 71

Last week I was at my LGS and the armourer showed me this .22L.R. Beretta 71 with the short barrel. It appeared to be in pretty good conditions, some little rust spots here and there (nothing a good gun oil could not cure), but it was basically unfired with no signs of internal wear whatsoever...
www.thehighroad.org
View attachment 1207430View attachment 1207431
View attachment 1207432
Click to expand...

VB-04-small.jpg

Like this?
 
I don't really collect old pistols, but if I did it would be S&W Revolvers, and Beretta Semi Autos. Well, I have one of each that I shoot, and not often enough.
 
jar said:
View attachment 1207439

Like this?
Click to expand...
That was the very first pistol I purchased back in 2007. A Bernardelli Model 48/49 made in 1954 (I can still remember the serial number 😁). Sold this one too. Unfortunately in Italy there's a number limitation for pistols and revolvers you can own at the same time so if the slots are full you must sold one to purchase another.
 
5-SHOTS said:
That was the very first pistol I purchased back in 2007. A Bernardelli Model 48/49 made in 1954 (I can still remember the serial number 😁). Sold this one too. Unfortunately in Italy there's a number limitation for pistols and revolvers you can own at the same time so if the slots are full you must sold one to purchase another.
Click to expand...
I have the striker 7.65 shown above and also a model 60 which is the hammer fired version.

Bernardelli-60a-800.jpg
 
I bought one several years ago, no pictures...I'm sorry, it had a huge, heavy fake suppressor on it.
After I drilled out the welds it was a great shooter!!
It would shoot what ever would fit in the mag. Wish I could find 1 extra mag for this pistol.

I am going out of town, hope I can update this post with a picture!

Edit: spelling error
 
Last edited:
I picked up a Beretta 70s in .22lr a couple months ago. Had to replace a dinged rear site, but otherwise it’s solid. Luckily it didn’t come with those oversized target grips. It eats everything I stuff in it, and with its metal frame, no recoil at all. Definitely a great gun! IMG_2754.jpeg
 
Since we seem to have a lot of Beretta's expertise cornered here in this thread hopefully I can get a questions answered. Are the mags for 71 and 70s interchaneable? Where is the best place to find reliable mags for the 70s.
I found with the 70s that it is very easy to load one too many rounds into the .22 lr mag and then that causes some mischief. So, I have to pay attention and not load as many as it will hold. When I load it properly then it runs without a hitch.
 
That whole product line with the open top slides are great guns. Generally pretty soft shooting unless you’re getting into the tiniest of them and even then they are soft compared to similarly sized pistols of the same chambering. The one I want I haven’t seen in person for about a decade, and that’s the .32acp built on the alloy frame that most of the .380 pistols were built on. I even like the “knockoffs” of them made by Taurus, and more recently Girsan. There are some EAA guns that are visually similar but functionally not great. The thing with these pistols is how light the slide is. With a heavy enclosed slide you have a lot of reciprocating mass which is felt as recoil, but with these pistols you have less mass and less felt recoil, plus the ergonomics are really nice for a wide range of people. I still wish they would build a 92 pattern gun in 10mm. There’s no room in the mag well for it, and no real room to expand that area without losing ergonomics to the trigger so a 40sw is as close as it’s ever gonna get.
 
Congrats on the new pistol.

I have a Model 84, Model 85 (380 ACP) and a Model 81 (32 ACP) versions. The 22LR model would be nice to have.
 
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