Strange Beretta moment...

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MicroBalrog

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I'm a role-player, as you people all know. Today, my merry gang assembled for another game, GMed by me. The gang consists of:


1.Girl A, 16, who I'm kinda trying to impress (Just because I'm easily bored, I'm not in love or anything).

2. Girl B, 17 and her SO(or brother, or close friend), 23 [strange part is, guy comes in to play every week for two weeks, and I don't know his name yet, so I'll just refer to him as guy C).

So, he comes in today, and I notice he's packing. So we go into my room, and I close the door and ask him about the gun. He tells me he was assigned it by the company where he works (probably a guarding job). Gives me the gun and the mag. Seperately. The gun is a semi-auto Beretta in .22 LR. (***? A guard with .22 handgun?). The magazine is a single-stack with actual CHUNKS of dust in it. [Me: Didn't you, like, clean it when they gave it to you? Him: No...)

OK, so I'm holding this gun (that was before I found out about the mag). Mag well is empty, gun is pointed in a safe direction, finger off the trigger.

Now, I'm physically weak, so weak people told me before that I wouldn't be able to pull back the slide on most semi-autos. This is the first gun I ever held in my life, so I have no idea. So I was thinking, to myself, should I check the chamber, because that is The Right Thing? Or should I not, because a)Being unable to pull back the slide would be, like, real bad rep in front of the girls and all?
b)the other guy knows nothing about gun maintenance and is dumb like a shoe, what if he misunderstands that gesture?

So I didn't do The Right Thing and inspected the .22Lr Beretta without checking chamber, no finger on the trigger, gun pointed in a safe direction - but didn't check chamber, just assumed it was loaded instead.

Right thing to do? Stupid thing to do? What do you think?
 
Ehhh, I would say both of you were semi-stupid (him more than you)

Always clear a weapon before handing it over! Your friend should clear it first, and if he doesn't, you should. Good job on keeping it pointed in a safe direction with your finger off the trigger though.

And don't worry about racking a Beretta slide. They ain't too bad. :p
 
On a 22, racking the slide is extremely easy, unless it's a VERY small gun.

Look, the slide has to come back on recoil from the round. The less power in the caliber, the less spring. The lighter the slide though, the MORE spring you need.

With me so far?

On a fairly large 22, with a fairly heavy slide, the spring will be VERY light indeed. S&W had one model that was so light, you could rack it by wiping the slide on your leg. Literally.

Now, get into the really tiny little vest-pocket critters, and the slide is very light so the spring weight goes up, and those can be a bit tricky.

All that said: if you kept your finger off the trigger and the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, you did NOT screw up. 'Kay? Do that, and it won't matter if it's loaded.

If you had tried to disassemble it while loaded, THAT would be bad. Don't try and field strip a gun you don't know anything about. It is still safe to hold it/transport it with a RIGID adherence to the finger-off-trigger and muzzle-direction rules, as you did.
 
Don't those little Beretta's have a tip up barrel so you don't have to rack the slide? (I understand you wouldn't know that, but it may come in handy in the future.)

I wouldn't worry about it. As long as you don't point it at somebody or pull the trigger you'll be fine.

No offense, but I would look into some strength training if I were you.
 
Mr. March: This was a smallish pistol, single-stack. Does that help any in it's identification? I looked for model name/number. on it, but found none.

There was was also, as I mentioned in the original post, the part that this guy obviously knew nothing about firearms (especially seeing the dust-filled magazine, but that came later), so there was the chance that the action would be misunderstood.
 
no finger on the trigger, gun pointed in a safe direction - but didn't check chamber, just assumed it was loaded instead.
Click to expand...

In that situation (given both of your lack of practical knowledge) it was fine. You knew enough to be safe with it and more importantly you knew what you didn't know and didn't try to push that envelope.

It would certainly be better if he knew what he was doing with it, but at least he didn't tell you to pull the trigger to see if it went "click" or "BANG" :rolleyes: .

You did fine.

BTW, just how did you notice that he was "packing" a tiny pistol?

Greg
 
M21_Bobcat_Inox_S_maxi.jpg


I think some of the Beretta mice have tip-up barrels (not sure about this one but look at the hinge thingy under the muzzle) so you don't have to rack the slide....

I don't know if this is internet lore, but doesn't the Israeli spy dudes carry .22 Berettas for wacking tangos and stuff? :confused:
 
The 21A (Bobcat) does, indeed, have a tip-up tube. The latch is that black lever in front of the grip; press forward on it and the barrel pops up under spring tension.

Can't think of any Beretta .22's that fit the definition "small" that don't have a tip-up barrel, actually...
 
FYI,
You can impress folks by catching the round as it flys about two feet in the air when you release the tip-up barrel. The down side is you look like an idiot if you forget that the round gets flung out and it hits girl "A" in the head.

BTW,
Any luck with girl "A"? :evil:
 
So I was thinking, to myself, should I check the chamber, because that is The Right Thing? Or should I not, because a)Being unable to pull back the slide would be, like, real bad rep in front of the girls and all?
b)the other guy knows nothing about gun maintenance and is dumb like a shoe, what if he misunderstands that gesture?
Click to expand...
An ND in front of the ladies would look even stupider. However, you know that and kept the gun pointed in a safe direction.

So I didn't do The Right Thing and inspected the .22Lr Beretta without checking chamber, no finger on the trigger, gun pointed in a safe direction - but didn't check chamber, just assumed it was loaded instead.
Click to expand...

I've seen this phrase a lot in this thread; "Unloaded Gun."

What is that? I've never heard of it before. Guess I'm a newbie...

Please educate me....
 
IMHO your should have racked it. Good job on handling the gun as if it were loaded. Always make the gun safe for everyone's sake.
 
1. Yes, always clear a weapon. If you can't, ask him to. Safety before ego.
It's hard to look cool with a sucking chest wound.

2. Little note from the distaff side of the fence -- GMing Role Playing Games is not a good way to Impress the Girl. :)

-K
 
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