I just ordered one from SOG today.  (Impulse buy. )

The SOG flyer said "fully functional, worn, fair condition with slight pitting."  So, for $160 I was expecting a working, but ratty POS.

Here's what I got:





I think it's condition is actually 'very good' to borderline 'excellent'.  I'll shoot it today and see what it does.

Should be a decent, fuss free little pistol.. It's the handgun that brought Beretta into the spotlight in the world..

Meplat-

I've got a guestion for someone that might be more knowledgable about 1934 model Berettas.  The one I have is one my father brought back from WW II. Alot of the 1934's that people talk about are marked Cal.9 SCURT, mine is marked Cal.9 CORTO. Is this because of different makers or what? Also after the year marking there is a marking of "XXI", anybody now what this means.

TIA

SWS - Very nice piece.  Looks like you definitely got your $160 worth!

NICE GRAB!

"Corto" means 'brief' (or short) in eye-tallyin.  "Scurt" of course means 'short' (or brief).  

They should all be from Italy - I'm not sure if the Egyptians made any of these guns back in the day.

It should be noted that this gun was actually made by Beretta in Italy for a Romanian contract.  "Scurt" is likely Romanian for "short", as in "9mm short".  Being a Romanian contract, this gun is also missing the Italian military proofmarks and the Fascist date coding.

Texas Cavalry, here's a site for old Beretta pistols that was quite informative:

space.tin.it/scienza/paocolam/P3.html

when i get my c&r one of those is going to be my first purchase.

You talked me into one. I just called and ordered one. I can't wait till it gets here.

I too was put off by the description that SOG has in their ad:
"fully functional, worn, fair condition with slight pitting"

Yours looks pretty good considering their description. If mine isn't in simillar shape I guess I'll just have it parkerized.


How's your barrel look? What's the condition?
Did you get a chance to shoot it yet?

Quoted: How's your barrel look? What's the condition? Did you get a chance to shoot it yet?

I finally shot it last afternoon and this morning.

1.) The first box of Sellier and Bellot 92gr. ammo yesterday was terrible, with many failures to fire due to light primer strikes.  Manually re-cocking the hammer would usually fire the round after two or three more tries.  I took the gun home and removed the firing pin, extractor and springs.  I thoroughly cleaned the FP channel and inspected the parts.  Nothing obvious was found.  (It should be noted that this gun's firing pin is not pointed.  It's actually nearly a flat tip.  And no, it doesn't appear to be broken off.)

2.) This morning I went back to the range and tried another box of S&B ammo.  Same thing - many failures to fire.

3.) Before giving up, I bought one box each of Winchester "white box" and Federal American Eagle.  Every single round fired, extracted and ejected.  Accuracy was very reasonable for a tiny pistol.

Other notes:
1.) The grip screws kept coming loose.  Every twenty rounds or so, I had to tighten them.

2.) Not having a slide release is inconvenient.

3.) One of the three supplied magazines kept hanging-up when loaded with more than three or four rounds.  The other two were fine.

4.) The barrel's rifling is not very "distinct".  The lands are not very tall and the edges are not very sharp.  The grooves are roughly finished or maybe frosted.  I don't know if the thing is shot-out, or if it's just supposed to be that way.  As I said, accuracy was completely acceptable.

For $160 and the right ammo, it's a decent little piece of history for the collection.

SWS- when dealing with "elderly" pistols, the following may help.

1- Loctite is your friend.
2- Expect to be the umpteen millionth owner, regardless of seller's claims.

3-"Good Bore" means "Pits form a spiral".

4-"Reliable Shooter" means "when Grandad Guiseppe ganked some Ethiopian in '39, he said it went bang reliably.."

Otherwise, welcome to the world of shooting vintage automatics!

Meplat-

Pardon my ignorance,

but is it a 9mm?

.380 acp (9x17)

Mine arrived this afternoon and it appears to be in the same shape as yours pictured. I haven't taken it apart yet but will soon to check it out.

Here's a couple of links I found that deal with fieldstripping:
www.marstar.ca/AssemblyBerettaPP.htm

www.geocities.com/Yosemite/6144/34.htm

Princeton,  I'm curious as to what your bore looks like.  As I said, mine looks worn but I can't tell if it's supposed to be that way.  If it's really shot-out, it certainly doesn't match the appearance or feel of the rest of the pistol.

(BTW, my barrel has the same serial number as the rest of the pieces.  I can't tell if that serial number is original, though.)

My barrel looks kinda worn also compared to todays standards. Similar to the rifling in the Systema pistol I got a year ago and it was reasonably accurate.

My barrel has matching serial number also.

A question for you.
With the safety ON and no magazine in the pistol if you pull the slide back does the slide stop engage? Is this normal for these type of pistols?

After a trip to the range to see how it shoots I'm probably going to be opening up the rear sight a bit. Can't hardly distinguish the front sight.

I'm happy with mine otherwise. If it wasn't for the ratty looking grips it would almost look new. (Although the slide is purple)

Just found this at Numrich:

www.e-gunparts.com/DisplayAd.asp?chrProductSKU=596690&chrSuperSKU=

Beretta 1934 pistols have recently been imported with aftermarket, replacement barrels. Now you can install a genuine, factory original Beretta barrel. These blued-steel .380 caliber barrels are in used, very good condition and supply is limited.

Quoted: Just found this at Numrich:

I saw that statement last week while looking at their parts diagram.  How do we determine if we have aftermarket barrels?

My slide stays open with the mag removed, just like yours.  That may be normal since that's part of the take-down procedure.

Please let everyone know how it shoots.  I'd be curious if your pistol was fussy about ammo like mine.