Beretta Model 81 32 ACP

[Joshua]

When Beretta 81’s were available for $199, there was an argument to be made that they were the “best” 32 acp pistol on the market for less than $200.

I’m very happy with mine.

I just looked at GunBroker.com, they have an Italian surplus like mine that’s bidding at $455 with four hours left on the auction. They have gone up quite a bit.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

When Beretta 81’s were available for $199, there was an argument to be made that they were the “best” 32 acp pistol on the market for less than $200.

I would agree that is a very fair assessment.
They were excellent values when they were $200 and I would submit that they remained good values even when they reached the $300 mark.

 

[RicinYakima]

Like mine very much, but didn't like to pay $50 for a second magazine.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Try buying a spare mag for a Walther P5

 

[Outpost75]

Last Christmas I received four new Beretta mags from Italy for 57 Euros plus shipping, which brought cost to about $40 each, so if you can get mags stateside for close to that you are doing well.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Update:
The combination of the Accurate 31-075H bullet and 2.2 grains of Bullseye is a winner. Outpost75 gets all the credit for that.

Still experimenting with sizing. .311" & .312" both seem to work equally as well but the round count with .311" is pretty small. My .311" die is a Lyman and the bore doesn't seem to be concentric to the outer body of the die. Haven't spent the time to trace that down. The RCBS .312" may win by default. I have a RCBS .311" sizing die on backorder (don't we all have something on backorder these days?).

I initially made a powder scoop to dispense 2.2 grains of Bullseye. I quickly decided my sanity was more important than my wallet and purchased a Little Dandy powder measure and a #0 rotor. No regrets there.

My biggest complaint is the effort to recover those tiny 32 ACP casings. My loss rate is pretty high.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Beretta USA has magazines available for the Beretta Model 81 series.

They are $46 each and YES, I know that's a really steep price. For that money you get a genuine, made in Italy, Beretta magazine with 12 round capacity. The floor plate is aluminum, and the follower is steel.
I don’t think Beretta inflated the price of these magazines; they have always been proud of their replacement parts.

The price isn’t great, but they are new factory magazines.

 

[RicinYakima]

Try to get a group to buy, as they charge a lot for shipping. That is a fair price, as nice used ones were $45 last year when Beretta was out of them.

 

[JustJim]

As a kid, when I couldn't find anything else I wanted at a gun show I'd pick up orphan magazines (still got a bunch of them). I'm wishing now that I hadn't passed up on so many Beretta mags, but people wanted $5 apiece for them!

 

[Joshua]

Beretta USA has magazines available for the Beretta Model 81 series.

They are $46 each and YES, I know that's a really steep price. For that money you get a genuine, made in Italy, Beretta magazine with 12 round capacity. The floor plate is aluminum, and the follower is steel.
I don’t think Beretta inflated the price of these magazines; they have always been proud of their replacement parts.

The price isn’t great, but they are new factory magazines.

I have two of these new production beretta magazines that I bought from Midway about a year and a half ago. They will not easily accept more than 11 rounds. Painfully stiff springs on these new magazines.

 

[Dimner]

I bought 3 of these back when all those surplus 81s were around. I think for 28 bucks per mag?

Beretta Model 81 Cheetah .32 ACP 12 round Magazine

MFR#: C85888 UPC:CALIBER: .32 ACPMAGAZINE CAPACITY: 12 rounds# OF MAGS: OneFITS: Beretta Model 81, 81B, 81BB, 81F, 81FSLIST OF STATES WITH MAGAZINE RESTRICTIONSThis item qualifies for FREE SHIPPING on orders of $90.00 or more!

dkfirearms.com

Then I bought a 2nd surplus 81 because it came with a spare mag.

I bought my first 81bb from AIM and then the 2nd was the standard 81 from DK. Both are very nice. I have only shot the 81bb and it shoots point of aim at 10-15 yards. Nice groups too. Pew pew pew!

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I have two of these new production beretta magazines that I bought from Midway about a year and a half ago. They will not easily accept more than 11 rounds. Painfully stiff springs on these new magazines.

If you load 12 rounds in the magazine (it takes some effort the first time) they loosen up a bit. After that first full magazine, they work as they should.
I agree, those puppies are tight when new.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I bought 3 of these back when all those surplus 81s were around. I think for 28 bucks per mag?

Beretta Model 81 Cheetah .32 ACP 12 round Magazine

MFR#: C85888 UPC:CALIBER: .32 ACPMAGAZINE CAPACITY: 12 rounds# OF MAGS: OneFITS: Beretta Model 81, 81B, 81BB, 81F, 81FSLIST OF STATES WITH MAGAZINE RESTRICTIONSThis item qualifies for FREE SHIPPING on orders of $90.00 or more!

dkfirearms.com

Then I bought a 2nd surplus 81 because it came with a spare mag.

I bought my first 81bb from AIM and then the 2nd was the standard 81 from DK. Both are very nice. I have only shot the 81bb and it shoots point of aim at 10-15 yards. Nice groups too. Pew pew pew!

Those magazine from DK are $6 cheaper than Beretta - good to know.
The last time I checked DK they were out of stock but it looks like they now have some more.

I'm impressed with the model 81BB I purchsed. It was in excellent condition. Maybe even unfired. The breach face was pristine, the slide rails showed no signs of wear, the bluing was still on the hammer face and feed rib. The only marks were minor handling marks on the grip. And it functions and shoots well. (it didn't remain in unfired condition long )

 

[CZ93X62]

The 32 ACP helped start the First World War. Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke and his better half with a Roth-Steyr Model 1908. I have one of these, and though they were popular as police arms in Austria-Hungary, I'll be d---ed if I can see the utility of the little contraptions. It has a weird mechanical arrangement that (to put it politely) has not withstood the test of time.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

The 32 ACP helped start the First World War. Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke and his better half with a Roth-Steyr Model 1908. I have one of these, and though they were popular as police arms in Austria-Hungary, I'll be d---ed if I can see the utility of the little contraptions. It has a weird mechanical arrangement that (to put it politely) has not withstood the test of time.

I was under the impression that the pistol used was a FN Model 1910.

I don't consider Wikipedia to be an academic source but here's an article on that:

Gavrilo Princip - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I'll see if I can find a better source but from what I've previously read, it was a FN pistol, sometimes claimed to be chambered in 32 ACP and sometimes claimed to be a 380 Auto but always a FN pistol.

 

[CZ93X62]

P&P--I read this info in an armorer's manual dealing with captured WWII bring-backs, in which the text described the pistol as such. Book title and author escapes me, it was borrowed from a co-worker that now runs a P/I firm and does Glock and SIG armorer work at his home. He is one of the BUSIEST 70-year-olds I have ever known, I'll see if I can run him to ground this week and get a title and page.

The M-1908 has a recoil spring-to-barrel arrangement that fell from favor after WWI--its recoil spring ran in a gallery ABOVE the barrel rather than below as is more common in modern times. There were a number of small pistols of this design from c. 1900 to 1920, and FN had a couple of these as did a lot of other European makers.

My example has professionally-executed armory numbers, believed by the Mannlicher Collector's Association to be police department inventory control numbers. These are seen on the pistol's grip frame. Like a few of my other war toys, I would love to hear this example's history.

Can I independently certify that Princip used an M-1908 in 1914? I only know what I've read, so that's the extent of it. I'll try to flesh this out a bit more, at least get a source name and horsepower. Check yer PMs.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

This may be one of those artifacts lost to time. The actual pistol was undoubtably recovered at the arrest of Princip that immediately followed the assassination. However, in those days physical evidence would have far less value than eyewitness testimony. In today’s world that pistol would be a valuable piece of evidence, in the early 1900’s it would be more of a historical prize. It is hard to say where the actual pistol ended up but there would be some incentive for one to claim he had the actual pistol. And that can lead to more than one potential item with dubious provenance.

The territory involved went through two world wars and the cold war. What started as the Austro-Hungarian Empire became Yugoslavia and then Bosnia and Herzegovina. The pistol currently held in a museum in Vienna has a decent chance of being the actual pistol used by Princip. Is it really the pistol? That may be a bit more difficult to prove.

I’ve read historical accounts that listed the pistol as a FN Model 1900 chambered in 7.65 (32 ACP) and I’ve read accounts that the pistol was a FN model 1910. I’ve also seen reference to both 32 and 380 although 32 seems a bit more plausible to me in that part of the world at that time.

One source indicated that by 1909 FN had produced over 500,000 Model 1900 pistols, so they were certainly present in Europe, in large numbers, by 1914. That same source (Handguns of the World by Ezell) shows the model 1910 was patented in 1909 and went into production in 1910, so those models were also available by 1914. It is plausible that either model could have been used by Princip.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

An Official Journal Of The NRA | The FN Browning 1910 Pistol And The Great War

On June 28, 1914, seven students in Sarajevo set out to assassinate Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Armed with bombs and four FN Model 1910 pistols, they set in motion one of the world’s greatest conflicts.

www.americanrifleman.org

I've read many accounts over the years that have listed the pistol used by Princip as either a FN Model 1900 or FN Model 1910. This article that appeared in the American Rifleman sheds some light on the topic. It seems that the media erronously reported the pistol as a Model 1900 at the time of the event (the media was worthless even back then). This was possibly due to the model 1900 being far more common in 1914 than the newer model 1910. There's also the fact that in early 1900's Europe, semi-auto pistols were simply refered to as "Brownings" regardless of the actual make. The same way we refer to facial tissue as "Klenex" regardless of the brand name. So since the gun used was a semi-auto pistol and not a revolver, it was called a "Browning" and the most common Browning at the time was the Model 1900 chambered in 32 ACP- it was an easy mistake for the press.

There seems to be some solid evidence that the 4 pistols used were all purchased from the same store and were all FN Model 1910 pistols. The pistol used by Princip ended up with a preist after the trial. Again, this fits with the pistol being more of a historical artifact than a piece of evidence. (common for the era).
And finally, the pistol was chambered in 9 x 17 (380 Auto) which would have been unusual for the day because the 32 ACP was far more common.

Browning FN Model 1910: The first shots of WWI :: Guns.com

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed by an assassin firing a Browning FN Model 1910 effectively starting WWI.

www.guns.com

SO the pistol held in the museum in Vienna is likely the one used by Princip and it is a FN Model 1910 chambered in 380 Auto.

 

[CZ93X62]

Still no call-back from David. I would place a bit more stock in the content of American Rifleman than in many other arms publications.

One of my rangemaster/trainer buddies (the late Sgt. Charlie Varga) used to annoy the admin types and a couple detectives that carried 380s as duty guns, as follows--"You need to be careful with those things, they can raise quite a welt!"

 

[RicinYakima]

Still no call-back from David. I would place a bit more stock in the content of American Rifleman than in many other arms publications.

One of my rangemaster/trainer buddies (the late Sgt. Charlie Varga) used to annoy the admin types and a couple detectives that carried 380s as duty guns, as follows--"You need to be careful with those things, they can raise quite a welt!"

There is a difference between a "killing" cartridge and and "stopping" cartridge. Small ones depend upon shot placement and accuracy.