Beretta 21 and 950

D

Doug Ridley

New member
On these tip up barrels I understand how the blow back causes it to tip up but what causes the barrel to come back down after ejection?
 
@Mr. Ridley: You are correct. The actions are blowback without an extractor. A lever on the left side of the gun (looking from the back toward the barrel) rotates a triangular shaped pin which releases the locking lug on the underside of the barrel. The pointed side of the locking pin, rotates down. The barrel should NOT tip up, unless released. Since there is no extractor, the tip up barrel allows the user to manually extract an unfired round from the chamber You can also use the tip up feature to load the first cartridge without racking the slide. After extracting or loading a cartridge. you simply snap the barrel back down until it locks.

If a beretta 21 is unlocking its barrel after firing, then there is something seriously wrong.
 
I'm sorry for not being clear, or perhaps I misunderstand the question. The barrel SHOULD NOT pop up after firing and eject an empty cartridge. When the gun is fired, the barrel stays in place, and the cartridge rides against the face of the slide until it hits the ejector. If you manually release the barrel and manually extract a cartridge, you just simply push the barrel down into place again.
 
I don't understand. These guns don't have an extractor. The barrel pops up and the empty flies out. My question is -What causes the pop up barrel to go back down to receive the next cartridge out of the magazine? I am pretty thick headed.
 
Okay Hammie. I finally got it. The barrel stays put and the slide operates as with any other semi but the blow back pushes the empty out. I'm getting so old I get confused easily. I knew this already but just got to thinking about the pop up barrel. You all must think I'm a total idiot. Dang me, dang me, they ought to take a rope and hang me!
 
Is the Beretta 21 the Bobcat? I think Taurus makes a Pt-22 that resembles it.

There may not be an extractor, but I believe there should be an ejector still which kicks the spent casing off to the side somewhere. So actually the little pistols don't *need* the tip up function to operate, it would just serve as a substitute for racking one into the chamber. Load your mag, insert mag, use tip-up feature to load one into the chamber. That might be helpful if someone has arthritis, but then you have the double action trigger to contend with next.
 
@Mr. Ridley: Don't give it any further thought. I'm 73 and in the past few years, I've been doing a lot of "face-palming".

@dyl: I think the beretta 21A, in either .22 LR or .25ACP is the bobcat. The 950 was a single action and was called the jetfire in .25 ACP or the minx in .22 short. The tip up feature is better used for extracting an unfired round. There is no slide hold back on that pistol.

I have a 21A in .25ACP and it has surprisingly snappy recoil.
 
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Thanks, Hammie. I knew everything you told me about both the 21a and the 950. For some reason my 87 yr. old brain got completely confused about the tip up barrel, thinking it popped up to eject the empty case. I hope it isn't the beginning of worse to come.
 
@Mr. Ridley: It sounds like you're doing very well. My hunting days are over, but I can still make it to the range and reloading bench. And, yes, I reload for the beretta 21A. The hardest part is spotting the empty .25ACP's in a sea of spent .22LR casings.
 
The 950 B Minx slide will stay back if pulled back manually. There's no release lever, pressure on the rear of the slide will release it. The slide doesn't stay back while firing.

I had one and thought it was messed up because the slide stayed open when I pulled it back. I searched youtube and found this video which explains it pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCrw3r3aTLA

Edit: Just tried it on a Model 20, and that slide wouldn't stay back. Th Model 20 was made around 1985 in MD, the Minx was made during 1960 in Italy.
 
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Not all 950's have a tip up barrel.

My 950EL (the "pretty one w/the gold trim & deep blue) has a fixed barrel.

Can't even begin to tell you how it functions in real life as I never even loaded it, much less fired it since I got it in 1986.

One of these days, I might get around to it.
 
The earlier 25acps from Beretta were a locked barrel blowback with the open slide that continued right through to the current 92s. My model 1919 (that eventually evolved into the model 418 that is James Bonds first gun in the novels) looks like a scaled down version of my 1935.
 
@Carmady, Hal & jar: I didn't know that about the slide hold back, and fixed barrel on some of the 950's. I was basing my response on my beretta 21. This is why I love all you guys here. I always learn something. (And all of you are gentlemen about it.)

I've come to realize that the only generalization you an make about the shooting sports is that you can't generalize.
 
hammie said:
@Carmady, Hal & jar: I didn't know that about the slide hold back, and fixed barrel on some of the 950's. I was basing my response on my beretta 21. This is why I love all you guys here. I always learn something. (And all of you are gentlemen about it.)

I've come to realize that the only generalization you an make about the shooting sports is that you can't generalize.
Click to expand...
The barrels can be removed for cleaning and really easily but ar not a tilt design like many guns.

Field Strip a Beretta 418
 
No 950 slide (.22 or .25) should stay open.
Click to expand...

Then why would Beretta go to the trouble to put that foot on the trigger bar? It looks clear to me that it's supposed to hold the slide back, because it does.

If that's wrong, what is the purpose of the little foot going up into the slide?
 
That "foot" is the disconnector!
If it's holding the slide open, there is something wrong.
Pull the slide back with the grip off and see how it works.
 
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