So, who here has jumped on the Beretta 81?

[TruthTellers]

All the talk of using converted mags in these .32 Beretta's... forgive me for not rushing to be the guinea pig to test them. If they work, that's great, it means I'm more likely to get an 81 in the future. If they don't I won't be shocked.

 

[jar]

That's interesting and your results look great. I may do something similar with cold blue, depending on the condition of my examples. I'm curious about your last sentence -- why did you avoid correcting the normal holster wear?

Wabi Sabi

My bumps and blotches and creases and wrinkles and cuts and scars are all evidence of the life I've lived. Things age and change and get old and eventually end. The wear from use is quite normal and signs of the life it's lived. The initials though were someone trying to take permanent ownership. They were not natural.

And they were really poorly done.

Look at this example, the left and right sides of a 1903 Colt that was made back in 1906.

This is the right side. Look at the grip. See how crip the design is?

Now here is the left side. Look at the grip. See how worn and muted the design is? That's from decades and decades of rubbing against the persons body.

Wabi Sabi.

I could replace the grips with new ones that are exact duplicates of the originals, but then they would not match the wear on the rest of the gun. I could reblue it but then I would lose the shimmery echo of the original blue.

Wabi Sabi.

 

[Trooper Joe]

Just received my Beretta Model 81 from Classic Arms

SORRY ABOUT THE DUPLICATE POST

Joe

 

[Trooper Joe]

Just received my Beretta Model 81 from Classic Arms

The gun is much nicer than the photo shows.



The Model 81 on the left with the wood grips, was purchased several years ago for around $500. The one on the right from Classic Arms is just as good if not actually a little better. I paid the extra 20 for a select grade. It looks like it was hardly ever shot and carried a little. The grips have a little holster or shelf wear and there a some very faint marks on the metal (hardly noticeable).



Shot them both yesterday and the "New" one from Classic arms was easier to keep a quarter size group at about 7 yards although they both seem very accurate. Both of them were made in 1980.

I have these grips on order from Altamont (should be here in a week or so/photo is from Altamont's web site).



(Beretta 84 Ultima Panel Super Rosewood Checkered with Beretta Medallions/from Altamont's web site).

I lucked out and bought 4 new magazines from Beretta when I bought my first Model 81 (they were blowing them out on sale at the time/I think about $25 each).

Really glad I picked up this latest one. These are great guns.

Trooper Joe

 

[Targa]

Stop it man!!! Your about to get me in trouble with my wife....she asked that I not buy another gun for a few months....
That is a nice looking gun sir!

 

[Metric]

That's a very nice one! I should have my two examples by this evening. BTW, I ordered those exact same grips about a week ago, along with a "silverblack" version as well.

 

[PSP]

Trooper Joe,
Beautiful gun. Congrats. The ad says the grips they sell fit 81f and later. How did those wood grips fit on the Model 81? There are some differences in grips between the 81f and the 81 (no letter) or 81B.

 

[jglsprings]

Okay, got mine and boy am I happy...

From Classic, here in less than a week and nicer than promised. +25 for hand select. Only seem to be dings around the trigger guard. Locked up in a rack? Don't know. Blur and smudges from erasing the serial number.

 

[Metric]

Ordered two hand-select from classic, and picked them up at the FFL yesterday. I was reasonably happy about one, the other not so much -- initially, anyway. After disassembly, I found that one had fired perhaps 100-200 rounds, the other probably less than 50. However, they clearly spend a ton of time being holstered and handled.

So, I decided to take my first serious attempt at rehabilitating a surplus pistol finish. Here are the before and after pics:

Before #1:

Before #2:

After #1:

After #2:

They're curing now -- will test fire sometime soon, and attach new grips when they arrive.

 

[jglsprings]

What did you use for the blue and aluminum?

 

[Metric]

I picked up some Birchwood Casey "Super Blue" at Wal-Mart, and a friend had given me a small tube of Blue Wonder "developer," and recommended it.

Degreased, hit with 0000 steel wool, and applied the Super Blue. When the coat had run its course, I applied the developer (rather than water), then wiped it down and buffed lightly with the steel wool. Repeated a couple times. After the final coat, I just let the developer sit and dry for a little over an hour, then applied Breakfree CLP to shut down further chemistry.

Genuinely surprised at how well it came out. The pistol which had more surface wear now has a little more of a matte finish, but I gave it more coats and it's now more dark and uniform that the other pistol.

For the aluminum I used Birchwood Casey "Aluminum Black." Some of the nicks were darkened quite well, others very little. I had tried this before and found that the darkened aluminum was very fragile, but this might have been because I gave it almost no time to cure before testing. This time, I'm being more patient.

 

[Metric]

On another note, you can see that the degreasing solvent dissolved some of the factory paint in the rollmarks, on the gun that had it.

Thing is, I rather fancy the highlighted markings on these pistols. These days, the "totally blacked out" look seems to signify something ultra-tactical with a plastic frame -- one reason I'm getting wood grips, to help it stand out a bit.

Anyway, I'm planning to re-apply the paint. Probably on both guns. I'll probably use model airplane paint, unless someone suggests something else, known to work better. Right now I'm wondering if it would be an abomination to use a non-factory color -- I'm thinking about reds and greens. I guess it's trivially easy to remove with some solvent if I don't like the look...

 

[jglsprings]

Now to find ammo...

Looks like it's going to be online, none of the "big box" sporting goods carry any 32ACP - other than one box of 20 - self defense rounds...

My "go to" LGS didn't let me down, although his prices are 8$ per 50 more than online...

 

[Metric]

Yes, the ammo situation could be a lot better. Saw a box of winchester white box at Wal-Mart -- the price was sobering, to say the least. Mainly due to winchester, though -- the local big box sporting goods stores had other brands for much cheaper.

I'm hoping the market finds a new niche for the .32acp, focused on its very shootable, user-friendly characteristics. Apparently there is some support for this. Although .380 pistols outsell .32 pistols by some ridiculous ratio, the ratio of ammo demand is not so extreme -- the conclusion is that people like to shoot their .32's more than they like to shoot their .380's.

Seems like an opportunity for a creative pistol designer.

 

[sevt_chevelle]

Well, I picked up my 81 on Friday, just got off the phone with Classic and they are sending me another one.

The finish looks great, grips look almost brand new, but you need a plastic mallet to take the slide on and off....not very happy.

The barrel gets stuck on the rails and stops short.

IMG_4076 by eric2406, on Flickr

 

[TruthTellers]

Yes, the ammo situation could be a lot better. Saw a box of winchester white box at Wal-Mart -- the price was sobering, to say the least. Mainly due to winchester, though -- the local big box sporting goods stores had other brands for much cheaper.

I'm hoping the market finds a new niche for the .32acp, focused on its very shootable, user-friendly characteristics. Apparently there is some support for this. Although .380 pistols outsell .32 pistols by some ridiculous ratio, the ratio of ammo demand is not so extreme -- the conclusion is that people like to shoot their .32's more than they like to shoot their .380's.

Seems like an opportunity for a creative pistol designer.

The market is never going to find a niche for the .32 unless there is some revolutionary design for a .32 pistol that is so small and light that people flock to the caliber. That's what happened with .380 when the polymer frame pocket guns like the P-3AT and LCP came out, so imagine something smaller than an LCP in .32 and still has less recoil.

Same with .32 revolvers, I'm still waiting for a 5 shot .32 S&W Long or .32 Mag built on an aluminum frame that is in between an NAA Black Widow and a S&W I frame.

What it takes to get an uncommon/unpopular caliber popular is a gun that takes the market by storm by being innovative.

 

[volkstrm]

Yeah I know what you mean about the little Beretta's. I have a 85F nickle wood grips. Real nice gun great shooter. I call it my baby Beretta. I would love to pick up one of them 81's. I don't have anything in 32acp maybe it's time?

 

[PolarFBear]

Just ran across a "very nice" Beretta 81 in a local pawn shop: $459.95! I passed.

 

[Metric]

You may have heard that life begins at 40. It's definitely true for this 1980 Beretta, to within about a year. While it had a lot of finish wear at the corners and some of the controls, it was essentially unfired -- the roundcount was certainly less than 50, and possibly zero since leaving the factory. Not any more!

It has received a bit more touch-up work from me in the last week (more may be coming), and is now wearing a set of Altamont grips in their "Super Rosewood" (not the same as "actual rosewood"), and some torx-style grip screws. For my hands, at least, these grips are a dramatic improvement in shape. The plastic ones gave a rather slippery feel for me, while these give a well-anchored feel -- they clearly put some thought into the design. Of course I also like the look. Zero problems with fit to the old-style frame. I have some coming for the other pistol in a different color (silverblack).

 

[HBoswell]

I got my two modified 84 magazines from Robertson's and checked them for function and they worked fine, until you get to the last round. The small square button molded into the follower which actuates the slide lock engages after the 13th round, leaving the last round in the magazine. Not cool. I compared it to the stock magazine and found that the button is angled so I just used a razor knife to trim the top edge off the button so that is is level. Works perfectly now. I posted a picture in this thread-https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=603508
Made a trip to the range yesterday and I am very impressed with this gun. It ran flawlessly and even ran one mag of mixed hollow points without a hitch. I did find that the PPU was not as accurate at the Fiocchi. Then again, the PPU was the first mag I ran so maybe the practice helped with the second mag.