The Beretta 71 is a well made high quality firearm with exceptional reliability. It is traditionally manufactured in a completely different time period than the Fort Smith PPk/S. I prefer the old world craftsmanship of the Beretta 71/76 over the Fort Smith PPk/S.
However, I prefer the old Walther, Ulm .22 l.r. PPs over the 71 and am surprised about one negative comment about the PP here. I have shot dozens of different Manurhin and Walther .22 l.r. PP, PP Sport and PPk/S pistols and all had useable double action triggers and were very well made guns, having been manufactured since before the Beretta 70 series, and even 34 series were first built and also in the same quality of that bygone era.