My Dad brought a 1934 Beretta back from the war. He was never really a gun guy, and he wound up trading it off for a Remington Speedmaster .22 rifle. I think the name of the rifle was meant to be ironic, since it never managed to get through a whole tube of .22s without jamming.

The Beretta was gone before I came along, the sixth of seven kids. The only remnant was a single round of old .380 ball in the change dish. I was fascinated by that round as a kid.

I finally came across this one at a decent price. It is postwar (1966) but its close enough.





My Dad is 87 now and pretty feeble, but he's going to try a few rounds for old times sake next weekend.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Did the same thing for my Dad a couple of years ago. He is also in his 80's and a Navy vet from WW2. He had a High Standard HB he brought home with him. He had lugged that thing all over the Pacific. To put beans on the table for three sons, Dad sold off his HB when I was in my pre-teen years, but I remembered it well. After looking around for several years for a good one, I ended up finding one locally. His grandsons and I gave it to him not long thereafter. He carries it now just about wherever he goes.

For some reason these were the preferred "bad guy" gun in British shows like "The Saint". I always fancied one in .32 just because of the lighter recoil.

very robust pistol, and very accurate ifen you can master the trigger pull.

Here he is, blazing away:



I hauled an M-1 carbine out, since he carried one in the war. Even propped up on shooting sticks he couldn't do much more than a couple of shots.

He did well with the little Beretta, though.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”