Finally found a Beretta 950BS in .22 Short

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GeoJelly

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I have been looking for one of these little puppies for some time. I finally found this one a couple of days ago and drove south to pick it up today. It was advertised in near-new condition but took a bit of touch up blue to get it in top shape. It came with the box and two mags - I watched in agony, before, as the .22 Short mags were hovering around $60-70 on that flea site and Crook Broker. Came from a retired cop who did carry it some - but only a little bit of bluing wear. Most importantly, the box is in great condition ... ;)

I had a Model 61 Escort on my want list for some time - but have given up. Some nice ones have been offered here on the forum but all I have seen come with only one mag. So, I decided to try to get one of these to sorta-kinda match my Bobcat in .25ACP. The 950's in .22S have a very good rep for reliability, and it's just a novelty anyway given the caliber.

But, but, it came with wood grips which make it noticeably wider - and not something I'm really thrilled about. Maybe someone has seen a pair of black plastic grips for a 950BS out there ... ?

3K4uAwv.jpg


Edited to add - the white splotchy looking thing around "Beretta" on the slide isn't a finish defect - it's just a defective photographer ...
 
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I'd have bought the .25 version. Better penetration, probably, and the centerfire ctg. is less likely to have ammo loaded with defective primers. The .25 ammo is also more oil proof.

Call the Beretta Gallery in Dallas. There's one in New York, too, but based on what I know of New Yorkers in general, they may be less willing to help. Ask if anyone there may be able to locate a set of the plastic grips for you or refer you to a likely source.

Beretta has five of those Galleries, which carry or can easily get whatever they make. They're in Milan, Paris, NYC, Dallas, and in Buenos Aires. I think the Dallas Gallery used to have a guy who could scrounge stuff for customers, even if they didn't have it in stock. I bought my M-391 Urika Gold 20 ga. there and saw even their finest SO series sidelock double barrelled guns. The staff were very nice and stayed late as I decided on which of two shotguns I wanted. And their gunsmith, trained in Brescia, checked to be sure that the gun fit me without adjustment.

I handled a .470 double rifle. I sort of wanted it, but it cost $45,000 and I wouldn't have had enough left on me to buy lunch that day, and I was hungry...
 
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I was looking for the .22 short version, (actually still am,) but I found a great condition 25acp one that was so cheap I had to get it. I replaced the plastic grips with wood ones.

Which brings me to why I am bringing all this up. I thought I could send you my excellent condition plastic grips cause I don’t want them. So I found the box and took the grips out, but they are marked 25. :mad: I never noticed that before and was surprised that Beretta would have made different grips for the different calibers.

Sorry
Jim
 

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Well, dagnabit, I was fixing to offer you my plastic grips but I bet they say 25 on them, too!

I looked for years for one of those guns in .22 Short. GREAT FIND!!!!

I still occasionally carry my 950 BS. For many, many years it went with me everywhere. It shows interesting wear and has some rust spots because it spent many a hot Texas day in a pocket holster in jeans. I was never without it, it was totally hidden, often in a pocket but when I wore a suit I would drop it into the interior breast pocket on the left side so my right hand could access it easily. Every suit and sport coat I owned had the original "silk/nylon/whatever pocket material" replaced with denim. The denim never ripped; I learned that the hard way early on when I didn't have the sense to replace those pockets!!!
 
The solution to the .25 or .22 question is to get both :) I prefer
the older model, 950B, without the safety. I have two in .25 and
one in .22 that is mint with the box. For carry the .25 is the
obvious choice but the OP really wasn't looking for a carry piece
when he bought the .22 if I read his post correctly. Except for
the caliber marking the plastic grips should be the same as
there is no difference in the guns. I carried this .25, shown with
it's big brother, for years but now the Ruger LCP is the better
choice.
 

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I had one of these little puppies for years. They are remarkably accurate! I’d still have but for one problem. I could’t shoot it without the loss of blood. My hand is incompatible with them so each shot saw the slide come back and take a slice out of the web of my hand. Quite embarrassing!

Ed
 
I had both a Beretta and an Escort in my collection until I sold them (both sold for not much $$$).

The Beretta I bought from a co-worker. He was anti-gun (well, not interested at least) and had received in in payment of a debt=sold it to me for $20. Sold it and a Davis 25 Derringer for $200.

Don't remember much about the Escort=wasn't very accurate and I kept it more as a novelty. Sold it to a lady friend (of my wife)=she insisted on a .22 and it was fairly accurate at close range.
 
If shot from up close, a 22 short can leave a welt. Some have even got under the skin and caused a nasty infection. One should use 22 short reloads as they are cheaper to purchase.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for the kind comments, Gents. There is a rest of the story, so I guess I might as well come clean. I sold my nice condition Beretta M21 .25 earlier last year, and used the money to get a very nice (new) Colt Cobra. I really missed the little .25 and finally found one (I thought!) on GB late last year. It was like NIB and I was very happy when I received it. I even ordered two .25 mags for it from Greg Cote.

Soooo ... last night, after I cleaned up the 950, I decided to take the ".25" out and take a look at it. Well, I must have really had a senior week last year - much worse than a senior moment. I looked at it and saw .22LR engraved on the slide. What I thought was a .25 has actually been a .22 all along. First thing I thought was - that "crook" GB seller must have mislabeled the ad. Since I keep an archived webpage of anything I buy, I went back and checked ... and it was labeled ".22LR".

I don't know how it happened - and fortunately I'm only out the $32-ish for the two .25 mags. I've put a Want to Buy up on the local gun board but the .25's - in any kind of decent condition - are about as scarce as reasonably priced Model 66 snubs. I'm hoping someone here will feel sorry for me and sell me their .25 ... ;)
 
I think the 950 22short is the one to have if you want to play with it. For what they are they are fairly accurate. I've had several of them. Escorts function ok but are of little use as a plinker. I do better with them point shooting. The 25 isn't as accurate, I've had many 25s and the only one that shot well enough to be a plinker was a Mauser that had been WW1 German issue. IMG_2234.jpg


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I am a fan of the .22 Short and I'd like to see more guns chambered for it. While I have several rifles chambered specifically for the .22 Short, I have only one .22 Short handgun - A Hi-Standard Olympic rapid-fire pistol. I'd really like to have one of the Berettas in .22 Short, but I wouldn't spend time chasing around to find one. But if one jumped up at me which was reasonably priced, I'd probably buy it. Cheap (relatively) ammo for lots of shooting.
 
Barbarian-CBX said:
If shot from up close, a 22 short can leave a welt. Some have even got under the skin and caused a nasty infection. One should use 22 short reloads as they are cheaper to purchase.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That's why all the gun guys recommend the +P+ load from Buffalo Bore.


:D
 
In one of the spy novels (marketed as a true story) they mention the Massad (Israeli version of the CIA) used Beretta 22 short to bump off some of the Munich terrorists in Rome. Emptied a total of 20 rounds per stiff. They said The Israeli armors modified the mag follower so the held 10 rounds. I have my doubts!

Ivan
 
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