Beretta 950

Hammer in half-cock notch, safety off.

I have an old model Jetfire, with no safety whatsoever. I carry it with one in the pipe, hammer down.

Of course, I don't have a CCW, so that's limited to in house or campsite.

With the 950 BS, you have a manual safety. I don't use it, but you can. I carry my Jetfire with a round in the chamber, full magazine, and the hammer on half-cock. You have to cock the gun for it to fire, but that's just fine. Very reliable pistol in 25 auto. It's low enough velocity that an expanding bullet isn't necessary. About as effective as a 22 short but much more reliable.

Actually as effective as .22 LR out of the same length barrel with less blast and flash. Absolutely correct about .25 being far more reliable than .22LR in a gun this small.

When I had a Jetfire (traded it to my brother-in-law for a Minolta Flash Meter)
I recall the manual said hammer back with safety on or hammer full down with safety off. I'm sure the current manual would say chamber empty in today's legal climate. I used to carry mine hammer down because The way I carried meant I'd use it left handed so thumb cocking worked best. If I carried it so I could draw right handed, it'd be cocked'n'locked.

I'm under the impression that half cock notches are for in case your thumb slips off while cocking it, not for safe carrying. The only exceptions I know of are Sigs which decock to something like a half cock notch, and CZs since both of these have firing pin blocks and the CZs with decockers lower the hammer to half cocked.

--wally.

I have one and like mine.

But I have a question:

Is it me or is this pistol next to impossible to cock one-handed? I'd prefer to keep me with one in the chamber, hammer down, but for quick use cocked 'n' locked seems more practical with that long, hard hammer pull.

Maybe my hands were stronger way back then, I don't have mine now.

I'd draw (left handed) with my fingers around the grip, index finger straight along the slide, thumb on the hammer. As it clears my pocket or holster I'd flip it up on target with the thumb cocking the hammer as the thumb slips down to a normal grip position. Finger goes into the trigger guard to shoot as the last step. Takes a little practice, but it wasn't hard to learn.

I still handle my snubbie revolvers this way. Since I've never fired a shot in anger can't really be sure how well it works. I'm happy with the way it works in "instinctive shooting" practice at the range (most public ranges won't allow this) and have never had an AD or had the hammer drop on a dummy round when I'd intended to draw and abort firing while practicing around the house.

I used to practice with primer powered wax slugs in the garage when I first started thinking about carrying a gun for defense some 25+ years ago after my neighbor was "randomly" murdered coming home from a night club by a serial killer . The SOB is up for release this year due to a stupid plea deal, another state has him now for trial on one of their murders, not clear if they will be able to convict after all this time.

--wally.

Left front pocket,1 in the chamber,hammer down.I'm currently using Fiocchi 50gr FMJ. 250 error free rounds thru it and into the daily carry routine it went.Single hand cocking just like Wally.

Single-hand cocking. It's not that hard, not sure if I'm in the minority.

Just curious... I've been watching this thread for the last few days, and can't quite figure it out, probably 'cause I don't have the pistol in question. But it looks like it has a manual safety... and I'm pretty sure I recall people mentioning one in a few of the posts. So why all this hoopla about carrying it half-cocked, hammer down on a chambered round, etc? Why not just carry it C&L, as you would a 1911? Just curious.

C'n'L on the 950 is awkward if used left handed. When I had one and carried it, where I carried it meant I'd be using it left handed.

Half cocked is easier to cock from than full down, the 950 is unusual since the safety goes on with it at half-cock. In general I think half-cock is designed to prevent AD if your thumb slips while cocking, not for carrying, unless the gun has a de-cocker as these often drop to something like a half cock position (SIG & CZ come to mind).

--wally.

There's no safety on mine!

I carry the 950 BS as backup CC, one in the chamber, full magazine, hammer down.

I use left-handed also, and do find the safety awkward, so I don't use it. It seems dinky so I'm not sure that I would use it even if I drew right-handed.

I leave it uncocked, hammer down, and learned to cock it like this: As I come up, I put trigger finger into the guard but push forward against the trigger guard with thumb on the hammer. After a reasonable number of drills it seems very natural to grab it, pull it out, start lifting and push forward with trigger finger, pull back with thumb and it's cocked with little effort. It does not come up levelled if you cock it like that, at least not for me. It tilts down slightly, but I just consider leveling out to be the finish of the draw and get on with it.

Basically, the Beretta 950B was made before 1968 and has no manual safety; the 950BS was made legal 'for sale' and import to the USA by Beretta adding a manual safety. I carry my Beretta 950B with one in the chamber (loaded using the super cool 'tip up barrel' feature) and the hammer on the half cock notch.





WHOA! Be sure to read the posts that follow!

il.bill said:

Basically, the Beretta 950B was made before 1968 and has no manual safety; the 950BS was made legal 'for sale' and import to the USA by Beretta adding a manual safety. I carry my Beretta 950B with one in the chamber (loaded using the super cool 'tip up barrel' feature) and the hammer on the half cock notch.

Click to expand...

The half cock notch is exceptionally dangerous for carry. Please stop doing that:

The half cock is there to catch the hammer if you slip while cocking. It is just a hook on the hammer that the sear grabs, and neither are very strong. If drop a gun on the half cocked hammer, the hardened sear will shatter and the hammer will be driven into the firing pin with more than enough force to fire the cartridge that is pointing up at you.

None of the little Berettas have firing pin block safeties to prevent this from happening. Fully cocked hammers are not in a position to smash the sear when dropped, and fully decocked hammers can't push the firing pin because it is retracted.


Again, half cock is exceptionally dangerous with a round in the chamber. Please stop carrying like this before you kill yourself or someone else.

I used to carry my 1957 Beretta 950b hammer down on a loaded chamber. As I recall, Beretta recommends hammer down, NOT in the half-cock notch. Cock and locked is asking for an ND, it isn't a 1911. Plus, you can't "lock" a 950 or 950b.
As was said, prior to 1968, Beretta 950 and 950b had no safety at all. They don't really need one. The later models add an 's' to the number...950bs to indicate it has a safety.

IMO: The Beretta 950b (Jetfire) is one of the best pocket guns ever produced; flat, small, with 9 rounds. The only reason I stopped carrying one was because the Keltec P32 & P3AT (and all of the clones) are the same basic size, but with larger bores.

I had several Beretta Model 950 BS pistols over the years and I carried them cocked and locked in a small Bianchi leather clip-on IWB holster.

My best bud carried a .22 Short in a wallet holster in his right hip pocket and sat on it every day at work or driving home or out for a show.

He carried on half cock and had no difficulty even in the wallet holster thumb cocking as he drew.

The only reliability issue he ever had was toward the end when the wallet was so well molded with butt sweat and pressure to the gun that it impeded the slides action. Still he reasoned on shot of .22 Short beat a hoot and a holler most days.

He got the .22 short as shorts were easier to come by back then (1980's) and he could and did practice a lot. He would even sit on a folding chair in his back yard and draw by leaning slightly to the left like he was at his desk at work and empty the little bugger as fast as he could at a target up to about five yards away. Worst thing that happened was the chair had a leg sink several inches in the ground while he was drawing for a shot slightly behind his left shoulder as he was sitting and he spilled onto the ground........rolled onto his back and filled the five yard target with holes in about two seconds of shooting.

When he could he also carried bigger (P35, series 70 MkIV, or .44 Charter Bull dog mostly but sometimes a shoulder holstered 5 inch Model 27 for giggles) but the 950 was always with him and set on top of the toilet tank while he showered and in his head board book stand at night.

Once while folks were ribbing him about it he holed a 100 yard 18x18 target three times with a mag just to make a point that Rule Two always applies. "Have A gun." and "A" is infinitely better than "None"

-kBob

They put safety on those made in "I am sacred of , gun with no safety America ". I have 2 one Italy no safety and 1 American with safety. I carry hammer down .
Best is the model 20 . Its kind of 950 made DA/SA. Only made 3 years I understand used 950 mags . I carry more than my 950's any more
I dislike the over size 21A . Even worst that over weight over sized crack frames Tomcat.

No safe way to 'half cock' 950B carry is good to know - thanks!

Hammer down on a loaded chamber now for me, I guess.

I love all the mouse guns made by Beretta, and I love the discontinued 70S .22LR model as well (it was reliable enough to be used by the Israeli secret service, which also employed/s the Ruger Standard and Mark pistols). The 21A gave me fits with occasional jams until a few people told me to use CCI MiniMags or Stingers. Now I can't it to jam!

All gun owners ought to have at least one of these. I carry them with a round in the chamber with the hammer down. In bad areas, cocked and locked.