Beretta 21A

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aarondhgraham

A number of years back I had a Model 21A that had a stainless slide with highly polished slide flats along with the wood grips with the gold Beretta medallion on them. It was the sweetest looking little Beretta I have ever owned!
 
There is a stainless steel model at The Evil Pawn Shop right now,,,
He is asking 219.95 for it and I'm being tempted.

I know that's not the bargain price you found,,,
But I'm intetested just because it's so dang pretty. :D

There's just something about the look of a classic Beretta.

Aarond

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Get the serial number and check it out on the Beretta Site. If it is after 2010 or so, jump on it. If before 2010 (0r maybe it was 2009 when the upgraded the frame) check for a frame crack. If no crack jump on it but use ammo rated at or under 130 ft/lbs at the muzzle. If it's cracked, haggle hard and then jump on it.
 
Can you date it by the serial number? I thought you had to get a date code from under the barrel.
 
aarondhgraham writes:

There is a stainless steel model at The Evil Pawn Shop right now,,,
He is asking 219.95 for it and I'm being tempted.

That's nearly a hundred than I paid for my "regular back" sample. I'd buy that one, too, for that price, being confident that I could get most, if not all (or even more than!) of my money back later if I needed it.
 
I saw this today and the price caught my eye.

View attachment 865733View attachment 865734
Buy that sucker NOW. Or PM me with the seller info, and I will!!! :)
Your thoughts on them?
Great little buggers. I was at the range one time, and somebody had one, a new one with the plastic grips etc. He also had a lot of new cool pistols, such as Sig X5 etc. I was there with my son shooting our Sigs, Berettas, CZs, some 1911's.
Plenty of upscale centerfire gun-porn on display, and darned if that little Beretta 21A didn't steal the stage for awhile. Just SO fun. As soon as I got home, I started researching, and bought one in a little rougher condition than the one you show, for about twice the price... and still think I got a good deal.

For $99 buy it immediately!
Can't be said enough! DO IT
 
I ended up getting it for $65
JEEZ! :eek:

ok, I recently ran a series of tests with mine, and ammo compatibility. I have a bunch of 22lr laying around, having bought stuff as it came available.

CCI Blazer will run mine very nicely. I see people online saying the ideal round is the CCI Stinger; I don't have that. But again, Blazer, the blue box, it does great.

I have tried a bunch of other stuff, Winchester M22, Aguila, Remington, GECO, etc. It doesn't work out of mine worth a flip. Nor does the cheaper bulk Federal or Winchester. If that is what the seller tried, odds are he likely decided it's a jam-o-matic, because it is, with that stuff. It doesn't have the umph to cycle the slide correctly.

So I repeat: CCI is required. Blazer is cheaper, and worth trying (to see if it works). Stinger seems widely acknowledged on many forums.
Re spare mags- I ended up getting Mecgars, I forget where. Maybe Numrich. They work fine. A bit more uncomfortable to load, but you can figure out a way to make them work (I just use my thumbnail to grab the follower and pull it down).
 
If it is a US made one then it's likely all you would need is the serial number.
I think the size dictates it must be US made. Didn't think they could import something that small.
 
Where can I find a list of serial numbers and dates?

Also, what are you cleaning and lubing your blued ones with?
 
I have had many, I sold my 21a with walnut and box for $400 this spring. It loved Cci mini mags. It was very ammo finiky which is why I sold it but was surprisingly accurate to 100 feet ! I think only the Tomcat cracks frames and no short barrel .22 lr developed energy which was quoted. I still have an Italian made model 20 .25 DA which is slightly thinner and runs 100 percent. Unbelievable score ! Can't understand why .
 
Also, what are you cleaning and lubing your blued ones with?
I bought a gallon of generic/offbrand food grade air compressor oil for about $25 awhile back, maybe 2 years ago. Search for "FMO-350 AW Oil replacement".

This stuff is just a tad thicker than Ballistol, but still thin enough to squirt (I refill an empty Ballistol pump). It is food-grade synthetic mineral oil, so it is safe enough to get on some on food and ingest (thus safe enough to handle). Plenty of anti-rust and lubricating additives. The viscosity is such that it stays put over extended periods of time; I have it on guns I cleaned and put up 2 years ago, and when I pulled them out to check, they're wet just where I put it. No hint of rusting on anything. If you use it to wipe down the external, it stays instead of evaporating, you can see a slight coat years later. Doesn't sling around when you shoot.

For cleaning, good ol' mechanical force- I use this with a brass brush and some patches. If I really want to clean something more, I get a can of cheap brake-cleaner to clean, then use the oil afterwards.
 
I cleaned it last night and it was pretty dirty. The slide was really hard to get off. I thought it might be bent or something. I finally got it off and cleaned everything.

I shot 100 rounds of Remington Golden Bullets today. I was amazed at how well it shoots. I was blowing up bottles like crazy. It had four rounds fail to feed. Two of them hit above the chamber and two hit below. I just had to pull the slide back, move the round up or down, and let the slide close. I suspect the mag. I also had a few rounds not fire on the first strike. I had to pull the hammer back and pull the trigger again and it would fire. I thought that the firing pin channel might be gummed up. The problems started about the fifty round mark.

I cleaned it more thoroughly tonight. The slide was really hard to get off again. I took the grips off to be able to clean better. I was hoping to have access to the striker channel so I could spray some brake cleaner in there. It doesn’t have the hole to spray into like some of my other guns do. I sprayed it around the back of the firing pin while pushing it in and out. I hope that helps. I also fully disassembled the mag and cleaned it well. It doesn’t take much to get this gun dirty.
 
I got some italian mags for the 21 (22lr) at cabelas in the bargain cave a few years back for 7 bucks. They had 4 or 5 I got them all.

22 is dirty ammo. No doubt. Golden Bullets are more so than anything else I've found from the big manufacturers.

The cheapest I've got one of the guns was 135. For an Italian 25 with plastic grips. (Model 950 I think)
Its SAO and is considerably more narrow and lighter than my DA versions.

Most of my model 21 guns will go off wether the safety is on or not. In SA with the safety on or in DA with the safety on. In SA it takes an extra few ounces on the trigger but in DA, the safety's dont really slow them down. I used to chalk it up to "wear" but even the one I purchased new a few years ago will do it. It may not be super common, but I have more than one that will.
 
I have a nice shiny stainless one with wood grips. I will not say what I paid for it used, except that it was ... somewhat more than yours. It is an unreasonably fun gun. As for being careful checking the chamber, I always tilt the barrel up to check. It is much easier than pulling the slide back.

I would buy as many as were offered at that price!
 
I’m not sure why the trigger seemed weird to me at the store. Shooting it was a whole different story. Awesome trigger.
 
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