Browning BDA 380 Gun Show Find

Bandit67 said:

Went to a gun show today. First one in a long time. Felt normal.
Mostly AR's and high priced ammo with a few treasures in between. Saw a few interesting revolvers and rifles but nothing that was priced right.
Then I came across a nice older couple with 2 tables selling some knives and ammo. They had a small display case with a beat up model 10 and something else that caught my eye.
It was a mint, unfired Browning BDA 380 with the box and papers. Dang what a beautiful gun. Asked the price, made an offer and took it home.
Tell me about your BDA 380.
View attachment 1002887

Click to expand...

That thing is SWEET! I have a BDA in two tone , just love the BDA line

I had one a number of years ago. They are made by Beretta, very reliable, accurate and fun to shoot. Mine would shoot any 380 ammo I had.
It's a great gun and yours looks like a BBQ gun. Congrats on a nice find.

Bandit67 said:

Went to a gun show today. First one in a long time. Felt normal.
Mostly AR's and high priced ammo with a few treasures in between. Saw a few interesting revolvers and rifles but nothing that was priced right.
Then I came across a nice older couple with 2 tables selling some knives and ammo. They had a small display case with a beat up model 10 and something else that caught my eye.
It was a mint, unfired Browning BDA 380 with the box and papers. Dang what a beautiful gun. Asked the price, made an offer and took it home.
Tell me about your BDA 380.
View attachment 1002893

Click to expand...

They are great shooters. By todays standards they are pretty big but they are soft shooting 380 autos. I bought mine off of GB in 2020. Came with the box and manual and 2 mags. It is in VG condition. Show some use but nothing major. I paid $500

As others stated they are made in Italy by Beretta. They are basically 84 in a FN designed shell. You can use Beretta 84 mags IIRC. I am not a huge fan of the placement of the decocker/safety. It is similar to the S&W Gen 3s. As a heavy 1911 & BHP shooter it is in the wrong place for me but the gun is so nice I am willing to forgive for this one fault.

You can certainly see the Beretta DNA in them.

I’d own one, but I’m weak like that

In the mid 80’s some guys at work talked me into getting a PPK/S, claiming how awesome it was. I mean for months, all I heard is PPK this, PPK that. One of the guys worked out a great deal at Ray’s Hardware in Dallas for 3 PPK’s, one of which was for me.

I was proud of it and took it to an indoor range. I showed it to a guy that worked there and he just Pooh, poohed it and told me to trade it in on BDA.

He was smart, he waited until I shot a ton of Ammo and my hand was beat up and tired. Then he handed me a new BDA and a box of ammo and said “shoot this box of Ammo in the BDA and I’ll guarantee that you will want to trade. If not, the ammo is on the house.”

I couldn’t believe the difference! As WVsig said, it is a soft shooter.

The guy gave me exactly what I paid for the PPK and I happily paid the difference.

I ended up picking up another PPK later to carry, but I rarely shot it. It just wasn’t as enjoyable as the BDA.

And I still have it. It’s a stash gun in the house.

Sorry Bandit67, I forgot to congratulate you on an awesome find!

‘You are really going to enjoy it.

Congrats!

I had it's Italian cousin, the Beretta Model 84. Great shooting gun! I used it for a number of years as my primary HD gun.

[QUOTE="Reinz,]
He was smart, he waited until I shot a ton of Ammo and my hand was beat up and tired. [/QUOTE]

If you had bought the PPK in 7.65 instead of 380 you wouldn't have made the trade. I sold my PPK 380 and bought a Luger with the proceeds.

The Browning BDA/Beretta 84 was a pistol I wanted when I was young, but couldn’t afford.
When Israeli surplus Beretta 84’s showed up cheap a couple years, I had to buy one.
Although I didn’t buy it with any serious use besides plinking in mind, shooting changed my opinion. It’s just a great pistol…more accurate than you would expect for a 380, reliable as can be, and finally, the intangible of feels great in my hand, like it was made for me.
It has become a “never sell”, and gets a lot of carry time. And, for the 380 naysayers, I feel pretty well armed with this pistol and 14rds of Underwood XTP’s.

Girsan makes a 380 very similar to the Browning BDA - the Girsan MC14






https://www.girsan.com/other-series/mc-14-c-77?fiyat=hepsi&siralama=en-yeniler&list=0&k=

Mine’s nickel, bought it NIB in 03, came with 10 rounders.

Very nice find congrats. I have a Browning 1911 380 on my bucket list.

Very nice. I always thought they were nice guns. I finally got one, and really liked it, but I traded/sold it off. At the time I reloaded 9mm, but not 380 and I just hated buying factory ammo. I should have kept it.

They might be a little big for a 380 these days, but 13? 14? rounds of 380 ain't nothing to sneeze at. Besides. They just look so darn good.

Something else to watch out for.

I love mine, but both Browning medallions on the grips are gone. Never could get them to stay on. But it’s a soft shooting tack driver that I’ll never sell.

I have the Beretta 84 version. It's a good pistol. I like shooting it. A sidearm in 9mm or larger would be preferable (IMHO), but if you want a 380acp service pistol, the Browning/Beretta ones are good. If you're going to have to carry the thing on your belt anyway, you might as well have a decent-sized grip to hang onto. I would prefer to carry the Beretta as a service pistol instead of the slimmer Walthers and Brownings and such that were issued to officers and pilots in various times/places. I can shoot the Beretta a lot better and it holds more rounds.

IRRC, Taurus made their own version of the Beretta 84. I've read good things about them, but I've never shot one.

The 84 is the ugly one. It was Israeli. It's ugly, but it shoots just fine.

The 81, the 32acp version, is super fun to shoot. I was lucky enough to grab one of the Italian surplus ones when they were cheap.

I put fat Altamont grips on them for my big hands.

A really neat find, I would’ve bought it right there on the spot, too!

That, and a nice Hi Power, are two of those Browning catalog “drool makers” from my high school years.

When yuh get a chance to shoot it let us know how it shoots for you .

Stay safe.

CoalCrackerAl said:

Very nice find congrats. I have a Browning 1911 380 on my bucket list.

Click to expand...

I just picked up one of those last week. Love it!
I'm generally a fan of the .380 acp round, but end up catching a ton of schit on various forums because so many people believe carrying anything less than 9mm is for schoolgirls.

Nice that is the model i want too. It will be a buddy for my RIA baby rock.

This thread has certainly put a BDA on my radar.

BDA = Beretta 84FS Cheetah. Keep an eye out for either one.

The third gun I ever bought was a Browning BDA. I had bought a horrible Taurus 83, and then a Dan Wesson 15-2, and after winning a slot machine jackpot, I went to the LGS near my house and they had just put a BDA into the display case. I snatched it up instantly and went and shot it right out of the box without a single issue. I had it for many years and a friend of mine pestered me to sell it to him, and one time I needed cash, and it went away. I have one now, not very pretty, one of those Israeli surplus guns. It's by far the worst looking of my Beretta 81/84/85 and BDA quartet. I'm thinking about having it electroless nickeled or something. It shoots fine, looks awful. No pics, it's in the bottom of the safe in a tiny little plastic case, and a pain to get to.