Beretta 21a, what to expect.

[MedWheeler]

I have the Taurus PT22, which also has the tip-up breech. It will fire snake shot rounds, but will not reliably cycle the slide after one.

Otherwise, it's a dandy little shooter. Like most mini-blowbacks, it does run a preference to hotter ammo.

 

[weblance]

Good to know Jim will do the 21a barrels. I had him do my Beretta Neos, and have a 10/22 barrel there right now. He does excellent work, and I would have no problem letting him do all my threading work in the future. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Gato Montés]

Mini Update

Just wanted to update as I just got back from the range.

250ish rounds shot (mostly mini mags, then some blaser and cci standards), 3 failures. All were fail to feeds, the noses of the rounds were hitting the top of the barrel and all it took to fix was to retract the slide a little and it went right in. All of those happened within the first 100 rounds, all mini mags. Two of those failures I think were a result of the slide hitting the webbing of my hand...

...which brings me to slide bite. I didn't think about this until well after I purchased the pistol. I don't know if any of you remember but I also had issues with hammer bite with the Ruger SR22P which I ultimately sold because of it. I want to choke up on this pistol when I shoot but if I do slide bite is guaranteed. The good news is if I hold it "right" I can get away with it, and besides those two instances mentioned above I was able to shoot the little guy quite comfortably. I might look into getting some magazine shoes if anyone makes those for this gun to give ma a little more to hold on to, but they're not necessary.

I did notice that if I shoot a single round by directly loading the barrel without a mag inserted there doesn't seem to be enough omph to get it out of there and stove pipes occur. The muzzle flash on this little gun is OUTSTANDING and for a 22 I found it pretty darn loud as well! It's nice however to have some semblance of recoil with a 22 as it makes you feel like you're actually shooting a gun.

Overall I'm most satisfied with the Bobcat and I think I made a great choice. My only real complaint is the lack of an additional magazine with the pistol. When testing it out I wanted another mag right away in case I had any problems, factor out one variable that way. 30 bucks for those tiny mags seems like a rip off.

Well, now I have to package it up to get it threaded, I'll check back when it's all said and done. Thanks for reading!

 

[witness88]

Hey I read your post and I have to say I've had a bobcat befor but mine was 25acp an i used it to carry to work with me since I live in a bad area but I see any kind of ammo I could get cheap an good stuff an it never let me down mine was old an beat up to mad dirt I could do anything to it an I'd still shoot true I i did do my best to take care of it thou cleaned an oiled but just go to show you it was a great pocket pistol hope I was of some kind of help to you

 

[weblance]

Dude... try some punctuation.

 

[whatnickname]

Beretta 21A: What to expect?

The best of the breed to be sure. That said one of the things you "can expect" is that you're really going to piss someone off if you shoot them with it! If you're going to a gunfight take a handgun with a caliber that ends in a 1, 4, 5, 7 or 0. There are plenty of smaller handguns that offer far better caliber options than a .22!

 

[lechiffre]

Mine likes Remington gold solids.

It is 100% reliable with those as long as it's cleaned every 100 rounds.

Good luck

 

[lechiffre]

If you're going to a gunfight take a handgun with a caliber that ends in a 1, 4, 5, 7 or 0.

This makes me feel better about my decision to carry a .17 HM2.

 

[pockets]

If you're going to a gunfight take a handgun with a caliber that ends in a 1, 4, 5, 7 or 0.

All right.....I may have to drag out some of my .25acp pocket pistols then!
Now that I know what parameters to base a 'gunfight handgun' on. The last digit of the caliber is apparently the critical factor.
Hmmm.....perhaps I need to buy a reproduction .31 pocket revolver too?
.

 

[Gato Montés]

The best of the breed to be sure. That said one of the things you "can expect" is that you're really going to piss someone off if you shoot them with it! If you're going to a gunfight take a handgun with a caliber that ends in a 1, 4, 5, 7 or 0. There are plenty of smaller handguns that offer far better caliber options than a .22!

Well I didn't buy this for work, just play, but with that said I would not be opposed to carrying it for quick ventures on my side of town. Definitely easier in the pocket than my M642 ever was.