Beretta BM-59, Any Love There?

[Speedo66]

There is an ongoing discussion of M1A's, and some suggestions of substitutes, i.e., FAL, M1, etc. No one has mentioned the Beretta BM-59. I see them from time to time at shows, prices seem comparable to M1's. I know nothing about them except the concept of an M1 style action with a box magazine seems cool.

I trained with and carried an M-14, never had problems with them. Perhaps an M-16 is more accurate, but I was lucky enough to qualify expert rifleman with my M-14, so seems to do the job it was designed for. I was also lucky enough to have never seen combat, so I can't personally testify on how it did there. I enjoyed my time with the M-14, was wondering how the similar style Beretta would be?

Anyway, the Beretta intrigues me, so why no mention as a substitute M1A?

 

[FL-NC]

I don't think there are many of them around. I remember seeing them here and there in the 80's, but I could probably count them all on one hand and still have a finger or 2 left over.

 

[adcoch1]

Classic arms has them for sale and extra mags too, I would love to have one. I am a big fan of 30-06 and a BM59 would look pretty good hanging on the wall...

 

[bannockburn]

I seem to recall Springfield Armory carried them for awhile many years ago but the were too pricey for me even back then. Would love to have a Beretta BM59! And adcoch1 is right about Classic Arms having them. I believe they're built on James River Armory receivers and have new barrels on them chambered for .308.

 

[adcoch1]

I seem to recall Springfield Armory carried them for awhile many years ago but the were too pricey for me even back then. Would love to have a Beretta BM59! And adcoch is right about Classic Arms having them. I believe they're built on James River Armory receivers and have new barrels on them chambered for .308.

That's right Bannockburn, they are in 308, I just checked and classic arms is listing them out of stock at the moment.

 

[Browning]

I had a BM-59 at one point. I really liked it, except for the astronomical cost on mags. I had a grand whopping total of three.

Other than that it was great. Accurate, great sights, handled well, shorter than the national match M1A I also had and it tossed brass in a nice neat pile.

You could also use a good percentage of M1 Garand parts (not that mine ever broke a single part).

Only drawback of it was the cost/availability of mags.

Back then (mid 90's) I could only find one place that had mags that was in the Shotgun News. Might have an easier time now.

 

[Browning]

I was curious ...

http://www.e-sarcoinc.com/bm59.aspx

$33.95

https://www.classicfirearms.com/bm59-magazine-20rd-308-762x51/

$34.99

In 1995 I paid $60 a mag. So the situation has gotten quite a bit better. Plus figure in inflation.

 

[HankC]

BM59 has the same Garand Op Rod, is it more robust in 308 or still risk bending? I don't think M1A/M14 is known for bending op rod, but it is a different Op Rod.

 

[Speedo66]

From what I've read, they were only made in .308. The early ones were just converted M1's, later ones made from scratch by Beretta. The operating arms on the originals were cut down.

Italy had a ton of M1's after the war given to them by the US, they rebarreled them to .308 to conform to NATO. Then they decided they wanted a box magazine, so they converted them.

They were designed to accepted stripper clips, so they only issued one magazine per rifle, and as they are proprietary, thus created a shortage and the high prices on the civilian market.

 

[Gordon]

A few months before he passed Col. Cooper had one in his vault, he said a bizzillon rounds went thru it and it looked it. He said it was his go to battle rifle and hell for stout ! .

 

[kBob]

Mel Tappan author of "Survival Guns" back in 1976 seemed to think highly of them. A good friend had one of the 1960'd Golden State converted M1 rifles done up as the Italians first model of the BM59, "Mark I Ital" that is to say, shortened to "tanker Garand" Length, receiver modified for use with BM59 magazine, stripper clip guide in place and flash suppressor like an M14 or one of the models of Sniper Garands on a 7.62 NATO barrel. Both my friend and I had been in JROTC first with M-1s and later M-14s and really liked the gun. He left it with me while going off to a USAF assignment where he thought it might be an issue to keep up with it. Eventually it got sluggish and was not ejecting properly and I stripped it down cleaned it and noticed he had not driven the gas system on far enough to allow the gas port to fire directly into the gas cylinder. Got it all cleaned and put back together. The hump on the receiver disintergrated with the first round of USGI 7.62 Ball after cleaning. Fortunately I had the gun at waist level so as to observe the cycling of the action. I still have some minor scaring on my shooting hand and for about 15 years sand like bits of steel would come to the surface and fall out on occassion.


Turns out that particular US made receiver was actually a dreaded "REWELD" and the hardness was way off. When the bolt came back after cleaning the gas port it smacked the back of the hump which was very brittle, it shattered. We never found a piece of the hump larger than the sand like particles that drifted up through the web of my thumb.

Barring the use of a reweld receiver though I would not hesitate to own one if the prices were reasonable They were handy rifles and I shot that one well....until it "shot" me.

As has been noted the magazines were expensive back in the day.

There was an outfit about that time that would make IIRC what they called and M7 1/2 which was basically a BM59 set up to take M-14 magazines. You provided them with a shooting M1 Garand and a pile of money and you got back a neat tanker Garand that took M-14 mags.

Those confused by the caliber may have seen (in a TV movie called tribes they were used for some reason) the A20 a very late WWII mod of the M1 rifle that used a modified BAR magazine. There were enough for stateside troop trials and it was made up in some numbers for that, Appeaently a few of the so called "Tanker Garands" (actually the shortened guns were being developed for use in Jungle warfare not for tankers) got the A20 treatment. Those looked ALOT like BM59s. Except for the gas system those proto BM59s looked a lot like what Garand had submitted when he started in .276 and before he had to change to .30-06.

I have to say the grenade launcher and GL sights don't do a lot for me, but the "Mark I Ital" as originally issued with just the closed five slot flash suppressor is a nice gun for looks, handling, and shooting.

-kBob

 

[kBob]

Gordon,

In Survival Guns, Tappan interviewed The Colonel and meantions his desire for a BM59 as a good choice for a "Survival Battery." It may upset some here abouts that The Memsahib was to depend on a Mini-14 (and given the time I wonder if it is the Mini-14 Col Cooper tested for G&A)

Big surprise...his "working rifle" in 1976 was a Remington 660 with a Leupold 2x forward mount and Williams receiver aperture for back up. Who would have thought it?

oh another big surprise? Burt Miller thought an AR-180 with scope a pile of magazines was a good idea for a survival battery. No bias there!

-kBob

 

[Zarthab]

I'm a little new to the BM-59 but working on getting it out to range past 200y.
I bought mine from Classic Firearms, love the feel and the great iron sights, has proper sling swivels and a folding bi-pod.
https://www.classicfirearms.com/bm-...m_source=bm23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Image
Here are a few things I found;
http://www.sturmgewehr.com/dalbert/MGBoards/BM59/BM59_SalesCatalog_1961.pdf
http://www.sturmgewehr.com/dalbert/MGBoards/BM59/BM59_SantaFe_Flyer.pdf
https://www.collezionareexordinanza.it/scheda/41/BERETTA-BM59/
https://www.scribd.com/document/322740314/ei-addestrammento-al-tiro-comix
https://www.scribd.com/document/262849636/Fucile-Automatico-Beretta-BM59-FAL-7-62-NATO-5568-1970-pdf
http://www.e-sarcoinc.com/search.aspx?find=bm59
The only issues I have had was a crack in the base plate of the second mag, Contacted Classic and sent some pix and they sent me a new mag.
Sure would be cool to have a dummy grenade to play with.