Idahou
Member
Im not gonna lie - it was struggle.
I wanted M71 so much, but there was none!
And when they did come into our stores, i was resisting, foolishly thinking that hoarding guns isnt the way...
But it is
And there is no way back...
So throwing away reasonable adult approach, i got Beretta M71 for about 300 USD (In Czech, everything is more expensive here) and i dont regret it
Its compact size (similiar to PPK) .22LR pistol with 7 (8) + 1 rounds and, i bet this isnt comon say about .22LR gun, its combat proven. Used not just by Mosad or Israeli air marshalls, it repeled terrorist with AK47s and assasinated few another bad boys.
More about that in this excelent 9-hole review
I dont know from where mine gun is, but i got to choose from thre exemplars, the choosen one was little bit more beaten on outside, but when i pushed slide, it had good tension, the gun felt firm, but still free to move with parts what should move. Looks like it was a good pick
It was dirty. A lot. There was litterally some dry plants in magazine, but after cleaning? It looks like it was shot once or twice and then carried a lot or used as practice or show tool. Some scratched finish on outside and thats all.
At first i was thinking more about money that im giving away, but just as i bring it home and for first time could really dive in what that gun really is, it changed everything.
Im really not fan of compact and subcompact guns, because it just dont fit in my hand so i most of time i carried full size APX. Well, M71 is compact gun done right.
Sure, .22LR is less demanding on gun construction than 9mm, but it just fits even in my quite big hands and it feells good. It have more adventages, but character and feel of GUN, is that one big thing.
Main technical feature would be classic beretta 92-style big ejection port and reliability - there was just two mag related problems (more about that in moment), cheapest SB club ammo worked fine and HV + HV HP too. With HV ammo guns starts to be little snappy, so i didnt try CCI Stinger and will do some research first
For such a short barell its nicely accurate, which is almost pointless because you will just dump all mag as fast as you can, then you will press heel release and fire another mag, repeating until you are out of ammo.
Yes. it have heel positioned mag release, its less ergonomic, but not an issue. Actually i would say its fort this size of gun better placement.
And now magazines...
Factory one is solid, on the look it feels little ... non-beretta? I mean its kinda ugly and rough thing, but fits nicely and pinky ledge makes gun ergonomic complete. The thing is, factory mag is exactly same size as after market ones, but follower is little bit bigger, That means that factory one holds 7 rounds, but almost identical after market holds 8 and both can get 9 rounds. But whit 8 round beretta mag will not feed first round reliably, same with 9 rounds in after market mag.
With small .22lr round it gets to be issue sometimes as you will easily loose track how many round is already in there.
I also had issue with disassembly lever (and once more i thanks to 5-Shots to help me with that). Its simply to operate and no need to explain that, but since APX use similiar system (lever) which is on that gun fool proof, i apparently didnt paid attention to M71 lever and while clining or in proces of reassembly i accidentally pushed lever to epicly wrong position and jammed slide. Once 5-Shots told me that, it was easy fix - just leverage slide against mag well and pushed slide to psoition, where i was able to rotate said lever, but i was lost for some time
And big reveal at the end - i actually carry this gun. Obvisouly its not for firefight - yes, it did well in those, but there is reasson why it was replaced - but if i go just down the street or to park, i have M71 with me. For my body build, its really nice and s suck with 9mm compact and subcomact guns
Anyway even for just plinking, its awesome gun, a lot of fun with cheap ammo and it quickly becames my favorite gun. Not just that, it also showed me that Beretta guns from this era worth it.
So mayabe you will soon see my review of Beretta M12
I wanted M71 so much, but there was none!
And when they did come into our stores, i was resisting, foolishly thinking that hoarding guns isnt the way...
But it is
And there is no way back...
So throwing away reasonable adult approach, i got Beretta M71 for about 300 USD (In Czech, everything is more expensive here) and i dont regret it
Its compact size (similiar to PPK) .22LR pistol with 7 (8) + 1 rounds and, i bet this isnt comon say about .22LR gun, its combat proven. Used not just by Mosad or Israeli air marshalls, it repeled terrorist with AK47s and assasinated few another bad boys.
More about that in this excelent 9-hole review
I dont know from where mine gun is, but i got to choose from thre exemplars, the choosen one was little bit more beaten on outside, but when i pushed slide, it had good tension, the gun felt firm, but still free to move with parts what should move. Looks like it was a good pick
It was dirty. A lot. There was litterally some dry plants in magazine, but after cleaning? It looks like it was shot once or twice and then carried a lot or used as practice or show tool. Some scratched finish on outside and thats all.
At first i was thinking more about money that im giving away, but just as i bring it home and for first time could really dive in what that gun really is, it changed everything.
Im really not fan of compact and subcompact guns, because it just dont fit in my hand so i most of time i carried full size APX. Well, M71 is compact gun done right.
Sure, .22LR is less demanding on gun construction than 9mm, but it just fits even in my quite big hands and it feells good. It have more adventages, but character and feel of GUN, is that one big thing.
Main technical feature would be classic beretta 92-style big ejection port and reliability - there was just two mag related problems (more about that in moment), cheapest SB club ammo worked fine and HV + HV HP too. With HV ammo guns starts to be little snappy, so i didnt try CCI Stinger and will do some research first
For such a short barell its nicely accurate, which is almost pointless because you will just dump all mag as fast as you can, then you will press heel release and fire another mag, repeating until you are out of ammo.
Yes. it have heel positioned mag release, its less ergonomic, but not an issue. Actually i would say its fort this size of gun better placement.
And now magazines...
Factory one is solid, on the look it feels little ... non-beretta? I mean its kinda ugly and rough thing, but fits nicely and pinky ledge makes gun ergonomic complete. The thing is, factory mag is exactly same size as after market ones, but follower is little bit bigger, That means that factory one holds 7 rounds, but almost identical after market holds 8 and both can get 9 rounds. But whit 8 round beretta mag will not feed first round reliably, same with 9 rounds in after market mag.
With small .22lr round it gets to be issue sometimes as you will easily loose track how many round is already in there.
I also had issue with disassembly lever (and once more i thanks to 5-Shots to help me with that). Its simply to operate and no need to explain that, but since APX use similiar system (lever) which is on that gun fool proof, i apparently didnt paid attention to M71 lever and while clining or in proces of reassembly i accidentally pushed lever to epicly wrong position and jammed slide. Once 5-Shots told me that, it was easy fix - just leverage slide against mag well and pushed slide to psoition, where i was able to rotate said lever, but i was lost for some time
And big reveal at the end - i actually carry this gun. Obvisouly its not for firefight - yes, it did well in those, but there is reasson why it was replaced - but if i go just down the street or to park, i have M71 with me. For my body build, its really nice and s suck with 9mm compact and subcomact guns
Anyway even for just plinking, its awesome gun, a lot of fun with cheap ammo and it quickly becames my favorite gun. Not just that, it also showed me that Beretta guns from this era worth it.
So mayabe you will soon see my review of Beretta M12
