Drop Safety Question - Beretta Model 70 and 70S

[HPShooter]

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I have recently picked up a 98% Beretta Model 70 and have been getting to know the rest of the Tribe online. The quality of the machining, fit, and reliability is tremendous. Also, the handling, natural pointability in the hand, and relatively light weight are a plus.

In general there are two variants other than caliber and barrel lengths - early type cross bolt safety; and later 1911 type safety.

Manuals for both the 70 and 70S appear to show no change to the firing pin and firing pin spring design. The firing pin spring appears to hold the firing pin back until the hammer is completely released.

This pistol is turning into a favorite range gun for my daughter, and will be seeing frequent use. My question is, how drop safe are the 70 & 70S series...
with safety off, hammer full cocked & at half cock; and with safety on, hammer cocked (either crossbolt or 1911 type)?

I have seen some comments online here and there stating that the crossbolt safety is not as sure as the later 1911 type. However, it is a big beast of a crossbolt, quite positive. While awkwardly placed, the diagrams seem to suggest the crossbolt would be equally effective in function.

I have a lot of experience with Single Action Autos and am comfortable using them I also feel children and novices to firearms should be carefully schooled in the main actions & safetys - SA, DA, DAO, Revolvers. Not just the one the Gun Shop Sold them, or that they inherited. Just like to be sure of the mechanical side of things, too. Your comments appreciated in advance.

 

[Jim Watson]

Parts diagrams for the M-70 show no signs of a firing pin block.
Therefore it is about as safe as any other pistol with a floating firing pin, say a 1911 or a Woodsman. Not completely drop safe but not an immediate hazard.

It is usually recommended to not use the half cock position on a SA auto as a carry setting, it is only to catch the hammer if it somehow mysteriously falls off of full cock.

I don't know if the firing pin is the inertia type, like a 1911. If it is, hammer down on a loaded chamber would be safe, the risk is GETTING it down, then cocking it to fire. I used to do Condition 2 but no longer.

Cocked and locked would again be comparable to a 1911. One site says:
"At last it has been possible to design a completely satisfactory safety lever, blocking both hammer and sear when the pistol is at full cock."
Can we take the "at last" to mean that they thought the crossbolt was good?
I know one trainer, M. Ayoob, maybe, said the crossbolt was easier to use than it looked, knock it off with the thumb knuckle on the fly. But I have shot 'Murrican lever safeties so long that I would prefer one.


I once had Walther Fever with PPK and PP .22s but they were just not quite right. I think the 70 would be. I would snap up a 70 in .22 for my own use.

 

[HPShooter]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I looked over, and then tried the crossbolt safety more thoroughly. It is just as the Mas Ayoob comment you remembered suggests.

I had not tried to manipulate it with my right thumb knuckle before......it is easy to do, in fact appears designed for this purpose. Both ends of the large crossbolt are heavily checkered. Also, a ring of red paint surrounds the right crossbolt head when off safe.

It's clear Beretta considered this a major improvement when they redesigned this pistol from the Model 1935. While I wouldn't pocket carry with this pistol cocked and locked, or Condition 2 (as you noted), it would be fine with a quality IWB or OWB holster specifically designed for it.

I share your keen interest in the .22 Model. They show up infrequently on the Auction sites. Apparently they are one of the most stone reliable .22s ever made. The Israeli Sky Marshal and Counter-Terror ops with them are legendary, and well documented.

Those incidents, especially the end of one unsuccessfuly skyjacking attempt, almost certainly involved the "draw from Condition 3, rack slide, push out and shoot" method used by the Israelis for decades. Shows what training and determination can do.

Again, thanks for the guidance. Good luck on your hunt for the Model 70S .22.

 

[Jim Watson]

There is a guy here who carries not a 70S but a 1948 .22 exactly on the 1934 platform.
Strange, because his recreational shooting is done with Mag-Numbs, the bigger, louder, and harder kicking the better.

 

[HPShooter]

I think I know where he's coming from......something small, handy, reliable that you can hit with -confidently - beats the cannon back at the cabin. I'll bet the 948 is as reliable as the 70. Plus in very hot climates it's just not that easy to conceal a medium or large frame CCW piece.

This approach also meets the first rule of armed self defense........have a gun. I'm satisfied small calibers are quite deadly, and that large calibers do not always have the instantaneous "death ray" effect that the eternal caliber war threads infer.