High priced fetched for Beretta 70 S

[Orion8472]

Unfortunately it wasn't mine,...but someone just ended their auction for a Beretta 70 S,...supposedly in "excellent shape", which I didn't see it that way.......only "very good" at best,......but the auction ended at $1,125.00

I wish I had kept mine, now, because mine really WAS in excellent shape! Oh well. It is one of those "regretted selling" guns.

 

[Mike OTDP]

Good heavens! $450 I can see, maybe $500. No more.

 

[amd6547]

At that rate, my Beretta 84F ought to be worth $2000 easy. Not sellin’.

 

[zaitcev]

84F is not yet collectible enough. In fact there's a guy at eBay mass-selling police trade-in imports, mostly 84BB but also a couple of 84F. They aren't selling even at $450 (granted, he's selling them without magazines for whatever reason).

 

[bannockburn]

Orion8472

My Model 70S will never be for sale as it will go to one of my daughters some day. One of the most reliable, durable, and well made .22s I have ever come across in all my years of shooting handguns. A true "keeper" in every sense of the way possible!

 

[Gordon]

I have a Jaguar (pre model 70 ) with both the 6" and 3.5" barrel in the factory box. It is my second M70 Beretta , the first wound up in the Azores with a good friend who took it there on his boat , via the Panama canal from San Francisco in a 49 foot steel hull boat 20 years ago. . These pistols are very good as they are about the smallest pistol that is reliable in .22LR. All the smaller ones I've owned were not as reliable as these. MachIVshooter is currently internally threading the 3.5" barrel for mine. I allways thought I would shoot the 6" barrel surppressed, but he reversed my thought process on that one! Seems under 4" barrels are subsonic with regular Minimag type ammo (generic HV RNHP ammo) , which these Beretta's love. The 6" of course offers higher velocity and better accuracy due to sight radius so should be left for that role. I would have my gun hard chromed too, but am too old to worry about that anymore. My son will be keeping it as he will have the suppressor for it.

 

[bannockburn]

Gordon

These pistols are very good as they are about the smallest pistol that is reliable in .22LR. All the smaller ones I've owned were not as reliable as these.

I remember reading an article in some gun magazine where the author expounded the same exact thought: that going smaller than a medium frame size pistol in a .22 was difficult to do and still have it work right. He tried out a number of subcompact .22s: a Walther TPH, a Sterling Model 302, and I think an Auto Nine, and came to the conclusion that with rimfire ammo, when you reduce the size of the gun you make for very little room internally for everything to function properly. Even with tighter tolerances like you would find on the Walther TPH it was still difficult to get it to be reliable enough to use it as a back-up gun. I owned a Sterling Model 302 and an Auto Nine and both were very problematic with any and all .22 ammo I tried to run through them. Only two that I found to be halfway decent in terms of reliability were an Iver Johnson TP22 (also known as the Erma Werke RX22), and a Beretta Model 21.

 

[Gordon]

Could never get my Beautiful Beretta 21 , or seen any other of same to function reliably enough with MOST ammo to consider as a defensive weapon, I reluctanly sold it. The Beretta Model 20 in .25acp or any 950 model I have had in .22 short OR .25acp ARE reliable enough to rely on ! I actually had an Iver TP22 and it did seem reliable in the couple years I owned it decades ago. I would not mind finding another reasonably.
Oh and the not much larger Walther PP in LR functions pretty well too, with correct factory mags and HV ammo . They are a little heavier than the Beretta 70 tho, I have kept mine- for now . I may sell the Walther as they fetch around $1000 for a .22 with a couple mags in great shape, they ARE class acts. I still have a 60s 7.62 PP which is stone reliable and is in the box with test target and two mags. I would trade it for an equal condition Beretta 71 in .32 or .380 , if that says anything !

 

[Tallball]

I think I only took my little tip-up Beretta to the range once. I couldn't hit the side of a barn with it, but it went bang every time. I still have it. Apparently it's not worth more than the small amount I paid for it.

I owned the Taurus clone some years back. It was reliable until the plastic buffer broke. It was reliable again after I replaced it. The DAO trigger was so bad that I sold it, though.

I'm pretty sure that my newest tiny 22lr, this little NNA, will stay reliable. I bought it just as a range toy and so far it's barely more accurate than the Beretta, but it will be fun to try to improve with. It seems well made and I doubt it will malfunction (as long as I keep it clean).

Beretta 21A 22lr

• Tallball
• Aug 30, 2020

NAA Mini 22lr

• Tallball
• Jul 9, 2021

 

[tarosean]

..

 

[commygun]

That is an absurd price. I have one in excellent condition that I’ll gladly part with for that kind of wonga.
Nevertheless, it isn’t hard to imagine a nice 70S, like the Broomhandle or the SAA, sparking a “gotta have it” impulse in some random gun guy. Outside of dedicated collectors, it’s fun to look at someone’s firearms accumulation and speculate on how they ended up with that assortment of guns.

 

[amd6547]

I have a Jaguar (pre model 70 ) with both the 6" and 3.5" barrel in the factory box. It is my second M70 Beretta , the first wound up in the Azores with a good friend who took it there on his boat , via the Panama canal from San Francisco in a 49 foot steel hull boat 20 years ago. . These pistols are very good as they are about the smallest pistol that is reliable in .22LR. All the smaller ones I've owned were not as reliable as these. MachIVshooter is currently internally threading the 3.5" barrel for mine. I allways thought I would shoot the 6" barrel surppressed, but he reversed my thought process on that one! Seems under 4" barrels are subsonic with regular Minimag type ammo (generic HV RNHP ammo) , which these Beretta's love. The 6" of course offers higher velocity and better accuracy due to sight radius so should be left for that role. I would have my gun hard chromed too, but am too old to worry about that anymore. My son will be keeping it as he will have the suppressor for it.
View attachment 1014310

I have a Model 71 with the six inch barrel like that…it is a great shooting pistol. I only wish I had the short barrel to go with it. They are hard to find.
Original magazines are expensive, when they can be found. I was able to order two from Italy several years ago. I hear that source dried up now.

 

[bannockburn]

amd6547

Original magazines are expensive, when they can be found. I was able to order two from Italy several years ago. I hear that source dried up now.

When I picked up my Beretta from the gun shop I asked about some spare magazines. They had none for the Model 70S but they did have an old used 10 round magazine for the Model 101. It fit in my gun and works great but with the magazine being longer, it looked a little strange sticking out the bottom of the gun. So I looked around and found another extended Beretta magazine only this one was in .32 ACP and had a plastic spacer that covered the bottom portion of the magazine. It fit the Model 101 magazine perfectly and so I now at least have a decent looking spare magazine for my Model 70S!