How do tip-up barrels work?

[MatthewVanitas]

Greetings. Like the title says. I'm not quite clear how the weapon cycles with a tip up barrel. Does the barrel swing away from the frame under recoil? Does a heavy spring pull the barrel back into battery? How do you chamber a round?

Did any company do much work on tip-ups besides Beretta? Advantages/disadvantages? I'm mainly curious because I was pondering a Beretta .25 for a very, very petite friend with low hand strength. Thanks for your time. -MV

 

[Badger Arms]

You sound a bit confused. During the firing cycle, a 'tip-up' barrel acts as a fixed barrel. It is held to the frame at the front by a rigid pin and at the rear by a lever. It does not move when the gun is fired. The purpose of the tip-up barrel is to load and unload the chamber... that's it.

The only other manufacturer I'm aware of is Taurus who made cheap copies of the Beretta's (and still does) in 22lr and 25acp. There is another 'tip-up' in Beretta's line in .380 called the Model 86. This is a significantly larger pistol and is bigger than many 9mm's. Beretta made the 3032, Model 21, Model 20, and Model 950.

But the king of the 'tip-ups' was a monster made by CZ. It's not a true tip-up, just that the barrel is attached at the front and pivots up during disassembly. Novel way of securing the barrel, methinks.

 

[natedog]

On the Beretta pocket guns, the tip-up barrel is only for easy loading or unloading. I don't think the barrel cycles up and down with the action. If it did, how would the cartridge be ejected/extracted? They're straight blowback.

 

[ckyllo]

had a 21 bobcat a few years ago. got stolen, long story for another time only going to say it was a family member. the gun didnt have a slide lock on it. I think that a tip barrel was easier to fit in the small frame than a slide lock. if i recall there was also no extractor on it either. it was a fun gun accurate for the barrel size, sometime a spent shell stuck in the chamber after a few mags went through it. a loaded round would nearly pop out of the chamber when you flippef the lever.

 

[halvey]

There is another 'tip-up' in Beretta's line in .380 called the Model 86. This is a significantly larger pistol and is bigger than many 9mm's.

Any experience with these? I was thinking of getting one of these for my sister in law who has very bad hand strength, can't rack the slide and hates recoil. Hows the trigger?

Am I right in assuming it can take superhot .380's? I may be buying it back if it doesn't work for her.

 

[Badger Arms]

Never shot one of the 86's before. I've had one ordered for just the reason you state. The lever was very easy to operate. Because it's a larger 380, it should be fairly pleasant to shoot. The trigger was excellent IIRC. Of course, you want to teach them to shoot double action. If they are skittish about recoil, they might also be skitish enough to touch off a Negligent Discharge if you teach them to cock the gun first. Explain that the heavier trigger pull will not be noticed if they are about to get raped or murdered anyhow, it'll seem light as a feather.

 

[sabre452]

I have a Cheetah 86 and the gun is well made and well finished. However, recoil is quite snappy since the gun is a blowback design and I have the wood grips which tend to twist and slip in the hand during recoil. The gun is as large as several 9mm pistols and finding good leather is a pain.

 

[vwfool]

The tip ups are nice if you have to load or unload it a lot. You just put in a full magazine and put one in the barrel. You don't have to put in the mag, rack the slide, pull out the mag, put another round in the mag, and reinsert the mag just to have it fully loaded. It can be real handy if you want to change trypes of amm, too. If you want to put in one shot shell for some reason, you can do it without even messing with the magazine. I've had a Taurus 22 and a Beretta Tomcat; I liked them both.

 

[dairycreek]

Just a a thought for us older Americans!

If you are one of us older folk who have a touch of arthritis in the hands the tilt up barrel is a real good deal. Allows one to deal with the extraction process really effectively. Good shooting

 

[bubbaturbo]

One thing you gotta think about with these guns is if you unload without using the tipup feature. If you remove the magazine and then rack the slide to eject an unfired cartridge, since there is no extractor to extract the cartridge, you won't unload the gun. Make sure the chamber is actually empty by checking visually.

 

[Badger Arms]

Uh, why would you try to rack the slide on one instead of tipping the barrel up? It's a different manual of arms. If you don't know the manual of arms for your gun that well, you shouldn't be using it.

 

[bubbaturbo]

Uh, that was my point. It is a different manual of arms and the original question led me to believe that he did not understand how it functioned. I have no idea why one would rack the slide on a tipup barrel. I was just pointing out that if you do, you get a result different from what you might expect from most pistols. I agree that if you don't know how a gun works you shouldn't use it. I believe though, that he is asking for info on that very thing, i.e. how it works.

 

[Badger Arms]

Gotcha. My sole ND involved a broken extractor although I can honestly say I still knew enough to realize there was a live round in the chamber. Racked the slide and nothing came out. I saw the shell and, lacking anything to pop the round out with, I unconsciously pointed the gun in a safe direction and squeezed the trigger. It was a drill I'd done many times with the gun and was just not paying attention to the gun. On tip-up barrels, your thumbnail makes a darn good extractor.

 

[cstuard]

On our 3032 Tomcat I really like the tipup barrel.While I CAN rack the slide, it is definately stiff and I can see how someone might not be able to.The whole thing depends on your buying into the DA/SA school of thought for self defence.Assuming that, and starting w/ a completely empty gun, you need to get a full mag in the gun and a round in the chamber.If you can't rack the slide, how do you load the chamber?W/ a tipup barrel it's easy-w/o a tipup it's not possible.W/ the Tomcat, I tip the barrel,stick in a round and re-lock the barrel. Then I slip in a full mag. Done, easily done!
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