My "new" Beretta 1935

[Justang]

I have a co-worker whos mother-in-law just passed away. While cleaning the house out he lifted a mattress to find a Beretta 1935. He's not a gun fan, but tell me about the gun so I jump on it. Gave him a little cash and I got a new gun. The gun was made in Italy in 1958. 1959 was the last year of the 1935's so the serial number is pretty high on this gun.

I did a quick cleaning of the gun tonight to see how it looks. Barrel looks good, and the action is very strong. This gun looks to have less than 1000rds through it. It does though, have some rust spots along with some wear on the finish. The gun has been hidden, as far as my co-worker can tell, for atleast 15 years. So any wear on it is ok by me... heck it's almost 50 years old!

Anyway, here's some pics.

It'd be nice to get this gun looking beautiful again. Are these collectors items? Would it be horrible if I wanted to put a different finish on it...like a hard chrome?

 

[Cosmoline]

Those are really cool little pocket pistols.

 

[Gordon]

They are super reliable guns. The Military version is going for $500, the civilian model(yours) a little more than half that $250-300. So it is collectable and anything you you do other than cleaning and oiling reduces its value. Your gun is very nice looking , say 85-90% and as such is worth $250.

 

[Justang]

I paid way less than $250.

Well I guess it'll stay the way it is then. I just thought a nice hard chrome finish on it would look awesome!

 

[Justang]

wow, what a trip to shoot. The trigger pull is soo long and so hard. At 7yds I still couldn't get a tight grouping. It was my first time shooting a .32. It's a very tame round... but it does have a bit of snap to it.

 

[berettaman]

There's about 2 million of the 34/35 pistols just like that out there.If it was made after 1945 there is no real collectors value it.Yes they are neat little guns.The model 34 in .380 are more sought out because of the larger caliber and possible CCW uses,but sadly the 35 in 32.acp are not currently commanding a large price.Unless like I said,they were made before 1945,and to get into the $500 catagory it either had to be a few of the engraved presentation models,or have some other historical cache like being stamped with facist or nazi acceptance's.(ie..4UT,MAM MDA MF MP MR MS PM SA V WaA ZG ect....)
Still it is a fun,neat little plinker.It's built for ball or fmj's but I've found that my 35's handle the Speer GDJH very reliably.(with a little polishing of the feed ramp.
Congrats on your new find and pistol.They are great fun.

 

[Justang]

I looked up the stats on it and found multiple places where there were 525,000 1935's made. Many many more 1934's made. Mainly because the 35's stopped in '59 and and the 34's stopped in the early 80's.

 

[BowStreetRunner]

nice pistol!
BSR