CajunBass
Member
I've long been a fan of the Beretta 84/Browning BDA 380. I know...I know...too big/heavy for a 380...You can get a 9mm the same size, 380 blowbacks kick as hard or harder than most 9mm's, blowback 380's have heavy springs making it hard to rack the slides, 380 ammo costs more than 9mm,... yada, yada, yada...Those are all true. None of it matters to me. I like the guns. They feel great in my hands and I shoot them as well or better than I do most guns.
I used to have a BDA, but sold it after listening to those arguments. Years later I got a Beretta 84F to replace it. A conventional DA/SA semi, with 13+1 capacity. Great gun. Good looking. The fat grip helps spread the recoil out, and all the controls are in the right place. The 84F has a frame mounted safety/decocker which I like. I even like the hooked trigger guard...when I was younger, all the "cool kids" had hooked trigger guards on their IPSC gun. I was never a "cool kid."
Sorry for the poor pictures, but I haven't gotten around to taking any more.
The Beretta is great. Not so nice I can't carry it if I want to, but not beat to the devil either. The wood grips are a little fat...maybe. I suppose it depends on your hand size, but I like them. The gun shoots just fine. Oh, it also has a magazine disconnect. I'm sort of in the camp that doesn't care one way or the other about mag disconnects, but I know a lot of people don't care for them. I'm told it can easily be removed, but I've never bothered to look into it.
So a few weeks ago, I'm at the local pusher, and I see this in the used case. At first I thought it was another Beretta, but it turned out to be a Tisas Fatih 13, in 380. A copy of the Beretta 84B (or BB I forget which), it too is a 13+1 double stack 380, with a slightly longer barrel than the Beretta. The slide and barrel appear to be stainless while the frame is painted aluminum.
The Tisas has the traditional rounded trigger guard of the earlier Model 84's, and the safety does not act as a decocker. You can carry it cocked and locked, or you can manually lower the hammer, then put the safety on with the gun in the DA/SA mode which disconnects the trigger. The safety is frame mounted, right where you'd expect to find it if you're used to a 1911 or such. Or you can simply rely on the DA trigger (and your own good sense) to act as the safety (as I do). There is no magazine disconnect on this one.
The grips on the Tisas are black plastic, with a "Z" for "Zenith Firearms, Afton, Virginia" the importer I take it. They're a little thinner than the wood grips on the Beretta. Not bad at all. I can reach the mag release a lot easier on the Tiasas than the Beretta without shifting my hand on the grip. The Tisas uses the same magazines as the Bertta with the only difference I can find is the hooked baseplate on the Tisas one, and the witness holes are in different places along the body. They're also not cheap ($25-35), but then I don't guess any magazines are cheap these days.
I dug around in a box O stuff and found a Maxx Carry IWB holster that they both fit.
They both have functioned flawlessly with both FMJ and HP ammo. Once I figured out where to hold the fixed sights, the holes in the target showed up about where I expected them too.
Yes, no doubt I could find a 9mm, maybe even a 45 about the same size and weight. I've got 9mm's the same size now that I think about it, but I just like these guns. If they recoil more than other 380's, I've never noticed it. Yes, they're bigger, but they fit my hands well, and I can get a good grip on them. I've never experienced hammer bite.
One other thing. The Tisas cost about half what the Beretta did (both used). The Beretta to the best of my knowledge isn't made anymore, but the Tisas is. I've seen them listed NIB for less than $400.00 at various online places.
I used to have a BDA, but sold it after listening to those arguments. Years later I got a Beretta 84F to replace it. A conventional DA/SA semi, with 13+1 capacity. Great gun. Good looking. The fat grip helps spread the recoil out, and all the controls are in the right place. The 84F has a frame mounted safety/decocker which I like. I even like the hooked trigger guard...when I was younger, all the "cool kids" had hooked trigger guards on their IPSC gun. I was never a "cool kid."
Sorry for the poor pictures, but I haven't gotten around to taking any more.
The Beretta is great. Not so nice I can't carry it if I want to, but not beat to the devil either. The wood grips are a little fat...maybe. I suppose it depends on your hand size, but I like them. The gun shoots just fine. Oh, it also has a magazine disconnect. I'm sort of in the camp that doesn't care one way or the other about mag disconnects, but I know a lot of people don't care for them. I'm told it can easily be removed, but I've never bothered to look into it.
So a few weeks ago, I'm at the local pusher, and I see this in the used case. At first I thought it was another Beretta, but it turned out to be a Tisas Fatih 13, in 380. A copy of the Beretta 84B (or BB I forget which), it too is a 13+1 double stack 380, with a slightly longer barrel than the Beretta. The slide and barrel appear to be stainless while the frame is painted aluminum.
The Tisas has the traditional rounded trigger guard of the earlier Model 84's, and the safety does not act as a decocker. You can carry it cocked and locked, or you can manually lower the hammer, then put the safety on with the gun in the DA/SA mode which disconnects the trigger. The safety is frame mounted, right where you'd expect to find it if you're used to a 1911 or such. Or you can simply rely on the DA trigger (and your own good sense) to act as the safety (as I do). There is no magazine disconnect on this one.
The grips on the Tisas are black plastic, with a "Z" for "Zenith Firearms, Afton, Virginia" the importer I take it. They're a little thinner than the wood grips on the Beretta. Not bad at all. I can reach the mag release a lot easier on the Tiasas than the Beretta without shifting my hand on the grip. The Tisas uses the same magazines as the Bertta with the only difference I can find is the hooked baseplate on the Tisas one, and the witness holes are in different places along the body. They're also not cheap ($25-35), but then I don't guess any magazines are cheap these days.
I dug around in a box O stuff and found a Maxx Carry IWB holster that they both fit.
They both have functioned flawlessly with both FMJ and HP ammo. Once I figured out where to hold the fixed sights, the holes in the target showed up about where I expected them too.
Yes, no doubt I could find a 9mm, maybe even a 45 about the same size and weight. I've got 9mm's the same size now that I think about it, but I just like these guns. If they recoil more than other 380's, I've never noticed it. Yes, they're bigger, but they fit my hands well, and I can get a good grip on them. I've never experienced hammer bite.
One other thing. The Tisas cost about half what the Beretta did (both used). The Beretta to the best of my knowledge isn't made anymore, but the Tisas is. I've seen them listed NIB for less than $400.00 at various online places.
