Thursday, August 17, 2006

Ballseye's Boomers: Beretta 70S

Aah, my Beretta 70S in .22LR is one of my favorite guns. I bought one back in the early 80s when I was living in El Centro, CA, and working in the Border Patrol in Calexico, CA. It had a minor problem that needed repair, or maybe I sent it in to get a longer barrel fitted to it (that was long ago and I now vaguely remember that it may have been for a barrel fitting and not a problem at all), so I sent it into Beretta. They did what they had to do to it, sent it back to me via UPS, and UPS in their ultimate wisdom left it on my front doorstep because I was not home when they made the delivery. When I got home, the gun was not home anymore. Apparently someone helped themselves to it while it sat there all lonesome and such. Well after me filing a report with UPS, Beretta and the Sheriff's office, I finally got a replacement Beretta shipped to me by Beretta, and paid for by UPS. The one in the picture is that replacement.

I have taken good care of it over the years, and have also had a lot of fun with it. If you ever want o purchase a reliable pistol in .22LR, this is one that you should consider. Of course, they are no longer in production, but they can be found with some fair regularity on sites like GunBroker.com. I made sure to buy extra magazines for mine, and I am quite happy that I did so. Extra magazines may actually be harder to find than are the pistols nowadays. All in all, one of the best firearms purchaes I have ever made. I can assure you it convinced me that Beretta was a quality firearms manufacturer - as will be evidenced in future postings of Ballseye's Boomers.

This particular pistol has an alloy frame, steel slide, adjustable rear sight, fixed front sight, and holds a magazine with an 8 round capacity. The mag release is on the lower left side of the grip. The action is single action only. Safety is mounted on the left rear of the frame (like a Colt 1911). It can be carried cocked and locked though I recommend against this. I believe it has an inertia firing pin, but do not hold me to that.

Lots of fun to shoot, easy to take care of, and made with the quality control that is a halmark of Beretta.

Safe shooting,
Glenn B

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I want one too.

Charles said...

I just bought a 72 Jaguar. It's the same gun but with the 6 inch barrel. I live in California so used pistols are hard to get. I found a gunsmith that will cut and recrown the barrel to 3 1/2 inch for 150 bucks. So unless I can find a replacement barrel gonna have to gunsmith it.

The gun is in 85 percent condition and functions 100 percent as you expect from a Beretta model 70.

So I hindsight

Beretta model 70 used $300 bucks

Gunsmithing $150 bucks

Owning a Beretta model 70 priceless

Glenn B said...

If that was my Beretta jaguar, I would never cut down the barrel. They have got to be more difficult to find with the longer barrel and the longer barrel may someday raise its value. Then again, it isn't mine - so if you do cut it down, have fun with it.

Safe shooting,
GB

Charles said...

Hello Glen

I have considered not touching the barrel and trying to find a second model 70 with the short barrel.

I wont love to own 2 of them a target pistol and a carry pistol.

Any suggestion on where iI might find the shorter barrel. I have had no luck on the internet.

Oh and last I might even have the pistol black hard chromed.

What do you think?

Glenn B said...

Check Numrich Gun Parts http://www.e-gunparts.com/

They have the short barrel for the 70S in .380. My guess is that you would be able to contact them to see if they plan on getting them in in .22LR caliber.

All the best,
GB

This is for the .380 NOT a 22: http://www.e-gunparts.com/DisplayAd.asp?chrProductSKU=957170&chrSuperSKU=&MC=&CatID=8608&mySort=1