Beretta Model 21 .22LR mousegun, factory warranty service report
 

I went by the shooting range today to pick up my 25 year old Beretta Model 21 from factory repairs. It was light striking, setting off about 50-75% of Remington, Federal and Winchester bulk ammo, but 99% of any CCI .22LR ammo.

I had soaked the pistol in solvent, my late Dad (God bless him) had just been dumping the pistol in his pockets so it was full of lint and dust... I scoured the chamber and then disassembled the slide/firing pin area with punches and all was seemingly working well there, still FTF problems. I suspected the hammer spring, so I ordered another from Beretta but couldn't begin to get it installed, so it went back to the factory.

Now two months later, free repair, new hammer spring installed, $25 round trip shipping and NO CHARGE to put my Dad's old pocket pistol back into action. In daylight, if I can SEE THE SIGHTS, this little pistol hits soda cans all day at 21 feet or so, or can fire VERY FAST if I want. It has NEVER stovepipe jammed that I can honestly ever recall, shoots all HV ammo, (Dad and I would go shooting at the garbage dump) ... unless it Fails to Fire as it finally began to, problem now fixed. This new spring is noticably MUCH harder than the old, but the double action trigger is still quite comfortable.

And of course it's kept very clean, as I must with such a little .22 pistol. I plan to use it as a mini-gun for CC when we go to short pants and t shirts in a few months, or quick everyday carry in a very low threat condition. I'll use CCI Velocitors, a 40gr Gold Dot HP getting 1400fps in a rifle, and an estimated 950-1000fps in a 2 1/2" barrel auto like this.

Lighter weight but similar MV 32gr CCI Stinger ballistics here: http://www.goldenloki.com/ammo/gel/22lr/gel22lr.htm

A bit of a footnote, this pistol is smilar to Ian Flemming's original James Bond's favorite gun, the Beretta 418 in .25ACP... even HQ was not impressed, always urging him to get a bigger gun... http://www.vincelewis.net/bond.html

To me, guns are like golf clubs, and this is for sure no driver, not even a 7-iron, but a quaint and dignified putter perhaps to place the ball right in the hole up close. It's also a fine plinker or 'fishin' gun'. I can find a more powerful and still tiny gun, say a .32acp or maybe even a .380, and I know it has no extractor and is rimfire, but it really always seems to WORK FINE, and I feel special about this one, sentimental now of course.

I've posted this for general GIM 'mousegun discussion' and info, and in praise of Beretta standing behind a 25 year old hammer spring that became defective. I'd expected a $75-$100 repair bill plus shipping!
:23_30_104:
My Dad's old pocket gun is shown below with an HK Speedloader of (5) .45 Long Colt bullets for size comparison, along with a little $50 Gold Maple. :bear_thumb:

The little Beretta holds 7 counting one in the pipe, on my scale weighs 12.7oz loaded, and carries inside-the-pants with Bianchi pocket holster and looks exactly like a wallet, or pretty much like nothing at all. But it is ... something.

Comments of any kind, about warranties, Berettas, mouseguns, whatever, all are welcome...

Re: Beretta Model 21 .22LR mousegun, factory warranty service report
 

I have a very similar gun by Taurus called a PT-22 in 22LR. It is identical in size. The PT-22 has a tip up barrel....so, easy to unload and make safe. Mine is D.A.O. and I think 9+1 rounds?

Nice little pocket guns.

Re: Beretta Model 21 .22LR mousegun, factory warranty service report
 

Funny how we just crossed threads talking about the Taurus 85 vs Smith .38s... what an irony that I've got a friend with a PT-22, we shoot rifles and pistols occasionally on his farm ... but his specimen seems to be a jam-o-matic. He bought it second hand so... He loves other Taurus's he has though. Really I speak his truth. But his guns are poorly cared for really, rust specks on many, he could have an out-of-spec magazine ...and lemons can pop up almost anywhere, many only a little out of kilter.

Yet I enjoy all my Taurus's so far as you know. But Taurus has an unlimited lifetime warranty... and Beretta does not ... yet they fixed this for essentially free labor, examined, spit cleaned, and fired the gun, after 25 years of wear. I like Beretta even more now. In my Marketing training, we learned the most loyal customers are not the ones that never had a problem, but the ones that always had any problem fixed right and cheerfully. I figure the spring was manufactured wrong in the first place but I like what they did here.

BTW, This pistol also has the handy tip-up barrel like yours, very similar in many repects. Enjoy the mousegun fun, my friend, I'm sure your Taurus is really nice! :emotions16:

As an aside, this .22 here barely dented any of the .22 case rims before, almost invisible it was so soft. Yet the CCI primers STILL fired ... I'm SOLD on CCI for ultra-reliable rimfire ignition, and they have more power potential than the other main brands. I see a pretty big orange ball of fire with the hot Velocitor rounds, the pistol kicks a tiny bit harder too. (you can't call it a 'kick' really;-) This little pistol turned out to be an ammo reliablity test for me. Shooting .22s all my life, I think the Velocitor is a really hot round!

Re: Beretta Model 21 .22LR mousegun, factory warranty service report
 

A few hours later, my 1oz .9999 Gold Maple (you see pictured above) has been bid to $1059.00 on Ebay, still over an hour to go, with spot gold at $939.50 ... not a bad +$premium for a simple elemental item. :bear_thumb:

Here is a good webpage set of links regarding 'mouseguns' in general:
http://www.mouseguns.com/index.htm
And specifically on ammo:
http://www.mouseguns.com/amball.htm

And many would diminish the possible effectiveness of a .22 in stopping something quickly... but remember that awful chaotic day when a 23yr old man called Hinckley opened up with a cheap .22 snubnose? Men surely went down ... it was on TV. No one died, but surprises still abound. He must have been insane!


Anyway ... I seem to be a pretty good GIM thread killer ... even with a dinky .22! :smile: Excuse me.

Re: Beretta Model 21 .22LR mousegun, factory warranty service report
 

Make mine Beretta...Love these older single action pistols. I have owned a few of them in 22 short and 25 acp....