Recently, a major distributor of surplus firearms has been offering Beretta 85 BB semi automatic pocket pistols in surplus good/very good with one magazine for $399.99.

Since my driving and shooting days have been curtailed due to a stroke in 2012, I have not acquired any new firearms since then presently have enough firearms to outfit a banana republic army.

Even so, I have been Jonesing over this sweet little number and wonder if any here have had any experience with it?

Great guns, but about a mile away from being a pocket pistol.

Who is selling them?

Bob

Good to see you post again Charlie. Those are nice pistols. And some I have handled were in very good shape. That was a year ago, though, and they may have run out of nice ones by now. Seems like Aim Surplus had them.

I have one. It fits my hand quite well, and is fun to shoot. With modern .380 loads, like Buffalo Bore or Underwood penetrator, it is a capable defense pistol.

The surplus 81s convinced me that I need one of the 84s - something about double-stack magazine mouse guns just seems to tickle my funny bone. The 85s are most tempting, though, and seem to have been brought in in quantity since they've been available in a number of places. Scuttlebutt is that you'll notice the kick of the .380 in them, but I haven't had the chance to shoot one yet.

Does anyone know about magazine availability for the 85s?

I bought a Beretta 81 32ACP, FUN to shoot.

I have the double stacked 81 & 84BB. The 85 is just like the 84 albeit a slimmer grip from being a single stack.
They are wonderful "mid"-size handguns but as was said, not a pocket pistol.

Classic Arms is who that is selling these.

I ordered one from Classic on Jan 16th it still hasn't shipped. From what I have been reading they are moving into a new warehouse and are totally slammed with orders. I am patiently waiting. I currently have a model 81BB and a 84f. Both of those are fun little shooters.

I’ve got an 85F and like it a lot. It feels good in the hand and is accurate enough to be fun. You can change them over to .32acp with nothing but a barrel swap and I haven’t shot .380 in mine since I did. Definitely a mid-size pistol.

It shipped today!

quote:

Originally posted by waterweezel:
I ordered one from Classic on Jan 16th it still hasn't shipped. From what I have been reading they are moving into a new warehouse and are totally slammed with orders. I am patiently waiting. I currently have a model 81BB and a 84f. Both of those are fun little shooters.

Kind of like a baby 92 ...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: toivo,

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Originally posted by Battlecloth:
I’ve got an 85F and like it a lot. It feels good in the hand and is accurate enough to be fun. You can change them over to .32acp with nothing but a barrel swap and I haven’t shot .380 in mine since I did.

What kind of magazines do you use to shoot .32 in it?

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Originally posted by toivo:

quote:

Originally posted by Battlecloth:
I’ve got an 85F and like it a lot. It feels good in the hand and is accurate enough to be fun. You can change them over to .32acp with nothing but a barrel swap and I haven’t shot .380 in mine since I did.

What kind of magazines do you use to shoot .32 in it?

And where did you acquire a .32 barrel? That's intriguing...

The .380 magazine works perfectly with .32acp.

Gunparts has the barrel (Beretta model 82) and Midwest Gun works has the Browning BDA barrel (same thing, made by Beretta).


Lots more info here.
https://berettaforum.net/vb/sh...p=873336&postcount=6

Now if you really want to have some fun...

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Lots more info here.
https://berettaforum.net/vb/sh...p=873336&postcount=6

"[e]ntire slide assemblies may be exchanged"? Chingao.

quote:

Originally posted by waterweezel:
I ordered one from Classic on Jan 16th it still hasn't shipped. From what I have been reading they are moving into a new warehouse and are totally slammed with orders. I am patiently waiting. I currently have a model 81BB and a 84f. Both of those are fun little shooters.

Any update on your order status? I'm toying with the idea of getting one of these (especially now that I know it can be converted to .32), but not really wanting to put something else on my CC that may be hanging out there for months...

Well, this thread ended up costing me money. You guys suck, lol. Didn't go for an 85, but I now have an 81BB Italian police trade-in on the way from gunbroker. Not the best time to invest in a new caliber, but for the price it was just too pretty to pass up, and I figure even though it's a blowback, .32 ought to make it a sweet shooter. If nothing else, it'll hold me over until I stumble across an affordable 87 someday!

Always wanted one of these, that's a good price

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Originally posted by 92fstech:

quote:

Originally posted by toivo:

quote:

Originally posted by Battlecloth:
I’ve got an 85F and like it a lot. It feels good in the hand and is accurate enough to be fun. You can change them over to .32acp with nothing but a barrel swap and I haven’t shot .380 in mine since I did.

What kind of magazines do you use to shoot .32 in it?

And where did you acquire a .32 barrel? That's intriguing...

Midwest Gun Works, listed under Browning BDA (which Beretta made for Browning).

I have both an 85BB with 32acp barrel and a nickel Browning BDA with nickel 32acp barrel swapped in. Really nicely made guns