ad-closed Beretta Model 81 Cheetah

[Capbyrd]

Beretta Model 81 chambered in 32 acp or whatever those Euro folk call it.  It's not an ugly pistol but it does have some wear.  Full disclosure, I bought this as a gunsmith special.  The ad said that the takedown lever wouldn't close.  They were right.  After inspection, I discovered that the barrel wouldn't slide all of the way back into the barrel channel.   There was some gunk in the back corner that prevented it from traveling all of the way back.  I spent some time with a file and some picks and got it to where it can be slid into the channel without tools.  However, it is still a very tight fit.  I didn't want to remove any material from the barrel lug so I did as much as I could in the channel and once I got it to where it would operate, I stopped.  I don't know how whatever got back there did and I don't know what it is but the pistol does function.  It just requires a little pressure to seat the barrel when assembling after field stripping.  The pistol also did not come with a mag.  Mags are running about 40 bucks shipped from a single seller on gun broker.  Some places are higher for factory mags.  Aftermarket mags can be had slightly cheaper.  

 

 

 

 

Here you can see the date code.  The pistol dates to 1981.  

 

 

The picture above and this picture show the worst of the wea.  
 

 

 

 

 

The really ugly importer's mark. 
 

 

Barrel bore is bright.  Visible wear is near zero. 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see that once assembled, the feed ramp lines up well with almost no signs of ever being shot.  
 

 

 

 

The slide rails did have some wear on them. 
 

 

 

 

 

And here I was trying to take a picture of some of the gunk that was keeping the barrel from seating.  It's difficult to see but its on the bottom left side of the picture at the barrel channel.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm asking $250 face to face in Memphis but I'm not opposed to drive.   

 

 

[Capbyrd]

Bump.   $200

[tercel89]

Dang this is a nice deal ! 

[hipower]

1 hour ago, tercel89 said:

Dang this is a nice deal ! 

Yes, it is. I have one of these and love it. I'd call it a mouse gun if it weren't so fat!

[ken_mays]

I'll take it off your hands.  I have 4 rounds of .32 floating around my ammo box, so it seems like ample justification.  PM incoming

[hipower]

45 minutes ago, ken_mays said:

I'll take it off your hands.  I have 4 rounds of .32 floating around my ammo box, so it seems like ample justification.  PM incoming

I love your rationale for this purchase!!

[Capbyrd]

Sold!   Thanks folks.  

[Moped]

4 hours ago, ken_mays said:

I'll take it off your hands.  I have 4 rounds of .32 floating around my ammo box, so it seems like ample justification.  PM incoming

Check with Robertson’s Trading Post for magazines. Their pricy though.

[TomInMN]

I'm just going to drop this here: 

 

@ken_mays some food for thought.

 

And, thank you for removing this particular temptation!

[Moped]

6 hours ago, TomInMN said:

I'm just going to drop this here: 

 

@ken_mays some food for thought.

 

And, thank you for removing this particular temptation!

I and Capbyrd had been talking about this pistol about a month ago and I almost bought it.  The magazine issue was killing me, cause I couldn't find them.  I was looking at it again, when Ken stepped up to the plate and got it!  I'm thankful too!  LOL!  I did sorta scratch the itch by buying a Tisas Fatih 13 (apparently pronounced Faith), which is a licensed copy of the Cheetah 84 and made on Beretta machinary, in Turkey.  I really like it!  But I still wouldn't mind having a little .32 ACP.  

[ken_mays]

I have a mag on the way from berettausa.com.   As interesting as that 32 NAA chambering is, the primary reason I bought the 81 is because I don't have any .32 ACP handguns and I figured it was a cheap way to make use of any ammo that I happened to come across.   Plus, I have missed out on too many initial pistol import gluts only to regret it later when they became scarce and expensive.

[hipower]

18 minutes ago, ken_mays said:

I have a mag on the way from berettausa.com.   As interesting as that 32 NAA chambering is, the primary reason I bought the 81 is because I don't have any .32 ACP handguns and I figured it was a cheap way to make use of any ammo that I happened to come across.   Plus, I have missed out on too many initial pistol import gluts only to regret it later when they became scarce and expensive.

Been there...Done that.

[Moped]

2 hours ago, ken_mays said:

I have a mag on the way from berettausa.com.   As interesting as that 32 NAA chambering is, the primary reason I bought the 81 is because I don't have any .32 ACP handguns and I figured it was a cheap way to make use of any ammo that I happened to come across.   Plus, I have missed out on too many initial pistol import gluts only to regret it later when they became scarce and expensive.

I think you are going to like the .32 ACP,  I have a Keltec P32 and I love shooting that little pistol!!! 

[xtriggerman]

The reason the slide dosent seat into the frame is the recoil spring washer face edge needs to be beveled off slightly so the recoil spring can slip into the frame pocket easier. The frame has a sharp 90% edge all around the frame spring pocket. The washer is the same with a sharp 90% edge. If off center just a little, its a no go to seat the slide. Beveling the washer edge a tad, lets the washer "slip" into alignment and your good.

 Also, I scored 2 Browning BDA 380 barrels on Ebay. One for my son and one for my 81. With a M84 380 mag, and 380 barrel, the 81 is convertible to 380 with only a barrel & mag swap. A Beretta 84 barrel of course will also convert like a factory fit as well as the Browning BDA 380.

[Capbyrd]

11 minutes ago, xtriggerman said:

The reason the slide dosent seat into the frame is the recoil spring washer face edge needs to be beveled off slightly so the recoil spring can slip into the frame pocket easier. The frame has a sharp 90% edge all around the frame spring pocket. The washer is the same with a sharp 90% edge. If off center just a little, its a no go to seat the slide. Beveling the washer edge a tad, lets the washer "slip" into alignment and your good.

 Also, I scored 2 Browning BDA 380 barrels on Ebay. One for my son and one for my 81. With a M84 380 mag, and 380 barrel, the 81 is convertible to 380 with only a barrel & mag swap. A Beretta 84 barrel of course will also convert like a factory fit as well as the Browning BDA 380.

I know you have a history of working on stuff and you might have been correct in some cases but not this one.  I explained what the problem was because I did my homework.   If you took the slide and the recoil spring out of the equation and just tried to seat the barrel into it's channel, it WOULD NOT GO HOME.  Something in the channel was preventing it from moving.  So I carefully removed the offending material.  

[xtriggerman]

1 hour ago, Capbyrd said:

I know you have a history of working on stuff and you might have been correct in some cases but not this one.  I explained what the problem was because I did my homework.   If you took the slide and the recoil spring out of the equation and just tried to seat the barrel into it's channel, it WOULD NOT GO HOME.  Something in the channel was preventing it from moving.  So I carefully removed the offending material.  

OK, well then both of the 81's I have here were odd balls because they both go back together with no issue at all now with beveled washer edges. Both guns were near impossible to get the slides seated before the washer work. Maybe yours was just gunked up but Beretta is pretty consistant in spec of its parts if the guns were made at relatively the same production runs.

[Capbyrd]

1 hour ago, xtriggerman said:

OK, well then both of the 81's I have here were odd balls because they both go back together with no issue at all now with beveled washer edges. Both guns were near impossible to get the slides seated before the washer work. Maybe yours was just gunked up but Beretta is pretty consistant in spec of its parts if the guns were made at relatively the same production runs.

I don't believe that this was a Beretta issue.  I think this was a someone else tinkering issue or something.  I'm not saying that yours were the oddballs but rather that this one was.