Beretta 81 trade ins hitting the market

[ripley16]

If you haven't noticed there are several web dealers selling some really nice Beretta 81 models, 12 rounds, .32acp. A local dealer just received his order and I had to jump. Dealers are selling from $220 to about $270. The one I bought, at $239, is in excellent shape. Very clean, (for a batch of trade ins), nice bluing and lots to choose from. A beautiful model to add to the Beretta collection. Can't wait to shoot her. I was lucky to find one with the nice smooth wood grips. Most have the standard black plastic.

https://i.postimg.cc/Pf6Mr4tq/Beretta-81-b.jpg (https://postimg.cc/9z79Lyw3)

[Barth]

If you haven't noticed there are several web dealers selling some really nice Beretta 81 models, 12 rounds, .32acp. A local dealer just received his order and I had to jump. Dealers are selling from $220 to about $270. The one I bought, at $239, is in excellent shape. Very clean, (for a batch of trade ins), nice bluing and lots to choose from. A beautiful model to add to the Beretta collection. Can't wait to shoot her. I was lucky to find one with the nice smooth wood grips. Most have the standard black plastic.


Looks sweet!
I shouldn't ask, but where did you get it from?

I need to settle down.
This is my unissued Makarov 9x18
https://i.imgur.com/yPPt50E.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/Oghbnl6.jpg

Still, looks like a great buy!!!

[ripley16]

I got it from my LGS. Here's a link to his web site; https://dkfirearms.com/
He's a very popular dealer in this area both in shop, at gun shows and on line.

[berettabone]

A nice pickup...……………………………...

[trentu]

Picked me up one. Never owned a .32acp so thought I would try it. Extra mags are high priced though. You would think the extra mags would have been imported as well.

[ripley16]

Yesterday I shot the Beretta and can report it's a sweetie. Softer shooting than I expected. The small sights are harder to acquire than many more modern sights, but I shot a pretty tight group at 7 yards of about two inches. My .32 stock was pretty low so only about 40 rounds was used. S&B mostly but also a few Winchester Silver Tips which proved to run fine and was my most accurate group. I tried to use a magazine from my model 84, which loads like it will work and even fed a few rounds but failed to feed them all. Worth a try but .380 mags won't work. The correct mag loaded and fed just fine. A nice gun that I really enjoyed.

[Planedude]

I have one of these on order thru AimSurplus. Looking forward to it's arrival. I did note that the day after these hit the market, the country wide supply of .32acp magazines was sold out. I am already on a couple of wait lists for an extra mag or two.

Peace

[kenemoore]

Plenty of .32ACP at SG Ammo (0ne of my favorites.)
https://www.sgammo.com/catalog/pistol-ammo-sale/32-auto-acp-ammo

[Barth]

I got it from my LGS. Here's a link to his web site; https://dkfirearms.com/
He's a very popular dealer in this area both in shop, at gun shows and on line.

Thanks for the tip, always wanted a Cheetah.
Have a hand select inbound... :)

[ripley16]

Barth, let us know how she is when it arrives. The ones I saw while there in the shop were in very good shape. Standard condition were nice too but had more handling marks and some had a bit of slight surface rust.

[ripley16]

Plenty of .32ACP at SG Ammo (0ne of my favorites.)
https://www.sgammo.com/catalog/pistol-ammo-sale/32-auto-acp-ammo

I use SG for most of my ammo buys too. Good prices and quick shipping with reasonable shipping costs. $14 for a case of .32acp or $16 for a case of 9mm. Some sites charge $45 for the same case of ammo. $244 total for a case of 1000 rounds of .32acp. Not cheap but that should last me a pretty long time in my two .32 pistols that I use for fun range days. The ammo cost as much as the gun.

[Barth]

Barth, let us know how she is when it arrives. The ones I saw while there in the shop were in very good shape. Standard condition were nice too but had more handling marks and some had a bit of slight surface rust.

The problem seems to be spare mags.
I can't find them anywhere.
Still looking...
If you have a source I'd sure like to know :)

I've ordered 6 boxes of Underwood 32 ACP +P 55 Grain Xtreme Defender
32 ACP Lehigh Defense Xtreme Defense looks really impressive in gell tests

[Planedude]

Mine showed up at the FFL on friday. It was a "standard condition" gun and not as nice as Ripley's, but I like what I received for the price I got it home for ($280). It was a touch dirty, typical of a long time in storage, but still very nice.
Shot seldom, carried just a bit.
Magazines will be the issue, the .32acp mags were never a big seller stateside and stock here has always been thin. Within 24hrs of these guns being announced for sale, the nation wide supply of these mags was bought up. I started looking for the mags before I ordered the gun. I never found one in stock, but I have faith they will eventually be available.
So, today I bought some ammo and a new rug to store it in and have tucked it away in the safe. I look forward to shooting it soon once I get another (kind of rare) day off...
I'll add some pics later.

Peace

[Barth]

Mine showed up at the FFL on friday. It was a "standard condition" gun and not as nice as Ripley's, but I like what I received for the price I got it home for ($280). It was a touch dirty, typical of a long time in storage, but still very nice.
Shot seldom, carried just a bit.
Magazines will be the issue, the .32acp mags were never a big seller stateside and stock here has always been thin. Within 24hrs of these guns being announced for sale, the nation wide supply of these mags was bought up. I started looking for the mags before I ordered the gun. I never found one in stock, but I have faith they will eventually be available.
So, today I bought some ammo and a new rug to store it in and have tucked it away in the safe. I look forward to shooting it soon once I get another (kind of rare) day off...
I'll add some pics later.

Peace

A little birdy told me that -
"~600 mags will hit the distributors of the surplus guns in 2-3 weeks.
Keep your ear to the ground..."

[Planedude]

A little birdy told me that -
"~600 mags will hit the distributors of the surplus guns in 2-3 weeks.
Keep your ear to the ground..."

Bud, I check my sources about twice a day... got someone I should bookmark or get in on their email chain?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Peace.

[Barth]

https://i.imgur.com/csPe5R0.jpg?1
https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-2Fg67wBMQg-fVd96bA4cuNo_xAZHr9dO4V8SJzX9x3UDlzZZUNgaT-IWZkp0AV6607c5F0g76n_ZHwREoOPxwg/messages/@.id==AIXJgPBss4lpXXbkUQb1QAgdc2U/content/parts/@.id==2/thumbnail?appId=YMailNorrin&downloadWhenThumbnailFails=true&pid=2

[ripley16]

That looks pretty nice. Let us know how she shoots.

[Barth]

That looks pretty nice. Let us know how she shoots.
Still on the hunt for more mags.
If I only have one, this won't be much of a gun for me...
More mags and I'll start feeling comfortable :)

[Planedude]

Still on the hunt for more mags.
If I only have one, this won't be much of a gun for me...
More mags and I'll start feeling comfortable :)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190918/5ef608c7e495d208155c9455b757233c.jpg

Mine looks nice, just a touch of holster wear on the high spots forward, but still real nice for a “standard grade” pistol.
I had planned to go shoot it last weekend, but spent the time at the hospital instead, gaining a new granddaughter!!
More than fair trade!
Magazines will be short for some time to come. New mags won’t hit the US shores until Halloween and it appears there will be no “surplus” mags due to so many states having “10 rounds or less” laws.
I’ll buy what I can get on the first day I can get them... sigh.
Mine is nice enough to have me thinking about buying a second one (that I really don’t need, but why not?).
Y’all have a great day.

Peace

[Barth]

Looks like sometime around Halloween the mags will hit the distributors. Stay Tuned

[Planedude]

Looks like sometime around Halloween the mags will hit the distributors. Stay Tuned

Soooo... I received a “.32 ACP magazines available” email from Berretta USA at 12:05 today, but it came in while I was stuck in a dentist’s chair. I finally saw it at 1:30 and immediately hit the “buy now” button.

Yeah, they were already sold out...

Move quick when you see these mags available.

My old arse has just got to be faster. Sigh

[Barth]

Soooo... I received a “.32 ACP magazines available” email from Berretta USA at 12:05 today, but it came in while I was stuck in a dentist’s chair. I finally saw it at 1:30 and immediately hit the “buy now” button.

Yeah, they were already sold out...

Move quick when you see these mags available.

My old arse has just got to be faster. Sigh

Called Beretta Customer Service.
They had 226 new OEM mags and sold out in less than 2 hours.
I got the email and they were sold out when I tried to buy too.
Latest news is new and used mags will hit the market around Halloween.
Going mostly to the distributors that got the original 81 guns.
Keep your ear to the ground and jump fast when notified.

Last tip, friend to friend, don't buy two.
Buy five :cool:

Barth

[Barth]

Get Email from Beretta mags back in stock.
Added 5 to my shopping cart successfully.
Started to check out.
Error 1 not enough stock to fill your order.
Reducing quantity from 5 to 1.
Try to complete checkout.
Error 2 not enough stock to fill your order.
Shopping cart empty!

Now OOS again... https://www.akfiles.com/forums/smilies/mad_small.gif

[Planedude]

Get Email from Beretta mags back in stock.
Added 5 to my shopping cart successfully.
Started to check out.
Error 1 not enough stock to fill your order.
Reducing quantity from 5 to 1.
Try to complete checkout.
Error 2 not enough stock to fill your order.
Shopping cart empty!

Now OOS again... https://www.akfiles.com/forums/smilies/mad_small.gif

Yup, super funny/strange as I was sent the exact same email as Barth. Last week I talked to the very nice lady at Beretta customer service and she told me that it would be next March before the “beretta USA” store had these mags in stock again...
Then the email hits (again) yesterday, but they never did have any stock.
Dunno what’s going on with their software, but that’s not what you should be doing to your potential customer base.
The best bet for these mags will still be the ones hitting the distributor in the next week or two. I would like two more mags, but since this is just a range gun for me (I have better, lighter carry options) I could live with just one more mag. The little bugger is a hoot to shoot and I mostly bought it to hand off to new shooters so that they can be successful with an auto loader pistol on their first range trips.
Cool gun, good buy, but YEASH about finding magazines...

Peace.

[gb6491]

I've a 84BB, so I've got no horse in this race, but I did see some 84 mags that have been modified to work in the 81. They are said to hold 14 32s :cool:
If anyone is interested: https://robertsonstradingpost.gunsamerica.com/ItemDetails/725443974/3-Beretta-model-81-Cheetah-32-ACP-Modified-Mec-Gar-14-shot-Magazines-C85888-type-26-each-Free-Ship-lower-48.htm
Regards,
Greg

[Planedude]

I've a 84BB, so I've got no horse in this race, but I did see some 84 mags that have been modified to work in the 81. They are said to hold 14 32s :cool:
If anyone is interested: https://robertsonstradingpost.gunsamerica.com/ItemDetails/725443974/3-Beretta-model-81-Cheetah-32-ACP-Modified-Mec-Gar-14-shot-Magazines-C85888-type-26-each-Free-Ship-lower-48.htm
Regards,
Greg

Thanks for the link Greg,

Good timing for it too...
The vendor we have been waiting on posted late yesterday that Beretta has pushed back the delivery date for their “large order” until January.

Now if the Beretta USA website suddenly has a bunch of these mags to sell, we will all know how that happened...[emoji849]

Peace

[Barth]

I've read mixed reviews on the conversion mags.
Want to run high tech Underwood stuff in mine.
I will not settle for anything less than OEM.
Even then, with these old guns, I'm taking a leap of faith.
We will See...