FAO TC - regarding Beretta Model 70

[Biggus]

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Not sure if this is the problem - but this can also happen if the magazine is defective. I have 3 mags for my .45 colt and one of them (initially) would not lock the slide open on emptying... some tinkering with the mag fixed the problem.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

I thought this too, initially, but after a bit of reading on a US Beretta forum, two separate users mentioned their 70Ss and 71s not locking open when empty.

Maybe the US received different magazines? I don't know.

[TC]

Hello Biggus, sorry I was in Nepal for some work and could not answer on time. As far as my knowledge with handguns goes, all Berettas from the 70 series and onwards have the automatic (last shot) slide hold open device incorporated in the frame. Its actually a small steel pin that is activated by the magazine follower and is deactivated by the slide release lever so that the slide slams on a new magazine or empty/loaded chamber.
All pistols, 70 series and onwards, have sping loaded slide release levers. And all these pistols have a seperate disassembly lever on the right side of the frame. There is no difference in American and European models as far as basic functions are concerned. The only difference in some early 70 models were in the location of safety and magazine release buttoms. And some models that were exported to the US had alloy frames to make them lighter.

As far as my knowledge goes, 1935 Berettas never had any automatic last shot slide hold open device. The lever on the left side of the frame had to be manually roated backwards by 90 degrees and the slide pulled back manually to get it locked to the lever. This was a function incorporated for quick field cleaning and inspection. However it was possible to retract the lever and slam the magazine on a single round or a fresh magazine. I have used many 1935s and many variants of the 70 series. I personally have a 70 series in .32 (all steel) made in Italy.

As far as the debate in the forums are concerned, I completely agree with Abhijeet. A worn out magazine follower or a slide lever pin could have led some people to believe that their pistols never had these features.

Hope I was of help.

Reards

TC

[Biggus]

Hello Biggus, sorry I was in Nepal for some work and could not answer on time. As far as my knowledge with handguns goes, all Berettas from the 70 series and onwards have the automatic (last shot) slide hold open device incorporated in the frame. Its actually a small steel pin that is activated by the magazine follower and is deactivated by the slide release lever so that the slide slams on a new magazine or empty/loaded chamber.
All pistols, 70 series and onwards, have sping loaded slide release levers. And all these pistols have a seperate disassembly lever on the right side of the frame. There is no difference in American and European models as far as basic functions are concerned. The only difference in some early 70 models were in the location of safety and magazine release buttoms. And some models that were exported to the US had alloy frames to make them lighter.

As far as my knowledge goes, 1935 Berettas never had any automatic last shot slide hold open device. The lever on the left side of the frame had to be manually roated backwards by 90 degrees and the slide pulled back manually to get it locked to the lever. This was a function incorporated for quick field cleaning and inspection. However it was possible to retract the lever and slam the magazine on a single round or a fresh magazine. I have used many 1935s and many variants of the 70 series. I personally have a 70 series in .32 (all steel) made in Italy.

As far as the debate in the forums are concerned, I completely agree with Abhijeet. A worn out magazine follower or a slide lever pin could have led some people to believe that their pistols never had these features.

Hope I was of help.

Reards

TC

Hi, TC,

Thank you very much for the detailed response. I appreciate the time and effort everyone on this forum has taken to answer my query.

Biggus.