2 New Toys

Funny how Dads are, they kinda sneak in a gift here and there because giving them might result in mushy feelings, and we wouldn't want that. Well my Father is no exception. A couple of weeks ago, me and my clan were visiting my parents, and as we were leaving, my dad asked me to look at a couple of old guns he had picked up, you know to see if they work and fix any problems they might have. So of course I say yes, and take them. I love a challenge and fixing guns is something I enjoy quite abit. But, right as we walked out the door he whispers in The Boys ear "if you get it working, keep it". Well that just made Gavin's day. He was referring to a Taurus model PT-22. It is a pretty little .22 cal pocket pistol and the Boy loved it. Then if that wasn't enough, as I shook his hand to say goodbye, he says's to me,"If you can get the other one working, you can have it too". Well I'll be, I had just received a vintage 1942 beretta model 34. This pistol was made for the Italian Army during WWII. It was the standard sidearm for Italian infantrymen. Being made in 1942, it stands to reason that it could have been used, or at least carried in the war.
Today, we were able to test our two newest additions at the range. Both pistols performed flawlessly. Starting with the Taurus, it hold 7 round of .22lr (there's room for 9 but the first two rounds wont feed if you try it.) It took some getting used to, see I am used to large frame pistols and unless you are shooting a derringer, they don't get much smaller than the PT-22. It is a DOA (double action only) pistol with close to a 12 pound trigger. It also has about an inch of creep so put those together and your going to have a tired finger at the end of 100 rounds or so. As for accuracy, I was impressed for such a small gun. It has a 2" barrel that tips up for cleaning. I was able to keep 5 shot group down to about 4" at 20 yards, and not being a target pistol with only a 2" barrel, that's not too bad. But the real test was the Boy. he was at about 6" at 15 yards which is good because he had a little trouble with the trigger pull. He will be doing finger curls until the problem is fixed. but he thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you Papaw Larry. Another thing that is different is it has no way to lock the slide open, which being DOA it is OK, you know tour empty when it goes tick instead of bang.
The M-34 was also a joy to shoot. It is chambered for .380 ACP, which is just a small 9mm. In 100 round fired, I didn't have any misfires or failure to feed problems. One thing to note about the gun is the safety, It is also the slide stop and has to be spun 180 degrees to disengage. Not a bad thing, It just takes some getting used to. accuracy was about the same as the PT-22, but keeping in mind this guns intended purpose, It does what it was made to do. And for the Gavin test, he loved this one too. he wasn't able to rack the slide on his own but I guess that is what I'm there for.
All in all, we had another enjoyable day at the range, and got to test out 2 new guns, what more can one ask for on a Sunday afternoon.