Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Beretta 81 or 81bb

for the same money what would you get?

these are Italian surplus:

A hand picked very-good to excellent 81

or

a "good" 81bb

I plan to CeraKote the winner

BB has a trigger disconnect safety, post dot sight, loaded chamber indicator, longer serration on the slide, slightly larger slide dimensions

I already have an 81 on order but just learned about the 81bb

can the rear site be changed on the 81?
are all the barrels inter-changable? I know the slides are not


I don't know enough to make a good decision

what would you do?

I've been tempted to get one of those. Great bargain on a high quality little gun. Only things that keeps me from getting it is the chambering being in .32 ACP and the cost of magazines. I think extra mags are like $40.00 a pop.

Now, if you are getting a gun for a woman who is extremely recoil sensitive, then it makes sense. Seems about perfect for that.

i got a surplus 81. i don't know how I've lived this long without one. No recoil at all, 100% reliable, very accurate, and a hoot to shoot.

I like it so much that i sold my Beretta 84 in 380. 13 32 auto 71 grain fmj will surely change someones mind on mischief.....

the 81 will suit you fine in my humble opinion

BB or not BB

That is the question...

The 81 and 81BB have some differences going on. The original has a slightly thinner slide, black sights, and a safety that blocks the most rearward travel of the trigger. The BB slide is a little more robust, features “straight-eight” style dots, and the safety completely disconnects the trigger. The 81s hold 12 in the magazine and the 84 hold 13 rounds of .380. The semi-rim of .32 has some challenges in designing double stack mags, but it seems like they figured it out. The 82 is a single stack .32 and holds 9, while the 85 is a single stack .380 and hold 8.

there is a company that imported a bunch of magazines, significantly cheaper than 40bucks.
the one i got, an 81, looked like a brand new gun.
i got an italian holster for it, parade holster, it's pretty sharp.

these were italian prison guard guns.

i might add another comment after chasing these things for a lot of years. Generally the first ones into the country being imported are the cleanest, as supply gets run down so does the quality. been true time after time. say schmit rubins, swedish mausers, you name it.
some years ago when the german police agencies were switching over handguns, a bunch of sig p6 9mm were brought in some of which were basically brand new sigs. could have been bought for about 200bucks. They are now better than double that.
I suspect the same thing will happen with these beretta's.
I was looking at some star bm's the other day , priced around the 150dollar mark.
they are not in the same state of condition the early ones imported were.

I got the 81BB from Aim Surplus. Listed as good condition but just has some slight holster wear on the front of the slide. Much better condition than I thought it would be. Easy to like, no recoil, accurate, beretta quality and cheap. Bought a couple of surplus mags after and they are in just as good as condition. Hardest part was finding cheap ammo in stock.

.32 ACP costs about as much per round as 10mm.

If I had it over I would get the BB. I feel the BB have better sights and are beefier. I have a plain 81 (not BB) that I bought from AIM Surplus. Very accurate and reliable. I bought 1000 rounds of Geco for like $8 a box when the guns first came ashore. Looks like AIM still have 32 ACP for a reasonable price though, https://aimsurplus.com/geco-32-auto-73grn-fmj-50rd-box/.

J&G has it at about the same price.

https://www.jgsales.com/32acp-geco-ruag-73gr-fmj-ammo,-50rd-box.-p-104584.html

kind of interesting, few years ago i looked all over the area for .32acp, none of it inexpensive.
finally got a case from target sports for 10.00 a box free shipping.

Buy CZ82 instead. Used mags are $20. J&G has ammo $170 for 900 cartridges.

the cz82 is the makarov version, the cz83 is the .380 version. the mak was the military issue, the .380 for civilian and export.
same gun, different caliber depending on barrel, both use same magazine.
J&G had some that looked like new weapons.
when the makarov cz82 first came in, i took an older gentlement out with one, he was in his 70's. had no issue killing beer cans at ten and fifteen yards. quite accurate little guns.
simple to take apart for cleaning purposes.
i had a set of grips made from memory by a guy in hungary, quite attractive gun in the 82. came with a leather flap holster at the time.
i bought a long time ago a mould for the makarov, bunch of fmj bullets, and boxer primed brass. haven't used any of it, as it's relatively inexpensive to buy given the limited amount i shoot in them.
another one that J&G has that aren't quite as nice as those for sale some years ago from a cosmetic standpoint, but are still a heck of a deal are the star bm in 9mm, for about 150bucks. they just recently had spare mags for sale too.