Selected Handgun Detail

Manufacturer
	Fabbrica D' Armi Pietro Beretta SpA More Info

About the Gun

Compact single-action blowback pistol with Beretta’s open-top slide, an exposed ring hammer, and a single-stack magazine. The steel frame and slide were finished blued or, on many service guns, parkerized. Factory grips are steel-backed Bakelite or plastic panels with the PB monogram. Controls match the 1934 pattern: a heel magazine release and a left-side frame lever that serves as both manual safety and takedown lock. Fixed blade-and-notch sights and a lanyard loop complete a service pocket pistol built around the .32 Auto cartridge.

Production

Production ran from 1935 through 1967.

Market value

MSRP at production was around $125. Current used market value for examples in good to very good condition ranges $300–$500.

Cartridge Specifications
Cartridge:	.32 Automatic
Alias:	7.65 mm Browning
More Info

Analysis

Beretta introduced the 1935 as the 7.65 mm (.32 Auto) companion to the 1934 after the Italian services took interest in compact Walther-style pocket pistols. It continued the 1931 serial range rather than opening a new block, and it is dimensionally close to the 1934 without sharing barrels or magazines. The Regia Marina and Regia Aeronautica were the principal Italian users; the army standardized on the 1934, though 1935 pistols with army marks do appear. After the 1943 armistice the occupying authorities cut new 1934 work and raised 1935 output. Factory correspondence later listed occupation serials from about 500,000 in October 1943 through about 616,000 in April 1945, sold mainly to German headquarters and the Italian Social Republic, with a summer 1944 slice also invoiced to the Imperial Japanese Army. Many of those guns carry the 4UT control stamp and a coarse wartime finish. A very small Armaguerra Cremona lot exists. Postwar production ran in smaller blocks through 1959, then brief A-prefix and H-prefix runs in the early and mid-1960s. About 525,000 were built. The Model 70 replaced it in the catalog. Used supply is large and prices track the 1934, with a modest discount for the smaller cartridge; original-finish occupation and service-marked examples bring more than mixed or refinished police guns.