doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Beretta 403 Hammer Gun?

Yup thats a Stella,and a nice one it appears!
I`m suprised that beretta has`nt an offering for the "vintagers" market.

Pete,

Triplice chiusura is something about 3 closers -- is that the same as triple bite? Wonder why that's specified, particular to the Stella?

Thanks,

Franco

Franco,

Yes it is "gun Italian" for triple bite. The BIS and the VITTORIA did not have a triple bite. I have a VITTORIA. The VITTORIA's suffer from really cheap looking blonde stocks.

I have seen a few STELLA's around, they have much better wood.

Pete

Here is a 1929 model 7 pidgeon. A very rare gun.



Pete

Pete,

Now there's a high grade gun! Looks very nice especially considering 1929 and I am very fond of the bullino style engraving, it's very satisfying even though some folks find it unrefined. Exactly, it's a shotgun and not a cello.

Were there many sidelocks made by Beretta prior to the early '50s? I'm unable to see from these posting pictures if this model 7 is sidelock or plates?? Frame is nicely sculpted and balanced, gorgeous!

I've never realised how nice these vintage Italian sxs doubles can be!

Franco

The model 7 is a side plate as far as I know. There was the early SO series.

In 1910, Beretta was selling WC Scott and Alfred Field hammer guns. That year, they also had a boxlock model 4337. The 4337 was available with Krupp (vero acciaco - real steel) or damascus (vero damasco - real damascus) barrels. They also offered it with triple or quadruple lock up.

I do not have any catalogs from the 1920's.

In 1932 they had models 1011 & 1050 both of which appear to be sidelocks.

In 1938 they had models 450, S.01, S.02 & S.03. There is a small graphic that seems to indicate that the S series was a true sidelock.

An S.01, the lowest S model from a 1935 catalog. While their best hammer gun sold for 1500 Lira, the S series started at 2200 Lira and went up to 3500 Lira for an S.03


The early Italian guns were the equal of any made at the time. They suffer today from a lack of collector enthusiasm. Beretta steadfastly refused to market to the military for nearly 400 years. WWII saw an end to that policy.

Pete

Very interesting ad! I had no idea that there were prewar Beretta O/Us. Always assumed they popped up in the very late 1940s or early 1950s.

Mike,

My understanding is that the Beretta family was very involved in competitive shooting. Hence the adoption of the O/U was a mainstay of their line

Pete

Makes sense.

Actually, Beretta started making military contract arms in or around WWI, not WWII--the Beretta Model 1915 was a substitute standard military automatic pistol in WWI, and they began bidding for military contracts at least that early. And getting them! I'm not sure when their first contract for military rifles was, but they sold fair numbers of the Model 1918 "Syringa" semi-auto 9mm carbine to police and perhaps military right after the war, and I've seen Carcano cavalry carbines made by Beretta from the 1920s. Very hard to avoid that public trough, especially when the slopmaster was "il Duce."

Mike,

Thanks for the correction. Yes, Il Duce seemed to have that effect. The 1938 catalog has some military arms, including a canon if memory serves.

Silvio,

Check your email.

Pete