Jump to content

My re-stocked Beretta


Recommended Posts

Last year I bought a Beretta 38/42 from Morphy's that had a stock finished in an incredibly ugly high-gloss urethane.  If you care to you can see the original on Forgotten Weapons where Ian did both a bench exam and a field test of this exact gun and even commented on the ugly stock finish

I picked up a well worn stock that was included in a parts kit and sent it to Dan Block (deerslayer).  I wanted to preserve its character so I asked him not to make it pretty but simply remove all the embedded dirt and grime, reinforce one old crack repair but to the extent possible leave all the nicks, dents and scratches intact and to refinish it with a military oil finish.  Here's the end result.  I think Dan nailed it.  I couldn't be happier

20240408_115723.jpg20240408_115757.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gotta love a gun that looks great while still showing the "good honest wear" of a service weapon!

Ran into the same thing you describe with my Lanchester and M1A1, a previous owner had to make the wood shiny!
It took a while to find the right Lanchester stock.

I have the same Beretta and it is a pleasure to shoot.

Richard
 

RCH firing 1 resize.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/8/2024 at 12:20 PM, StrangeRanger said:

Last year I bought a Beretta 38/42 from Morphy's that had a stock finished in an incredibly ugly high-gloss urethane.  If you care to you can see the original on Forgotten Weapons where Ian did both a bench exam and a field test of this exact gun and even commented on the ugly stock finish

I picked up a well worn stock that was included in a parts kit and sent it to Dan Block (deerslayer).  I wanted to preserve its character so I asked him not to make it pretty but simply remove all the embedded dirt and grime, reinforce one old crack repair but to the extent possible leave all the nicks, dents and scratches intact and to refinish it with a military oil finish.  Here's the end result.  I think Dan nailed it.  I couldn't be happier

20240408_115723.jpg20240408_115757.jpg

Very nice gun. Just amazing that these things still exist. I see pics all the time of stacks of guns after WW2 being bulldozed into pits... I even saw a pic of a bulldozer in the Philippines destroying P38's!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/10/2024 at 8:53 AM, StrangeRanger said:

Just like they beached and burned most of the PT boats because it wasn't worth transporting them back to the US

The destruction of those is probably the single biggest loss to museums and collectors. I see (saw) somewhere that there is one original hull that was found and is being restored.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Packard V8s alone are big $$$ if they're restorable.

When they made the movie PT109 they couldn't find any PTs so they had to dummy a couple of IIRC air-sea rescue boats

Edited by StrangeRanger
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Your 38/44 turned out really nice - congratulations!

I am also lucky to have one of these in my collection: it is the only NFA item that I ever acquired directly from the (living) bring-back US WWII veteran.  The vet (a P-51 pilot in the ETO) became a good friend . . . I sure miss him (and the other WWII vet buddies who are all now gone).  The stock on this 38/44 has the little "UT44" and other stampings on it, and is also made of 2 pieces of wood (with a clearly visible joint).  In the course of our many conversations, the vet at one point casually mentioned how the stock on the 38/44 is "sort of rough and needs to be sanded and refinished  . . . . "  He went on to say that he had "always intended" to sand + refinish the stock and try to "work on" the visible joint to make it all look better, but that he simply "never got around to it".   Needless to say, I am happy that he left the stock alone so it is in the same condition now as when one of his Squadron mates pulled it out of a pile of surrendered weapons near Munich in April/May of 1945 (the other pilot pulled one for himself and gave a second one to my vet buddy).

I sure have lots of fond memories of visits with these old guys and watching them pull stuff out of their attics, closets, etc.  Good times.

Salter MG.3.JPG

IMG_3946.JPG

IMG_3962.JPG

Salter MG.2.JPG

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for sharing those pictures.  The finish on your friend's MAB38/44 stock looks very much like the one that Dan put in my 38/42.  I have seen several other Berettas which have a slightly glossy finish that also appears to be original so I was concerned that I may have made a mistake in my choice of finishes.  Seeing one that is definitely original which has a flat oil finish like mine shows that I made the right choice.

My Beretta is well on its way to becoming my favorite SMG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Berettas are a lot of fun to shoot . . . . IMO better than an MP40.  Years ago we took the vet (w/ his Beretta) out to shoot and hauled my (then) 1-and-only MP40 out with us.  3-4 people fired both guns and all liked the Beretta better than the MP40.  The wooden stock and 40 round mags with the Beretta seemed to really seal the deal amongst those shooters as to which was more fun for recreational shooting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, MS Collector said:

The Berettas are a lot of fun to shoot . . . . IMO better than an MP40.  Years ago we took the vet (w/ his Beretta) out to shoot and hauled my (then) 1-and-only MP40 out with us.  3-4 people fired both guns and all liked the Beretta better than the MP40.  The wooden stock and 40 round mags with the Beretta seemed to really seal the deal amongst those shooters as to which was more fun for recreational shooting.

I have to agree, the Beretta 38/43 and M1938 are fun and easy to shoot.
The STEN Mark 5, MP-40, STEN Mark 2, and Lanchester just don't feel as steady as the Beretta.
Maybe its the left hand ejection and the way the stock feels?

Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Recently picked this up C&R MG at the auction.   It was in terrible looking shape.   This is how it came out after I re-blued it and cleaned up the stock.    This one has minimal markings (only SN, not even manufacturer came) made later in the war. IMG_5733.thumb.jpeg.4672266a78e42071edc4f85148c7f8b9.jpeg

IMG_5704.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine is not marked with Beretta or the model . It is only marked with the S/N, "ca.9" and "CS."

Since many of these guns were ordered by and issued to the Wehrmacht perhaps CS is their assigned manufacturer's code

Also your bolt assembly is from a 38A not a 38/42 or 38/44

Edited by StrangeRanger
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m fairly certain the “CS” is part of the primary serial number on the receiver while the stock, barrel and bolt are just marked with the numbers. My Beretta 38/42 has a four digit serial number with the letters “CK” above it. I’ve looked at many Beretta 38/42’s and they all seem to have four or less digits for the serial number and all begin with a two letter prefix starting with “C”. I’ve witnessed almost every letter combination from “CA” up through “CM”. If you think about it, they supposedly made approximately 200,000 guns and using just a four digit serial number would only take you up to 9999. You’d have to have a letter or combination of letters to designate the next 10,000 serial number block after the first 9999 guns were produced.

Edited by tommyboy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neither the barrel on the gun, the spare barrel, the bolt that come with the gun nor either of my spare bolts have a S/N.  The stock that came on the gun was heavily refinished but it does not appear to ever have been serialized.  The stock on it now has a 4 digit number obviously not matching the receiver

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...