Romanian Contract Beretta M1934 Purchase & ???

With the help and guidance of the folks on this forum I decided to go pick up a Beretta M1934 that I spotted last weekend.

First a little bit about my day. Two weeks ago my truck died on the way to a gun show and I spent a lot of time trying to get it the 160 miles to home. It is still dead. Since my Father-In-Law is out of the country for a month or two I decided to liberate his newer truck for my campaign to retrieve the little Beretta today. I drove the 120 miles to the Pawn Shop to take the pistol this morning. This Pawn Shop has one employee who has a brain and the rest are aggressive in their idiocy.

Last weekend, while I was examining the Beretta in question a Jamaican "Posse" entered the store. I decided rather than get caught in the cross fire I ought to come back later so I left. Needless to say, like many of their breed, this Pawn Shop is not in the best part of town. I came back today to claim my prize. I asked the idiot Manchild behind the counter to examine a few pieces as I meandered my way to the pistol in question. Last weekend this very same miscreant had cautioned me strongly that this Beretta was broken and that I was not to pull back the slide; they had a bear getting it back last time someone did this. Well, OK then! I examined the pistol this morning but wanted to see the bore so I went to pull the slide back when he snatched it from my hand telling me it was broken and would stick back. I assured him I knew what I was doing and pulled the slide back to examine the bore. It looked clean. I then made my move. The pistol was marked $300. I offered $200 for it. I knew the deal was going to be brought to the one person with a brain in his head and tried to come up with a number that would not be too high that he would think more could be made or too low that he would get indignant. He bit and I offered up my FFL and the cash. We completed our paperwork and concluded our business with a handshake. I detest Manchildren but find some sick pleasure in taking them to the cleaners! With bargain in hand I leapt out of the Pawn Shop. With greedy eyes I headed to another shop where I had seen a Sauer 38h and laid some money down on it to put it on Lay-Away pending my next check. Then, rather than turn to home I headed out to check out yet another Pawn Shop in an even WORSE area of town. As I walked out of this last Pawn Shop my Father-In-Laws truck died on me. What are the odds that two Ford F150s would die in less than two weeks with the same driver? These trucks have never ever "just died" before. At least this truck was cheap to get running. A new battery and $130 later I was on my way home. I am having a bad luck summer with cars!

Details about the pistol. This Beretta is a Romanian contract Beretta M1934, evidenced by the CAL.9 SCURT marking on the slide. I see no importers markings on this pistol at all and I have looked long and hard. Could someone with one of the recently imported Romanian contract Berettas please tell me where the importers marking is located? I suspect this is one that was imported in the 50s-60s or came home as a liberated weapon with a GI. The serial number is 00420. This follows the five digit numbering pattern that Huggibear suggested in his post regarding his pistol. Please note how close the serial numbers of these two pistols are. The bluing is quite good on this pistol. I do see some old pitting that has oxidized over and this is only in tiny patches near the muzzle. There are some slight handling marks but in general this pistol has a fine finish. I would estimate the pistol has 98% remaining bluing. The hammer is also blued. Is this correct? I seem to recall the others in my collection have hammers in the white. I am trying to decide if I am looking at original finish or a dip bluing on this piece. Everything looks original about the finish but I cannot recall how the hammers were. The serial number matches on the slide, barrel and frame. On the right tang is the stamp CM in a circle. Is this a Romanian inspectors marking? On the left trigger guard bow is the stamp EZ. What is the meaning of this? The bore is shiny and new. Did I get a good bargain? I have wanted one of these pistols since I first read Jan's AXIS PISTOLS back in the 80s. I resisted getting one of those offered recently due to the condition. If I had to guess I would say this pistol never saw combat at all. All comments are welcome!




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