A few years ago, a bunch of Beretta 81' surplus Italian prison gaurd guns were being sold by several importers for roughly 200 bucks each. I bought three of them. Wish I had bought a few more . The last one was a BB model. My wife called dibs on two of them, one is hidden in her car and the other hidden in her closet. The BB is in my get home bag with a few spare mags and extra ammo. Aside from the get home bag use, I carry it one day a week on Thirty-twosday. I also find it usefull to teach new shooters due it being accurate and very soft shooting. My grandson put a dent in my .32 ammo can just a few hours ago.
Someone asked about rim lock. I haven't had any issue with it yet but I'm still not convinced that is NOT a real likelyhood. I have run a couple hundred cast flatnose bullets thru mine so far but i am super careful loading the mags as I think that is the most likely cause of rim lock. This is the same bullet that Buffalo Bore uses in thier .32acp load. 75 grain. The loaded rounds are noticably shorter than ball.
I bought a few of those, a great deal on great guns.
Matt Haught
SYMTAC Consulting LLC
https://sym-tac.com
I have a Walther PP in .32acp, or as per the slide markings, 7.65mm. It feels good in the hand, very light recoil and a good SA trigger, horrible DA. I've got an 85BB with the thin grips and it's a great gun. I'd love to have an 81.