[mdmorrissey]

I just picked up this interesting late war blank slide M35. It has very little to no finish on the frame and slide and the barrel, hammer and safety switch are blued. The barrel has no serial number and is only marked with the factory proof which is correct for these late war pistols. The finish on the frame/slide is either a very very thin park or it was never parked at all. I am showing it with my other standard late war blank slide so that you can see the finish differences. I personally havn't seen one of these and wanted to get a feel for how scarce they are? Any comments or info would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[mdmorrissey]

More pix

 

[eli]

I've never seen such a crude M35, and the markings are also unfamiliar to me (I'm no expert though)

I like it!

 

[Franchi]

By the patina on your pistol (#613367) it looks like it doesn't have any finish, kind of odd it would make it through inspection and get the (4UT). Yours was probably in the last? sale of pistols to the Germans. Pistol # 612520 and 614459 were both sold to the Germans on April 17, 1945, There probably weren't any sold after this. Nice variation.

David

 

[mdmorrissey]

Thanks David. I kind of felt that it didn't have any finish either. Somebody suggested that it had a phosphate finish, but those with a phosphate/parkerized (same thing) finish that I have seen was a deeper/heavier finish. This really seems to have nothing at all as you suggest. Do you have a database on when pistols were made/sold to the Germans? Do you know when exactly the Beretta factory was liberated? Thanks again for your input.

 

[kanister]

All Northern Italy was liberated between April 25 and April 28, 1945, so Brescia, Gardone and also Beretta factory make no exeption.
For some information about pistols sold to the Germans you can read the letters from Beretta to Mr. Whittington that you can find in every good book on Beretta products.

FNA on the barrel means Fabbrica Nazionale Armi, that was a subcontractor that produced barrels for the Beretta.

 

[Franchi]

I have Serial Data I have collected over the years, letters from Beretta to me and others stating when and to whom a pistol was sold. In the past Beretta would answer letters (if you were lucky) about serial numbers, they stopped doing this about five years ago.

In the Italian book Pietro Beretta Le Automatiche by Ugo Menchini & Pierluigi (a very good book on pre 1945 Berettas) they state "Pistol No. 615969 was the last pistol to leave the Brescia factory - on 17 April 1945 - when the war had come to an end."


All of Italy surrendered May 2,1945 so I doubt these last Berettas made it far from the factory.

David

 

[kanister]

All of Italy surrendered May 2,1945 so I doubt these last Berettas made it far from the factory.

Gardone V.T. and Beretta factory were liberated by partisans on April 26, 1945.
Many weapons that were on production and in stock in those days were handed to population to fight Germans.

 

[Mosinitis]

That would explain a lack of finish
I do know that late production ones had pretty crude phosphate finishes.