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back long long long ago in another age (late 80's)I used to occasionally frequently the Pomona Gun Shop on Holt and Garey. The proprietor of the shop was a retired US ARMY COLONEL who shot in Army competitions in the 1930's. He said that in the 30's the 1911 became the pistol of choice to shoot in competition taking over from the revolver. His comment was that the revolver was the weapon of the 19th Century, the 1911 the weapon of the 20th century and the Glock the weapon of the 21st century.

He sadly passed away a couple of years later...

Another friend of mine who I met at Fowlers Sport Center on Rosemead in Pasadena was a B24 pilot in WW2, owned a cloth business who had the contract to sell cloth for make your own clothing to Sears and JC Penny's on the west coast..while living in San Marino CA. After he sold out he used to play golf everyday at Brookside Park up by the Rose bowl where he gave lessons and fixed clubs. He was a wheeler dealer buying and selling various things like cars, Rolexs, and spoons (he started buying spoons right after WW2). He never kept a spoon for very long, petting it for awhile and then turning it over...After awhile he would sometimes buy the same model again...He was a known at Rettings and Pony Express..(he passed away in late December of 1999 while watching the Golf Channel). The point of this is that one day he showed me a prewar Beretta 1935 in 32 caliber that he was enamored with...he said look at this (meaning quality) it has heft and an all steel frame... I was a little nonplussed at the time..

Recently having bought a Langdon, Beretta has gotten my attention. The model 1934 in 38 Corto was the Itie military's std issue side arm during WW2. Where even the Germans. Finns and Romanians had a preference for them. a very sturdy and durable side arm. Production of them continued until 1980 with 1,080,000 produced. So I found a nice 99%er post war commercial made in 66 out in GA.. Now I can see what my friend liked about them, the high polish bluing is fantastic...just 35 years later!