Beretta is one of the oldest firearms manufacturers out there, having been around for almost 500 years now. They’ve had plenty of time to make mistakes, learn from them, and then apply those lessons to another generation of firearms. They do still make mistakes (hey, who doesn’t?), but those mistakes are rare, meaning that if you go to buy or shoot a Beretta firearm, chances are that it will perform just as you expect.
I recently had the chance to pick up what is just about the cutest little pistol ever made. The Beretta model 21A (a.k.a., the Bobcat). Beretta stopped producing these little gems, so if you fancy one and find one in good condition you should snatch it up quick.
While I’m a big caliber guy, and I love the new breed of subcompact and pocketable automatics in 9x19mm or greater, I have a soft spot for those micro-guns of yesteryear in the miniscule cartridges of .22 LR, .25 ACP, and .32 ACP (and to some extent .380 Auto).