beretta m951/helwan

just joined the forum and hope some one can help. i just bought a helwan brigadier (hold the rasberries:anim_lol:) i have shot it and it was what i was looking for (single stack, single action 9mm i could afford). from the research i have done on the web, it appears to be a made in italy parts, assembled in egypt model. it has both english and arabic writing on the slide. is there any way of telling what year it was manufactured in based on serial numbers?

also, i am looking at putting better sights (i.e, easier for old guy to see). it looks like the rear sight could just be drifted out and replaced with something else. any recommendations?

the front sight is part of the slide. any recommendations on that? i have found a place that will put a fiber optic front sight on my s&w 642, which also has an intragal (sp?) front sight, unless there is home gun smith way of doing it myself without dubba-ing it?

any responses are most welcome, with the exceptions of telling to use it for a paperweight.

thanks - george tarleton

I owned one for a brief period of time in the late-80's. The gun itself is a solid performer but may not like some of the shorter OAL 9mm rounds; my former agency issued a 100 grain JHP at the time which was pretty short, but it had no problem with Silvertips. It was very accraute, but the sights did leave something to be desired. You could probably find a replacement rear sight at Numerich Arms, but the front sight is part of the slide and it would be difficult to change (unless you wanted a gunsmith to do it, but you would probably spend more $$$ on that than you paid for the gun!). My suggestion is to use the old trick of a bit of model paint on the front sight (white, yellow or any fluorescent color would be best) to help pick it up faster. You could paint the rear sight a contrasting color.

The 951 was a great gun for it's time, but I recall it had it's issues. Some of the Egyptian guns had weak slides, but I've never heard of any failures. The safety left something to be desired as well. As a military gun it was a good choice. As a civillian carry piece I would have to think long and hard about it. If it was all I had, I would practice using the Israeli method of draw, rack, fire until it was second nature.

charlie fox- thanks for the quick reply. i have already shot the 115 grain round nose and it feed well. this is just plinking gun. i like the trigger much better than my duty glock 23, which is NOT fun to shoot.

having gunsmith do the front sight would be expensive and there is not much metal for a dovetail slot. however, came across the idea of filling the front sight off and putting a millet two post crimp sight in. that would be within my skill level, i think. have to look and see if there is enough clearance between the barrel and the slide to do that. otherwise, flourescent paint will be the answer.
thanks- george