Beretta is the longest-running manufacturer of tip-up pistols. Taurus and Girsan produce a few, but Beretta has been doing it far longer. The Beretta tip-up series started with the Model 950. They weren’t the first tip-up barrel pistols; the Steyr 1909 has that distinction, but the Beretta models are arguably most inspired by the French Le Français. I love these guns and am trying to collect all of them. So far, my favorite is the Minx.
Why I Like the Beretta Minx
History of the Minx
The Minx is the Beretta 950 in .22 Short. It was named as a marketing stunt for the American market. They also produced the Jetfire, which is the .25 ACP model. This specific model is the 950BS, and BS indicates it comes with a manual safety. The original 950 was produced with a twin recoil spring arrangement. The 950B simplified the recoil spring for a simple torsion-type spring. The BS saw the inclusion of the manual safety.
The B and BS models are much more common than the standard 950. When they originally produced the Minx, it was referred to as the 950CC, but the CC moniker was dropped fairly quickly.
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The 950 series has been produced in three different countries: Italy, Brazil, and the United States. In Brazil, Beretta supervised production with Beretta tooling, which was likely later acquired by Taurus. After 1968, the production had to move to the United States due to the 1968 Gun Control Act, which established a point system to attempt to prevent the importation of cheap, foreign-made Saturday Night Specials.
This point system was biased toward smaller guns and prohibited guns like the 950 and even the Walther PPK from import. Beretta came to an agreement with Firearms International in Accokeek, Maryland. Later, Firearms International would become Beretta USA. The Minx you see here is a Maryland-produced gun.
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Inside the Minx
The Minx weighs 11 ounces, is 4.5 inches long, with a barrel length of 2.4 inches. The 950 series are single-action-only guns. Like any other tip-up, a flip of a lever pops the barrel up and allows you to directly load a cartridge into the chamber. There is no need to rack a slide, which is valuable for folks with weak hand strength, and generally, the slide of the Minx is so small that it doesn’t offer much to grip and rip with.
These are direct blowback guns. The tip-up barrel design prevents you from using an extractor. The blowback action simply throws the case out of the gun, and an ejector helps direct it away from the shooter.
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These tip-up guns have a few issues. Namely, should you get a malfunction of any type, you can’t rack the slide to clear it. There is no extractor. You have to tip up the barrel and remove the round manually, then close the barrel and rack the slide.
The Minx uses an interesting magazine. Because the .25 ACP and .22 Short share the same frame design, they use the same size magazine. The Minx magazine integrates a ramp on the follower to help usher the rounds through the longer-than-necessary magazine and into the chamber. The magazine holds six rounds of .22 Short.
A Note on .22 Short
The Minx and Jetfire were produced with deep concealment in mind. They are defensive guns at heart, but don’t chamber fantastic calibers for defensive use. Both the .25 ACP and .22 Short are known to underperform ballistically, especially from extremely short barrels. Some more recent Buffalo Bore .25 ACP can meet the minimum threshold for penetration, but most ammo does not.
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The .22 Short, first designed in 1857, doesn’t meet the minimum standard and penetrates around 6.5 inches. It’s become a bit rare compared to .22LR, with most .22 Short I can find locally being .22 CB Cap. Those are powderless rounds that propel the round purely by the primer. They are very low power, but can almost cycle the Minx.
Shooting the Minx
This is my favorite tip-up gun. Something about the BB gun-like recoil of .22 Short makes this a darling to shoot. There aren’t many .22 Short semi-autos out there. Off the top of my head, there is the Minx and Astra Cub. The gun has, for all intents and purposes, no real recoil. You can shoot it with one hand and still be incredibly efficient.
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The little gun barks loudly, but it’s not a Pit Bull; it’s more like a chihuahua. Fun factor is a valid reason to love guns, and the Minx offers a lot of fun. Since it doesn’t have much recoil, I can shift my hand lower, which is necessary to avoid slide bite. With a slightly lower grip, it’s completely pain-free.
When we shoot fast, most guns are going to start to rise with recoil; that’s not really the case here. You can shoot fairly quickly and keep all of your rounds in a respectable group.
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Accuracy
That’s where we get to accuracy. I hate the term belly gun. I think a true belly gun is rare, and people use it to excuse their own lack of skill.
- At seven yards, you can create palm-sized groups.
- At 25 yards, I can hit a man-sized target six out of six times.
- At 50 yards, I can hit that same target at least three out of six times.
It’s not a superbly accurate gun, but it’s not a belly gun.
The gun has super small sights that are simply a notch and blade. Not exactly eye-catching but still perfectly usable. With a stress sight picture, I drop the front sight on target and let it rip. The single-action trigger is no 1911, it’s a bit stiff, but has minimal takeup.
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The lack of recoil means your compromised grip due to the small grip isn’t a big issue. The .22 Short cartridge doesn’t beat you up, and it’s just a fun cartridge to shoot. I’m dedicated to scoring six out of six at 50 yards, and it’s largely because I love shooting this gun and hearing the loud ding at 50 yards.
The Shock and Awe
I own a few Beretta 21As, and they are not reliable guns. They are insufferably picky about ammo and seem to fail just because the wind blows the wrong way. The .25 ACP variant of the 21A is not like that, and the Minx shocked me. It isn’t Glock 19 reliable, but it’s reliable enough. I’ve experienced a handful of malfunctions.
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Most are failures to fire due to the nature of rimfire ammo. The only other was two failures to eject, which created a complicated malfunction. I shot CCI Varmint and CCI Target, and it worked perfectly. The Aguila .22 Short gave me failures to eject. I honestly expected the same reliability I got with the 21A, but was surprised and happy to be wrong.
The Little Minx
The Minx is my favorite tip-up by far. Sure, it’s not as good as the 20X or 30X for self-defense purposes. The sights are smaller, I get slide bite, and the .22 Short doesn’t inspire confidence, but it’s adorable.
It’s teeny tiny, has hardly any recoil, and is surprisingly reliable. It ticks all the boxes for a fun gun, and that’s exactly why I love it. It’s just plain fun.
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